NEIL Lennon has praised the performance of referee John Beaton in Celtic’s nerve-wracking Betfred Cup match against Dunfermline at Parkhead on Saturday.
Tom Boyd, the former Celtic captain and current club ambassador, caused an outcry at the weekend for his controversial remarks about Beaton on official channel Celtic TV.
Co-commentator Boyd was incensed when Beaton failed to award the home team a penalty in injury-time when a visiting player appeared to handle the ball inside his own area.
“He'll probably be welcomed down his pub tonight again,” he said. “I'm mystified. I'm not mystified. John Beaton as though it was a pre-meditated decision not to give that penalty because it was so late in the game, I'm not sure.
"It's come off his arm. Regardless of players down or whatever, he's not given a drop ball. So he's seen it hit the hand of the Dunfermline player and it should be a penalty. Outrageous decision from John Beaton.
"We've not played well, but once again a decision from a referee may cost us in this game, hopefully we'll go on and beat not the 10 men, not the 11 men of Dunfermline, but the 12 men."
SFA compliance officer Clare Whyte is examining Boyd’s comments as clubs are prohibited from accusing a match official of bias.
Lennon, whose team won the game 2-1 thanks to a late James Forrest goal, felt that Celtic should have been awarded a spot kick.
However, he downplayed the incident and revealed that he had been impressed with how Beaton had handled the cup tie.
"I've only just heard about it,” he said. "It's probably something out of nothing, but Boydy is big enough and ugly enough to look after himself on that one.
"With the incident, I thought it was handball, but that's just my opinion. But we didn't make anything of it. It's no problem. I thought he had a good game, John, overall."
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here