Celtic’s failings opens door for VAR’s own era of ‘Honest Mistakes’ | OneFootball

A lot of the focus in the past few days has been on some of the big decisions made during the match against Hibs, especially the Auston Trusty sending off and the potential penalty for Liam Scales…

22.02.2026 Celtic v Hibernian, Scottish Premiership. Matthew MacDermid Photo Kenny Ramsay IMAGO

These incidents are just the latest examples of ‘controversial’ decisions we have watched go against us, in a season that has been absolutely littered with them.

We can moan and complain all we want but the way I look at it is that we knew this was coming. We knew that in a tight battle for the title that Celtic would be punished for the slightest indiscretion, whilst rarely getting decisions going our way.

We knew that the opposite would apply when it came to theRangers. When many of the people officiating games in Scotland are well known supporters of the club, the chances of them receiving favourable decisions is almost guaranteed.

22.02.2026 Celtic v Hibernian, Scottish Premiership. Referee Matthew MacDermid conveys his VAR decision on Auston Trusty red card. Photo Kenny Ramsay IMAGO.

People may have thought VAR would be a game changer in terms of fairness, there is no chance of that very capable system benefiting Celtic however when it’s operated by the same officials who have spent years making ‘honest mistakes’ against our club. In fact it’s actually being used as an aid in their goal to see Celtic negatively impacted.

Liam Scales and Jack Iredale of Hibs. Celtic v Hibernian, Scottish Premiership, Celtic Park, 22 February 2026. Photo Mark Runnacles IMAGO Shutterstock

Incidents like Trusty’s that are usually dealt with by having a quick chat to both players involved, are now slowed down, making it look worse and brought to the referees attention, handing him a perfect opportunity to get involved in a way that negatively impacts Celtic. When it’s a case like the Scales incident they will just claim that there wasn’t enough evidence of it being a wrong call by the referee on the pitch (even though he clearly wasn’t even looking at it).

Let’s be honest here. We all knew this was coming.

As the season has progressed and it’s become clearer that we are struggling, I knew these ‘honest mistakes’ would become more prominent. There was absolutely no doubt in mind that we would end up not only battling our title rivals at this point of the season but also officials who will give them as much of a helping hand as possible. Does knowing it was coming make it acceptable? Absolutely not. It won’t change however.

There are a few ways we can battle this. The first is quite obvious. The club should be going all out to highlight these ‘mistakes’ and the regularity that they are happening. If this was our city rivals you know there would be multiple statements being released, baying for blood. They would also be utilising their many friends in the media to bring it up as much as possible, just to keep the pressure on.

22.02.2026 Celtic v Hibernian, Scottish Premiership. Liam Scales rages at Matthew MacDermid after being fouled at a corner but no penalty given. Kenny Ramsay IMAGO

The Celtic Board don’t have the courage

Celtic won’t go down this route. They never do. They don’t have the courage. They will release a weak statement like the one regarding Trusty’s appeal being rejected and that’s the last we will hear from them. They should be requesting a meeting with Willie Collum and have him explain why Celtic are on the receiving end of more ‘mistakes’ than anyone else.

The second thing we can do is make sure the players are more aware that any slight indiscretion has the potential to be severely punished. You don’t want to strip the players natural aggregation, especially when they should be giving their all during the remainder of a season where every point will be crucial, but they have to be warned not to get involved in anything silly.

Auston Trusty and Miguel Chaiwa. Celtic v Hibernian, Scottish Premiership, Celtic Park, 22 February 2026. Photo Mark Runnacles IMAGO Shutterstock

The Trusty incident is a prime example. It may have been okay in the past but things are different now. They will be all over incidents like this. Opposition players will be trying their best to agitate our players and try and get them punished, especially when they know the referee will be more than willing to get involved.

The one thing we can do that will really negate any bias

Finally the one thing we can do that will really negate any bias from the officials is to not give them a chance to influence our games. In the past we have seen teams under both Ange Postecoglou and Brendan Rodgers come out of the traps hungry to bury teams as quickly as possible. Scoring early goals and putting teams away as soon as possible not only lifts the anxiety of the fans in the stadium, it also restricts the influence a referee can have in a match.

I know this is easier said than done but if we can put away opponents early it will make things a hell of a lot easier going forward. Martin O’Neill is a fantastic motivator, an easy avenue to squeeze a bit more from these players could be using the old ‘everyone is against us’ psyche to get the players firing on all cylinders.

With the types of decisions we are on the receiving end of at the moment, he won’t have too far to look for examples.

Conall McGinty

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