Former Scottish referee, Bobby Madden has opened up on his time officiating in the SPFL. His career spanned 20 years before he made a move down to England last summer. Now officially retired, Madden was asked what the most controversial fixture that he was involved in Scottish football was.
Madden said [Scottish Football Podcast], “Probably the most controversial game in my time in Scotland was in 2013, Easter Sunday. It was St Mirren v Celtic.
“You have days when things don’t go for you. I think there was an incorrect red card, a disallowed goal that was wrong and a penalty that was incorrect.
“It was a challenging game and probably the first time that I really arrived at this particular level with this degree of scrutiny. And I think both managers were critical. And it was disappointing.”
The disallowed goal for St Mirren was wrong as Izagguire appeared to push the St Mirren attacker into Fraser Foster. The goal was chalked off for a foul on the Celtic keeper.
The penalty decision was an apparent handball that wasn’t given against Giorgos Samaras just on the stroke of halftime. And to be fair to the referee, in this day and age of VAR, that decision would have been given.
The red card incident involved Victor Wanyama. The Celtic midfielder was sent off for an apparent stamp on St Mirren’s Paul McGowan. It was an innocuous challenge at a time in the game Celtic were still in the lead.
But Madden failed to include a fourth decision and it was a decision that cost us points that day.
St Mirren eventually equalised with a dubious penalty award where Buddies attacker Goncalves appeared to dive outside the box. The penalty was awarded and converted by Paul McGowan. [BBC]
Luckily, that decision had no bearing on the league title as Celtic went on to win the championship a full 16 points ahead of second-placed Motherwell.
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