The Press and Journal (Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire)
Rodgers at ease over ref
Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers is adamant he has no issue with John Beaton refereeing tomorrow’s Premiership title showdown with Rangers, despite his withering assessment of the official’s performance the last time he was involved in a Hoops match.
The Parkhead boss was given a one-match touchline ban for his comments following the 2-0 defeat at Hearts last month after saying he had witnessed “incompetence” from the officials.
Beaton was on VAR duty that day and was namechecked by Rodgers after a match in which he played a part in flagging up the incidents that led to the sending-off of Yang Hyun-jun and then a penalty award against Tomoki Iwata.
Rodgers, however, insisted he was “comfortable” with the choice of referee for tomorrow’s high-noon derby at Ibrox.
“These games are for the top referees and I’ve always said that John Beaton is one of the top referees in the country,” stressed the Hoops manager.
“He’s been allocated the game, I’m comfortable with that. He’s refereed games that have been there before.
“My point (after the Hearts defeat) was for that one game. I wasn’t talking about John Beaton’s career as a referee.
“My gripe was on that day. They will feel they have to appoint someone experienced and John is one of the top, experienced referees in the country.”
Asked if he expected Beaton to be under extra pressure because of the fallout from Celtic’s defeat by Hearts, Rodgers said bluntly: “Don’t know. Not interested. Only interested in Celtic.”
Rodgers believes Celtic are coming to the boil nicely for the title run-in as he prepares to welcome captain Callum McGregor back to action.
“We’ll do one final run with Callum in our last session but he’s done remarkable to be back, he’s way ahead of schedule from what we thought,” said Rodgers.
“It just shows you his professionalism and how hard he’s worked so he’ll be involved in the squad, and if he is, then it’s great news for us in every capacity because we’ll have a clean bill of health, really, for probably the first time this season. But we’ll make a final call on that tomorrow.
“He’s the type of player who can probably get by at 80%. He has that level, that quality.
“But you also have to think about the fact there are remaining games.
“It’s just about being logical and finding out where he’s at with all his tests and measurements.
“He’s been training but we just have to gauge whether he starts, whether he comes into the game or what involvement he has.”
Celtic won 1-0 on their last visit to Ibrox back in September without influential players like Cameron Carter-Vickers and Reo Hatate, so Rodgers – who clearly feels his team have adopted the role of underdogs in the title race – is heartened by the prospect of having his full squad available.