Don Robertson has been appointed as the referee for this Saturday’s clash between Celtic and Ross County in the Scottish Premiership [SFA].
Robertson infamously left Ange Postecoglou absolutely raging in January with how he refereed Celtic’s Scottish Cup tie at Alloa. Ange didn’t believe Robertson provided his players with enough protection in our 2-1 victory, with Yosuke Ideguchi’s injury in particular a real frustration for Ange [Daily Record].
This will mark Robertson’s first match in charge of the Hoops since that controversial afternoon.
Robertson has refereed 32 games this season and has already dished out a whopping 113 yellow cards. He’s also given out 5 red cards, but none have come in the 4 Celtic games he’s reffed this term [Transfermarkt].
Celtic have actually won all matches with Robertson in charge this season. Those came against Ross County, Hibernian, Dundee United, and Alloa respectively.
Celtic will be looking for a quiet afternoon without any controversy in what should be a routine 3 points if we turn up. Fingers crossed we aren’t talking about decisions post-match either.
Don Robertson takes charge of Celtic for first time since Alloa fixture
In terms of that fixture at Alloa, you can’t deny Robertson made a howler in not sending off Mouhamed Niang. The incident set Ideguchi back so much that he’s struggled to win a place in the first-team since.
Scottish football has been plagued with controversy and spotlights placed on refereeing decisions since the turn of the year. In a way, it’s been pretty tiresome. No surprise that it’s all coincided with us overturning Rangers at the top of the Premiership too.
Celtic have shown how to respond to poor decisions in 2022 regardless. Even when we’ve been on the wrong end of some shocking refereeing decisions, we’ve still managed to get the job done.
That’s one of the reasons Celtic fans have taken to Ange and his team so much. The character on show has meant that, even when we have gripes, it hasn’t affected our results.
We would expect no different this Saturday when County pitch up at Celtic Park. With a bit of luck, Robertson will indeed show a bit more common sense with his decision-making.
For once it would be nice not to have to highlight a dreadful decision that goes against us. Hopefully, that’ll be the case this weekend.
In other news, The only thing Celtic should do with James McCarthy when dismal debut season is over
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