Red card inevitable, due to smear campaign plus Beaton on VAR | OneFootball

Auston Trusty’s Red card against Hearts was inevitable, due to smear campaign and John Beaton on VAR…

Referee Steven McLean viewing the footage before he shows Celtic defender Auston Trusty a red card after a VAR review. Hearts v Celtic, 25 January 2025. Photo Vagelis Georgariou.

I wrote on the morning of the trip to Tynecastle that there was a campaign to exert extra pressure on the match officials, in regard to the much publicised red card stat involving Celtic.

That stat of 85 domestic games or whatever it was, has ground to a halt after the second half dismissal of Auston Trusty in the 2-2 draw at Tynecastle, and it was a flashpoint that has proven to be quite controversial, with serval ‘impartial’ figures since slamming the decision.

Ex Rangers player Kris Boyd (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

The likes of Kris Boyd were rattling on about the lack of red cards dished out to Celtic players in the build up to the game, and even Derek McInnes had a cheap shot regarding the fact during his post match interview, so it’s clearly a talking point that’s gathering momentum in the circles of Scottish football.

More concerningly it’s seemed to have affected the refereeing fraternity, as was evident the moment Steven McLean was sent to the VAR monitor after Auston Trusty’s caution. It’s also worth pointing out that John Beaton was involved on VAR, the man who was also on duty when we were last reduced to ten men domestically, which was incidentally also at Tynecastle.

The VAR screen is mere inches from the Tynecastle main stand, and with the baying Jambos supporters and coaching staff berating McLean, and that 85 game stat in his mind, it was a cert he was going to upgrade the yellow to a red, an absolute certainty.

Referee Steven McLean shows Auston Trusty a red card after a VAR review. Hearts v Celtic, 25 January 2025. Photo Vagelis Georgariou.

That’s not efficient officiating, it’s bowing to extreme pressure, to appease the hoards not just inside Tynecastle, but those who were watching their side fifty miles across the M8.

McLean should only have been sent pitch side if it was believed he made a clear and obvious error, to decide if his decision was to be upgraded. But it wasn’t an error as a yellow was the right call in going with the laws of the game as the striker was running away from goal, and Liam Scales was also in the vicinity to cover any danger.

So why was he sent over? Why did VAR intervene? I think we all know why.

Auston Trusty walks off after Referee Steven McLean shows the Celtic defender a red card after a VAR review. Hearts v Celtic, 25 January 2025. Photo Vagelis Georgariou.

Read Sandman’s take on the red card in his Definitive Ratings up now on The Celtic Star.

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