STEVEN McLEAN will be in charge of the third Premiership derby of the season when Celtic face Barry Ferguson’s Ibrox side at Parkhead on Sunday.
John Beaton will be at the VAR controls with Graeme Stewart and Dougie Potter as the referee’s assistants.
McLean was the match official caught up in the VAR storm when the champions suffered their second league defeat of the campaign in the 2-1 loss against Hibs at Easter Road last month.
With seven minutes to go and Brendan Rodgers’ side trailing 2-1, Daizen Maeda thought he had collected his second goal of the afternoon when he pounced on a rebound from keeper Jordan Smith after a cross from the byline by Alistair Johnston.
IT’S A GOAL – OR IS IT? Referee Steven McLean signals the strike against Hibs is good as Daizen Maeda and Filipe Jota celebrate, but VAR’s Alan Muir had other thoughts.
The referee immediately signalled a goal and was backed up by his standside linesman David Roome, but VAR official Alan Muir stepped in to rule out what was a legitimate equalising goal by insisting the ball was out before the Canadian international defender sent over his cross.
It was later declared an erroneous call by Muir, as CQN reported last week.
No blame was attached to McLean who awarded the goal before being overturned by the technician in the Glasgow studio.
We must hope there is no hint of controversy on this occasion with Celtic going into the match with a 16-point advantage and just three wins from their fourth successive title.
