Willie Collum will take charge of next weekend’s Betfred Cup final between ourselves and Rangers, it has been confirmed. The official last refereed a derby match in September of last year when we saw off the trophyless Gers by a goal to nil at Celtic Park.
Collum is one of the most talked about officials in the country so his appointment for such a big derby was always going to be a heavily discussed. With a trophy on the line he, and linesmen David Roome and Alan Mulvanny, will have a pressurised afternoon.
News of the appointment was greeted pretty negatively by many Celtic fans on Twitter, as they blasted the SFA for giving the experienced Collum the match.
https://twitter.com/BenTheTim/status/1200076572008624128
The above comment was directed at former Celtic winger, and Open Goal star, Paul Slane who pokes fun at Collum on his podcast most weeks.
https://twitter.com/jay_567885/status/1200076445667745792
We’ll have to wait and see what happens
Time will tell how the appointment of Collum works out for next weekend. The match is such an important one in context of our season so it’s no surprise to see so many fans uptight at the prospect of Collum taking charge.
The official never seems to be far away from controversy so it could be an interesting afternoon in Mount Florida. Neil Lennon and the Celtic support will just hope that the gulf in quality between the teams is allowed to show on the day.
If we get the ball down and moving we should be winners. We have better players than Rangers all over the pitch and that will show on the open Hampden surface.
The fear is that the game becomes scrappy – something that often happens with Collum matches. That’s when some problems may arise.
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