John Beaton’s appointment as Aberdeen-Celtic referee won’t please many

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The appointment of John Beaton today as the referee for Aberdeen vs Celtic likely won’t go down well with supporters.

The last time Beaton was involved in a Hoops match, it was in a certain game last December. Yes, Celtic’s 1-0 defeat at Ibrox saw the referee miss a string of incidents involving Alfredo Morelos. He seemed to let the Rangers forward away with clashes against Scot Brown, Ryan Christie, and Anthony Ralston.

The post-match backlash to his performance got so heated that Celtic weighed in. They couldn’t believe that Morelos went unpunished in the contest. Beaton, all-round, put in a shocking display at Parkhead.

Beaton is hardly the most efficient referee in Scotland, if there even is such a thing. And here, we take a look at his stats in Celtic matches.

This season, Beaton has refereed just four Celtic games. The Hoops have won two and lost two. He’s dished out 15 yellow cards and one red. Six of those yellows, and the red, went to Celtic players.

Our stats involving Beaton this season read a little worse than in previous years. He refereed us five times last season, and we went unbeaten in them. Only three were wins. But there’s also another way of looking at it.

An unlikely unbeaten run

Beaton has refereed 28 Celtic matches in his career. In total, we’ve lost just one of them – the defeat to Rangers in December. Our record under him is hardly reason for anyone to let out a big sigh. Would it honestly have mattered who the referee was for Saturday?

Only one game this term has seen Beaton fail to dish out a single card. In total, and out of 39 matches, Beaton has flashed 127 yellow cards and seven reds. That’s nothing to be overly alarmed about.

Last season, there were only five matches in which Beaton didn’t produce a single card either. It’s not uncommon for referees.

But there’s no denying that his dreadful performance in the Ibrox encounter last year still sticks in supporters’ throats. He seemed to want to avoid upsetting the home supporters at the expense of making the right decision.

Hopefully, he doesn’t show such weak refereeing on Saturday. Beaton’s stats aren’t eyebrow-raising, and we’ve generally done well in matches refereed by him.

Regardless, he owes us a professional performance after allowing Rangers to kick us off the park four months ago.