Referee team for Celtic vs St Mirren announced including rare appearance

Add as preferred source on Google

The Scottish FA have announced their refereeing teams for this weekend’s Scottish Cup ties, including Celtic’s match at home to St Mirren.

Steven McLean will be the man in the middle for this one, supported by Douglas Ross and Alastair Mather as assistants. Graham Grainger will be the fourth official while Colin Steven and Gary Hilland will serve in the VAR booth.

McLean is no stranger to Celtic matches and has already taken charge of four so far this season, with the last coming when the Bhoys beat Saturday’s opponents 4-0 at Celtic Park last month.

However, it is rarer to see Ross at a Celtic fixture these days. He’s not served in a Bhoys match in any capacity since 2020. He is probably the most high-profile SFA man in the country given his day job – leader of the Scottish Conservatives.

VAR will be in use for this one, which hasn’t been the case for all Scottish Cup matches this season. But with the match being broadcast live on Viaplay Sports, the cost of the technology is largely covered.

The SFA’s roll-out of VAR remains a frustration for many Celtic supporters, especially considering almost every one of our goals seems to go through a lengthy post-celebration check.

Stiliyan Petrov put forward the theory yesterday this is because the Bhoys are so adept at playing on the margins of offside calls and the like, but it is nonetheless an annoying trend.

Fingers crossed it’s less prominent in Saturday’s early evening kick-off.

In other news, Chris Sutton rubbishes Ange Postecoglou Celtic to Leeds chatter.