ANTI-CELTIC REFEREE GONE. WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?
- BY LIAM CARRIGAN
- Apr 9
- 3 min read
Like most Celtic fans, I welcomed the news today that Alan Muir, after more than a decade of documented “mistakes” that have hurt Celtic, is now finally out as a Scottish referee.
However, as I already said in my previous post, this needs to be the start, not the end of the process of cleaning up Scottish football’s refereeing reputation.
So, where do we go from here?
How can Celtic lead the way in bringing genuine reform to The SFA and specifically to refereeing standards?
Let’s discuss.
Celtic Need to Demand More Transparency and Accountability for Referees
In any other line of work, as far as I know, if you display a pattern over a sustained period of incompetence or unprofessional behavior, you’ll be sacked.
Alan Muir’s dismissal has sent shockwaves around Scottish football, but in reality, this is how the real world works.
It shouldn’t be a shock, or a surprise, that someone for whom remaining impartial, unbiased and independent is a fundamental cornerstone of his job, the failure to do so has led to his removal.
Alan Morrison of The Huddle Breakdown coined the phrase “pattern of assistance” to compare how referees like Muir consistently treated Celtic unfavorably compared to how they treated Rangers over the same period.
This isn’t paranoia, this isn’t a witch-hunt.
There is statistical and direct documentary evidence to suggest that Muir favored Rangers over Celtic consistently over a period of years.
It’s also a fact that human nature lends itself towards bias, even if it’s not conscious.
There’s a reason why most countries that play football at a reasonable level insist that referees must be full-time professionals and that they must declare what team they support.
People may call me a tin-foil hat wearing conspiracy theorist for saying so, but this is the norm in most other countries.
Also, in recent times we’ve had well-documented cases of collusion, corruption and, on occasion, straight-up match fixing in some of Europe’s top leagues.
Italy, Spain Germany and Portugal have all had their footballing top flights tainted by cases of corruption in the last few years.
What makes Scotland think they are immune to this, very human, vice?
Football is a multi-million-pound sport, even in a comparative backwater like Scotland. When there’s that much money at stake, and you’ve got officials who get paid a few hundred quid a go, which in the grand scheme of things really isn’t that much, corruption is a constant, clear and present danger.
And even if we set that aside, there is the unconscious bias. Beyond just our love of Celtic and our distain for Rangers, we all have teams we like and teams we don’t.
These influences affect us, and you better believe they affect referees too.
The fact that the SFA refuses to even discuss this issue is an embarrassment. Dare I say, it is perhaps one of the multitude of reasons why we are continually offered Mickey Mouse money year after year for our TV rights.
The TV companies aren’t stupid. They know that Scottish football in its current form, with its “Poundland VAR” has as much sporting integrity as the WWE, and a lot less of the spectacle.
We need professional referees; we need proper VAR and we need complete transparency and accountability. That begins with referees honestly declaring what team they support.
I hope, eventually, it leads to rugby-style instant and direct explanations from referees for decisions. It is the one way, the only way, that any allegations or insinuations of corruption can be laid to rest for good.
Celtic, the ball is in your court. Today was a small victory, but the battle for genuine fairness and impartiality in Scottish football has just begun.