The campaign against head of refereeing Willie Collum intensifies – is it because of his Celtic leanings, or his faith?

Now, before I get into this article, I will first point out that I’ve never thought that Willie Collum was a good referee.

Nor can I say that he’s been a fantastic head of refereeing either.

But I will give him one thing.

At least he has attempted to add some transparency to what has always been some kind of secret society in Scottish football.

For years, referees in Scotland have been pretty much untouchable, and very rarely ever had their decisions questioned.

Collum’s referee review does exactly that, and it highlights questionable decisions on an open forum.

I’m sure there are referees out there who don’t like that.

While the idea of this review is admirable, nonetheless, it hasn’t improved refereeing standards in any way, shape or form.

At the same time, it seems to have left Collum open for criticism

Recently, former referee Bobby Madden, whose leanings we’re all acutely aware of, stated that Collum hadn’t had a positive impact since becoming head of refereeing.

The man who failed to award Celtic a penalty after Clint Hill performed a karate kick on Leigh Griffiths back in 2017 said that Scottish referees were ‘killing the game’.

Madded reckons that referees keep slowing the game down needlessly, awarding free kicks for every little misdemeanour:

This is a comment I get from people involved in football in Scotland. Referees in Scotland are killing the game and by killing the game, I mean stopping at every opportunity. If it’s in the defensive third or the middle of the field of play and I can tell you why this is. The way Willie Collum refereed was ‘safe refereeing,’ don’t let the game breathe, don’t let a 50/50 go. It kills the game. I was very much ‘let it go within reason’.

Let it go within reason…

Yes, we all remember how much Bobby Madden ‘let go within reason’ in his final game in Scottish football.

I certainly remember how much he let go in the Scottish Cup Semi-final at Hampden against in the Ibrox side in April 2022.

On that particular day, a frothing at the mouth John Lundstram was allowed to run amok.

I could go on about Madden, but as discussed on the Trinity Tims on Monday night, he isn’t criticising Collum because of his ability, it’s because of his leanings.

Most Celtic fans know that Collum is a Celtic fan.

In addition to that, he is Catholic.

It’s pretty easy to understand why Bobby Madden, a former Orange Lodge member and Ibrox season ticket holder, doesn’t like Willie Collum

Madden’s criticism seems have to opened an avenue for further attacks on Collum.

Now former ‘grade one’ referee, Des Roache, has taken aim at Collum as well.

He believes that Collum has treated current referee Matthew McDermid appallingly.

Speaking on the Record hotline, of all places, here’s some of what he had to say on a penalty McDermid awarded to Partick Thistle last Friday night:

It’s nothing personal against Matthew, absolutely not. I just don’t think he’s being handled in the best way.

He’s clearly a talented referee because his ability has got him to where he is. But like a player, a referee can fall out of form and make mistakes. With referees that’s highlighted even more because they generally have a lot of significance in games.

By saying that McDermid is a talented referee, Roache means he’s not.

He’s just trying to say it in the nicest possible way.

But Matthew keeps being thrown into these big games, and he’s not going to say no. Just like a player, you’re always going to want to start, you’re always going to want to referee the big games.

But he’s making errors, and making errors on a frequent basis. They’re getting more prominent; none more prominent than the one in Ayr United vs Partick Thistle on the Friday evening. Even the Partick Thistle manager is coming out and admitting they’ve got away with one.

A guy who makes errors on a frequent basis isn’t a ‘talented referee’

He’s a target for ridicule, and an avenue to criticise the head of refereeing.

It’s also a well known fact what team McDermid supports too.

Now, once again, I don’t care who he supports, Roache is right, he isn’t a good referee.

In fact, both he and another relatively new referee, Ryan Lee, had shockers over the weekend.

You’ll not that there was zero criticism aimed at Lee’s chronic performance at Easter Road last Sunday, though.

Just McDermid’s at Firhill, and in turn Collum’s handling of him.

Roache really goes to town on him, and then blame’s Collum for all of his errors:

Matthew had been in Estonia on the Wednesday night officiating. He then came back on the Thursday, he’d have been at work on the Friday, then he was refereeing that game on the Friday night. That accumulation of travel will have been absolutely shattering.

The next night he was VAR at Dundee vs Rangers. It just keeps accumulating.

If that was a player having those errors, the manager would maybe drop him to the bench, take him out of the limelight for a couple of weeks, do some coaching, and then drip them back in.

In my opinion, the duty of care that Matthew is receiving is appalling. He’s not being looked after, he’s not being coached. That’s only coming from one man.

I’m not being an after-timer here, I’ve said for numerous years that your referees are only as good as the coaching they receive. That’s coming from one man, and it’s Willie Collum. In my opinion, he is not doing a particularly good job.

It looks like it’s open season on Collum.

What Bobby Madden has started, has now gathered momentum.

As the weeks go by, I’d expect more and more criticism to be aimed at Collum.

The question is, how much of it is legitimate, and how much of it is because of his background?

It may be neither, but there is no doubt there is a concerted campaign beginning against Collum.

Developing story…

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