‘The referees are all Fenians now’, peak delusion as Ibrox fans and fan media are convinced all the referees are predominantly Celtic fans now

Since VAR was introduced in the Scottish Premiership in late 2022, attitudes have changed completely as refereeing of the game has become much more transparent than it used to be.

Referees who were traditionally perceived to have certain biases, now have to referee the game almost to the letter of the law in conjunction with VAR.

In the past, certain referees would wave away stonewall penalties, ignore assaults on the pitch, and continuously make decisions that favoured their favourite team.

With a second pair of eyes in the VAR room, this has now become less prevalent.

While the traditional biases are still there for all to see, they cannot be exploited to the levels they were before VAR was introduced.

As a result of this, all referees in the Scottish game have now suddenly become ‘Celtic fans’.

As if this was a condition brought on by refereeing the game to the letter of the law.

Since last Sunday, there has been mass hysteria from Ibrox surrounding the penalty decision that went against them against Hibernian.

But anybody who is not of an Ibrox persuasion can see clearly that the decision to call Don Robertson to the monitor was the correct one.

The mass hysteria in question has pretty much said, without quite saying it openly, that Matthew McDermid is a Celtic fan, and that’s why he called Robertson to the monitor.

David Edgar, of Heart and Hand infamy, was the individual who set the ball rolling on this.

A grim, grim day.

Rangers 1-2 Hibernian Postmatch Reaction 9 Aug 2026 https://t.co/fjCw9nLE8a

— Heart & Hand Podcast (@ibroxrocks) August 9, 2026

Apparently according to Edgar, Matthew McDermid is ‘a guy who is at that centre of far too many of these’.

Well, I’d challenge Edgar to get us evidence of all those dodgy decisions Matthew McDermid has been at the centre of.

Since Sunday, that penalty decision has been examined to the nth degree.

Blind rage has stopped anybody from seeing that it was actually the correct decision.

Jason Kerr is watching the ball as the Hibernian corner is taken.

Vanja Dragojevic is not.

Dragojevic has a chunk of Kerr’s jersey in his hand, and he effectively wrestles him to the ground.

Jason Kerr, as any normal human would do when grappled in the way he was, is trying to push Dragojevic away.

This is not a case of the ‘two of them are at it’.

Kerr is rightfully trying to defend himself and break free of Dragojevic.

There is no controversy here.

This is a stonewall penalty and an easy decision for both the VAR and the on-field referee.

It is not a ‘Fenian’ or ‘Celtic’ facing decision.

It is simply the officials applying the laws of the game.

Matthew McDermid saw the incident in the box which resulted in two players ending up on the deck.

He felt it was worth another look, so he called Don Robertson to the monitor.

Robertson clearly saw what he saw, and agreed it should be a penalty.

It really is that simple.

No unseen Fenian hand at play here, or Celtic supporting biased referees.

There is no doubting that we’re going to see a lot more of this for the coming season.

This hysteria stems from the decision to award Celtic a penalty against Motherwell in the penultimate game of last season.

The fall out from that was so bad that Ibrox fans were labelling John Beaton as a rabid Celtic fan.

As Celtic fans, we all know this is an hilarious assertion.

I’ve lost count of the amount of articles I’ve written about John Beaton and his allegiances over the years.

And I certainly wasn’t trumpeting his love of Celtic.

The man in the VAR room that night’s family name reeks of Celtic hatred, so the assertion that he did it to favour Celtic is risible.

Andrew Dallas once awarded the Ibrox side 4 penalties in one game.

I don’t need to talk about his father’s alleged allegiances either.

This perception that all referees are now suddenly all Celtic facing is comical, and only the moonhowling hordes of Ibrox could up with soemthing like that.

The only reason Ibrox fans think this is because VAR has forced referees to apply the laws of the game evenly, and in a balanced way.

Something which never happened in the days before VAR.

Despite VAR, there are plenty of referees out there who do everything they can to disrupt games Celtic are involved.

They constantly blow the whistle for the slightest infraction, thus ensuring there is little or no tempo allowed to build up in a game.

We could have 85% possession, with the opposition chasing us all throughout the game, and Celtic will still end up with the higher foul count.

This doesn’t happen in any other league.

And we showed plenty of examples of that on the Trinity Tims throughout the entirety of last season.

Saying that referees are now pro-Celtic is a deflection tactic from the failings of the Ibrox side.

Under Danny Rohl last season, and now under their new manager, Staunch Del.

Expect much more of this throughout the coming season.

It’s clear that Matthew McDermid is a target already.

Let’s see how many more will be labelled pro-Celtic throughout the season.

It was bad enough that they did it to John Beaton.

Can you imagine how hysterical it would be if they labelled David Dickinson a Celtic fan.

Now that would really be hilarious!

Watch this space!

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