Don Robertson and Celtic: The Nine-Year Trail of Decisions the SFA Cannot Ignore

Don Robertson and Celtic have been involved in enough major refereeing controversies to make the history worth examining.

This is not about claiming every decision Robertson has made against Celtic was wrong. It is about something far more difficult to dismiss: several significant calls involving Celtic have subsequently been contradicted by disciplinary action or independent refereeing reviews.

Don Robertson and Celtic: Five Decisions Backed By Evidence

The trail stretches back to April 2017.

Robertson awarded Ross County a dramatic late penalty after Alex Schalk went down despite no contact from Erik Sviatchenko.

It cost Celtic two points. Remarkably, even Ross County manager Jim McIntyre admitted afterwards: “It’s not a penalty.”

Then came Dundee United in December 2021.

Calum Butcher was shown only yellow by Robertson for a high challenge on David Turnbull. Three former referees subsequently reviewed it and unanimously concluded that a red-card offence had been missed. Butcher eventually received a three-match suspension.

Just weeks later came another.

During Celtic’s Scottish Cup tie at Alloa in January 2022, Mouhamed Niang injured Yosuke Ideguchi with a challenge Robertson punished with another yellow.

The SFA disciplinary process reviewed it. An independent panel upgraded the offence to a red card and Niang received a two-match suspension.

Tynecastle provided another major controversy in March 2024.

Robertson eventually awarded Hearts a penalty for Tomoki Iwata’s handball after VAR intervention. The SFA’s independent VAR review later concluded that penalty had been wrongly awarded.

For balance, that same review also concluded Celtic’s earlier penalty was incorrect. Yang Hyun-jun’s controversial red card was not listed among the identified errors.

Then came Easter Road in May 2026.

Benjamin Nygren was pushed over inside the Hibs penalty area by Josh Campbell. Robertson was VAR and did not recommend a review.

The official Key Match Incident panel subsequently voted unanimously that both the on-field decision and VAR non-intervention were incorrect. It stated that a penalty should have been awarded.

Don Robertson and Celtic: Now Comes Paisley

That history gives Saturday’s events against St Mirren even greater scrutiny.

With Robertson operating VAR, Camilo Durán had one Celtic goal disallowed for offside.

Later, Shim Mheuka scored, but the normal virtual offside lines could not be produced. Referee Ryan Lee was instead sent to the monitor and overturned the goal following a visual assessment.

Those Paisley decisions have not yet been officially declared incorrect. That distinction matters.

There is no evidence here proving conspiracy or deliberate bias.

What does exist is a documented nine-year sequence containing decisions against Celtic that were subsequently acknowledged as incorrect.

That alone should make the latest controversy impossible for the SFA to simply brush aside.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Robertson’s 2017 Ross County penalty was condemned even by the opposition manager.
• Butcher and Niang both escaped red cards before retrospective disciplinary action followed.
• The Iwata penalty and Nygren non-penalty were subsequently judged incorrect.
• Paisley now raises fresh questions that the SFA must answer publicly.