Time’s Up for Alan Muir – He’s not fit and proper to be trusted by Scottish football | OneFootball

The Scottish FA will occasionally get involved in boardroom changes at clubs using their Fit and Proper rule…

Leaving any controversies about that to one side, surely it’s clear that they must now introduce a similar procedure to determine whether their match officials are actually fit and proper individuals to be trusted with important matches in the Scottish game.

Had such a safeguard been in place then Alan Muir would have surely failed it for his past record and that situation is now untenable after Willie Collum’s latest VAR update video showed that Muir is incompetent at best or simply unfit to be impartial and professional enough when making these type of calls that are clearly wrong.

The Scottish FA has released the audio related to the controversial decision to disallow Daizen Maeda’s goal during the recent Scottish Premiership match between Hibernian and Celtic at Easter Road.

Referee Steven McLean initially awarded Celtic the goal, but VAR official Alan Muir intervened, ruling it out. He argued that the ball had gone out of play prior to Alistair Johnston setting up Maeda.

Hoops boss Brendan Rodgers later criticised the decision, accusing Muir – who has not been assigned an officiating role since – of ‘guessing’ the call.

Brendan Rodgers. Hibs v Celtic. 22 February 2025.Photo: Vagelis Georgariou (The Celtic Star)

SFA Head of Referees Willie Collum addressed the controversy on the latest episode of ‘The VAR Review’, stating that McLean’s initial decision should have stood, as there was no definitive evidence to overturn the on-field call.

Speaking on the decision and whether VAR should have intervened, Collum said: “Let’s think what the starting point is? The starting point is the on-field decision. The on-field decision is the assistant referee keeps the flag down and a goal is scored. So, as far as the assistant referee is concerned, the ball has not gone out of play.”

“The VAR and AVAR of course go into a check, which they are expected to do so. They need to assess with the cameras and the footage available if the ball is out of play.”

Alan Muir just guessed

Images from Hibs Vlogger

Not available to VAR

“You hear the VAR at one point say that it looks like it’s gone out of play from a particular angle, and then AVAR correctly says, ‘I don’t think you can be conclusive there’.

“Then an angle appears from the main camera, and you hear a reaction, the VAR and AVAR both think at that point that’s evidence to say the ball is out of play.”

“However, what I want to be very clear about, and we coach the VAR’s and AVAR’s to be certain about this, you need 100 per cent conclusive evidence to disallow the goal here and prove that the ball is over the goal line.”

Collum added: “And in this case, that is not possible. It’s not possible to prove categorically that the ball has crossed the goal line fully, because we know from previous examples at World Cup’s that a ball can look out from certain angles, but then when you look at the camera above – because in World Cup competitions there’s the spider cam and a clear camera on the goal line. A slight part, even a millimetre of the ball can be overhanging that goal line, and that’s enough to say that the ball is in play.”

Brendan Rodgers. Hibs v Celtic. 22 February 2025.Photo: Vagelis Georgariou (The Celtic Star)

“So, in this occasion for us, we expect the on-field decision to be supported, and a goal awarded.”

“I would also say, if the assistant referee had flagged here and said in his opinion that the ball had crossed the line, and it was a goal kick then we would also expect that decision to be supported because there’s no 100 per cent conclusive evidence. It’s impossible to prove otherwise.”

Willie Collum at least has at least put his hands up almost a week after Andrew Dallas failed to intervene in Celtic’s game at St Mirren last weekend where Alistair Johnston looked to have conceded a late penalty that could have levelled the scoring a 3-3.

Call me a cynic but ahead of having to own up to Muir’s latest incident involving Celtic, to give us the rub of the green at Paisley at St Mirren’s expense, would have they might have hoped taken the sting out of the criticism. But unlike the penalty claim last weekend, the Maeda goal at Hibs needed 100% certainty and Collum has said that was impossible.

Muir has to go. He is not fit and proper.

Conor Spence