Celtic should be calling out Beaton – it was so blatant yesterday

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The Celtic Star

·15 marzo 2026

Celtic should be calling out Beaton – it was so blatant yesterday

Celtic battled to hard earned victory against a well coached Motherwell side, who are admittedly a terrific side to watch, and a breath of fresh air for the Scottish game that is dominated by kick and rush tactics and parking the bus when visiting Celtic Park and Ibrox…

14.03.2026 Celtic v Motherwell, Scottish Premiership. Emmanuel Longelo receives a red card from John Beaton after a VAR review. Photo Kenny Ramsay IMAGO

To overcome the Steelmen after being a goal down in a pressure filled game is a testament to the Celtic players’ mental strength as well as their ability.However it wasn’t just the men in claret and amber that the Bhoys had to overcome, it was the man with the whistle who had a huge say in proceedings. That man was the match referee John Beaton.

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Beaton who is tellingly dubbed ‘cheatin’ Beaton’ by the Celtic supporters, has for quite some time been responsible for some very questionable decisions that have gone against Celtic throughout his time as a referee.

This is not a tin foil hat scenario, as some will suggest, this is the real deal, and furthermore the evidence is widely available.

Fabio Silva dives inside the Celtic penalty area and cons a penalty from referee John Beaton. Photo Stuart Wallace/Shutterstock

Beaton is a well known life-long supporter of the Rangers clubs, that’s common knowledge. So why on earth is he or any other official who has a well known affection towards the Ibrox side -our rivals for the title – allowed to officiate in any of our or the blue half of Glasgow’s games for that matter? It happens in Scotland and only in Scotland. I’ve asked before, where are the referees from Aberdeen, Dundee, Inverness etc and why are there so many from Lanarkshire?

That’s an argument for another time, but for now it’s all about Beaton, and yesterday he yet again appeared to allow his feelings for his favourite club to play a part in almost denying Celtic a vital win in the title race.

https://twitter.com/searriagh67/status/2032969746941902925?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

The entire game, Beaton was guilty of making the ‘wrong decision’ all in favour of the away side. Look we have to hold our hands up for our part in conceding the opening goal, Reo Hatate in particular but also the hospital pass from Viljami Sinisalo.

But it didn’t help that we appeared to up against twelve men for most of the game, until the red card evened things up.

Take the booking Beaton gave to Hatate for pointing out where a free kick should have been taken. Hatate was correct and Beaton knew it. yet instead of telling the Motherwell player to retreat to where the incident happened he wen to his pocket to book the Celtic midfielder.

https://twitter.com/Ina_oof_a_joost/status/2033138096347160930?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

There were numerous other cards shown to Celtic players – the one given to Anthony Ralston was outrageous as the Celtic substitute clearly won the ball.

The moment that changed the game was the one that has subsequently called out Beaton’s biggest ‘honest mistake’ of the season and that was only made possible due to a VAR intervention, just like what happened at Ibrox.

That was a great spot by VAR and a correct decision was made in the end. Yesterday everyone in the stadium could see it was a clear pull back on Daizen Maeda by Motherwell full-back Emmanuel Longelo to deny a clear goalscoring opportunity to head into an empty net.

https://twitter.com/gtj1247/status/2032857520155271310?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

John Beaton had the best view of all yet awarded a goal-kick to Motherwell. It was an astonishing decision from a referee who has clearly crossed a line now.

Daizen Maeda was quite clearly impeded in the area, and denied a goalscoring opportunity, with a penalty and red card the only outcome, but Beaton somehow managed to ‘miss’ the incident despite having a clear view. Everyone in the ground knew it was an illegal challenge, but somehow Beaton waved the Celtic appeals away.

Unfortunately for John Beaton and his chums on VAR, there is no longer any hiding place for these ‘honest mistakes’ and he had no other choice but to award a spot kick and dismiss the Motherwell defender after being sent to the monitor.

https://twitter.com/P12KLS/status/2033067716026778009?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

Fortunately for us, Tomas Cvancara kept his cool, just like he did at Ibrox last week and fired us into the lead, before Yang added another to secure a much deserved victory.

The penalty wasn’t controversial, the fact it was snubbed on first viewing was the real talking point in what was an excellent game of football and a great advertisement for the Scottish game.