Collum set to referee Hampden showdown

WILLIE Collum has been named as the referee for next month’s Betfred Cup final between Rangers and Celtic.

Rangers were last season fined for criticism of Collum after accusing him of having an “underlying issue”.

Collum has refereed two Rangers games since those remarks, which cost the club a £6000 fine. Rangers announced they would lodge a formal complaint against Collum after failing to overturn a second yellow card for Daniel Candeias in a victory over St Mirren on November 3 last year.

Their statement added: “This is by no means the first time errors of judgement have been made in matches involving this official and clearly there is an underlying issue which requires to be addressed.”

Rangers received a fine after being found guilty of two charges at a subsequent Scottish Football Association disciplinary hearing, for criticising a match official in such a way as to indicate bias or incompetence, or make remarks which impinge on his character, and for not acting in the “best interests of association football”. Three other charges were either not proven or withdrawn.

Collum did not referee another Rangers game until the final Ladbrokes Premiership fixture of last season, before taking charge of the William Hill Scottish Cup final between Celtic and Hearts.

The Lanarkshire-based official last took charge of a meeting between the Glasgow teams in September last year, when Celtic won 1-0 at Parkhead.

Meanwhile, Scotland have moved back into the top 50 in FIFA’s world rankings after beating Cyprus and Kazahkstan earlier this month.

Steve Clarke’s side have climbed three places to 50th on the latest standings released by football’s governing body.

Scotland began 2019 in 40th spot and were as low as 53rd just last month.

The national team wrapped up their Group I Euro 2020 qualifying campaign with victories over Cyprus and Kazakhstan. Play-off semi-final opponents Israel are have fallen four places to 93rd while Norway and Serbia, Scotland’s potential rivals in the final, are 44th and 29th respectively.