Dickinson and Robertson fail miserably to stop Celtic at Easter Road…Over to you Brother Beaton
What kind of mischief will John Beaton get up to at Tynecastle tonight?
Eric Knott 
EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND - MAY 03: Referee David Dickinson talks to Hibernian's Nicky Cadden as a VAR review is underway for possible handball for Hibernian's Joe Newell's goal to make it 1-1 during a William Hill Premiership match between Hibernian and Celtic at Easter Road, on May 03, 2026, in Glasgow, Scotland. (Photo by Ross Parker/SNS Group via Getty Images)
Oh, I have to say I’m loving all of the conspiracy theories emerging on the Ibrox forums since Celtic’s win yesterday at Easter Road.
The main one, of course, outside the expected refereeing conspiracies, is that Jamie McGrath got himself sent off on purpose.
The second it happened I messaged my editor and said they would lose the plot over it and say he did it deliberately because he was Irish and a Celtic fan.
I wasn’t wrong.
In reality, Don Robertson had no choice but to call David Dickinson to the monitor for that one.
McGrath went in studs up and caught Alistair Johnston on the ankle.
It was a poor tackle, and it deserved a red.
But let’s be honest here.
Does anybody think that Jamie McGrath – in that split second – decided that the best way to help Celtic was to maim Alistair Johnston with a brutal tackle?
Really?
If this is the case, then the same conspiracy theory applies to the Edinburgh derby last week, does it not?
David Gray is a Hearts fan, so he instructed his players to be totally ill-disciplined against their bitter rivals.
As a result, Raphael Sallinger and Felix Passlack got themselves sent off to help Hearts win the title, right?
Bollocks, I know.
The same applies to McGrath’s tackle on Alistair Johnston, he mis-timed it.
Simple as.
And deservedly got himself sent off.
Even if it was for the first time in his career as this poor Ibrox dear was at pains to point out.
Funny how Jamie McGrath has played 424 games in his career
— Rangers Spares (@Rangers_Spares_) May 3, 2026
He’s NEVER had a red card in any of those games even as a second yellow
Until it comes down to a title chase involving his boyhood club Celtic 😂
Same with Celtic fan/St Mirren keeper Ryan Mullen gifted them goals then…
In reality, some of yesterday’s refereeing decisions beggared belief.
Which we all expected they would.
It was blatantly obvious that every effort was being put in to stop Celtic yesterday.
And you don’t need to be a conspiracy theorist to see what’s right in front of your eyes.
It started with Red Card Ross.
He couldn’t help himself in his eagerness to hold up the offside flag for Celtic and Maeda’s opening goal.
Which was proven to be well onside after Robertson in the VAR room reviewed it.
But that was really only the beginning of the inexplicable decisions that were the order of the day.
I know people, well not people of a Celtic persuasion, will want to know what we’re complaining about?
We did win the game after all, and the 3 points are in the bag.
But it was fine margins all the way.
This was on a knife edge.
The most ridiculous decision of the day came in first half injury time.
And when you even have the village idiot admitting it was a handball, you know exactly what the agenda was yesterday.
Joe Newell handled the ball, it hit his arm, his hand brought it under control, and then he scored from it.
Newell himself knew he got away with one after the goal was awarded.
His facial expressions said it all.
It’ll be interesting to see how Willie Collum unspins all of what he said in this clip on his VAR reveiw:
Here Willie Collum clearing up the rules… pic.twitter.com/KvYdWgd9vC
— Jordan Murphy (@JordanMurphy_25) May 3, 2026
No doubt he’ll try to tell you that it looked inconclusive, therefore it couldn’t be awarded.
It looked pretty conclusive to me.
Here is a sane and neutral analysis on it from Jay Bothroyd on Sky Sports.
Everything he says makes perfect sense:
Now we are deciding if it’s a penalty based on how Liam Scales is behaving – it doesn’t matter that he handled it twice the defender thinks he didn’t – fuck me ! https://t.co/4lADZNPxic
— bhoysviews (@bhoysviews) May 4, 2026
Yet Robertson still gave the goal after reviewing it for quite some time in the VAR room.
Agenda or no agenda?
You then have the incident where Benjamin Nygren is pushed inside the Hibernian box, then out of play and almost into the advertising hoarding.
This didn’t even garner so much as a second look from the VAR room.
In any other game, in any other league, this is a stonewaller.
No questions asked.
In Scotland, it doesn’t even warrant being looked at.
Said at the time. Two hand push in the box. Totally ignored 😂 pic.twitter.com/475ElcjAzo
— 20 Minute Tims (@20MinuteTims) May 3, 2026
A two handed push, in the box, which sends the player crashing out of play and almost into the advertising hoarding?
Nothing to see here.
Move on.
I think Harry Brady from the Celtic Undergorund’s X “debate” with Tom English pretty much sums it up.
They couldn’t be cheating, could they?
If you give that goal you’re a cheat. A fucking corrupt cheat.
— Harry Brady (@HarryBradyCU) May 3, 2026
No ifs no buts a cheating fucking cheat of the highest cheating variety.
“a goal is disallowed if the ball touches an attacking player’s hand or arm, even accidentally, immediately before a goal is scored.”
Click into the thread to see English’s utterly inane comments.
They sum up that cretin in a nutshell.
In fact they sum up the entire attitude of the SMSM towards Scottish refereeing.
I know we won yesterday.
But the officials did their utmost to impede that outcome.
They failed, miserably, despite their blatant attempts to do so.
I’ve broken it down as best I can so that you can see there are no conspiracies here.
Regardless of what the moon howling Ibrox nuts say.
Now we can sit back and watch John Beaton and Andrew Dallas go all out to help their favourite team this evening.
But there’ll be no conspiracies tomorrow in Ibroxland if they win with a little help from Brother Beaton, will there?
Conspiracies only happen when Celtic are playing.
Or do they?
Well, I’ve pretty much debunked all of the bullshit doing the rounds on social media and their forums today.
It doesn’t take much to do that.
The facts are the facts.
They aren’t conspiracies.
Joe Newell handled the ball, Benjamin Nygren was blatantly pushed in the box, and Red card Ross couldn’t help himself when it came to raising the offside flag for our first goal.
These are facts.
End of story.
Key Takeaways
- Conspiracy theories arise after Celtic’s victory, particularly around Jamie McGrath’s red card during the match.
- Critics argue that the referee made questionable decisions to impede Celtic’s performance throughout the game.
- Instances of poor officiating included a missed handball by Joe Newell and a lack of VAR review for a push on Benjamin Nygren in the box.
- Despite claims of referee bias, the author believes these alleged conspiracies lack credible evidence and remain unfounded.
- The article concludes that the game had its controversies, but insists that it does not indicate any conspiracy against Celtic.
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Aodhán Ó Conchobhair 
Whoever comes out on top tonight will have this refereeing society completely behind them every game that’s left this season Eric and we all know it COYBIG 🍀🇮🇪
We all know the script , and for those that don’t where have been watching your football certainly not at celtic games, but we are on this invidious position thanks to Desmond and his cabal their corporate greed has left us with a threadbare squad and inferior players, stop giving them your money or you are complicit in this disaster
Are you running a book for the amount of times ‘The Billy Boys ‘ will be sang by both sets of fans this evening ..in glorious harmony ? You will make a nice few sovs in the process . Hey .. maybe Del boy McInnes will join in ? He knows all the words and correct phrasing ..like a proper fan boy ! Any rendition from either set of fans will be music to his ears…a win /win situation !
It’s as conclusive hand ball by newell . 3 more games to go but the officials decisions we have to overcome as well
Eric , do you think Celtic will make noises about the handball goal ?
FIFA never picked any scottish referees for the World Cup . I wonder why these officials where never picked !!!!!!!!!!!!!