Ally McCoist makes claim about referees Celtic fans will find interesting

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The debate about referees in Scotland has always been a precarious one amongst the Celtic fans.

Distrust surrounding the officials in general has always been a big talking point as suspicions surrounding which football team certain referees support come into the spotlight whenever a contentious decision happens against either Celtic or Rangers.

And this morning, the debate took another twist after what Ally McCoist said on talkSPORT when speaking about the integrity of referees.

McCoist on referee integrity

The conversation on referees took a slight twist when McCoist and Jeff Stelling were discussing the refereeing and VAR performances in the English FA Cup this weekend when the former Rangers hero made this claim about Scottish referees.

McCoist said [talkSPORT], “By the way, it’s happened. It’s happens.

“If we don’t think for a minute that some of the officials that officiate in Rangers and Celtic games maybe as a kid or a family member who has an allegiance to Celtic or Rangers, we’re kidding ourselves on.

“But we can’t afford to challenge their integrity.”

I don’t think many fans are questioning referees’ integrity but no one can deny that unconscious bias can, and does, exist. [Frontiers] [NCBI]

If I were put in charge of a Celtic game, any Celtic game, can I say for 100% certainty that I wouldn’t allow my feelings on the club to come into play if it came to awarding a contentious decision against Celtic? Of course, I couldn’t.

And even at that, I could also find myself trying too hard not to show bias and go the other way and award a wrong decision just to prove that I am not trying to favour the club.

The SFA should look into at least trying to copy the English FA model where match officials need to declare their footballing allegiances at the beginning of the season to help protect their members from these accusations.

It might not be feasible but at least some transparency by the national association to try and minimise the discussion surrounding their match refs would be a start.