Chris Sutton was 100% correct in his evaluation of John Beaton on Monday night.
The referee got a massive call wrong against Dundee United when he ruled off Daizen Maeda’s goal for a handball by Giorgos Giakoumakis.
Every pundit and media outlet in Scotland unequivocally agreed that Beaton misinterpreted the rules and wrongly chalked of Maeda’s strike.
Which makes this rant against the former Celtic striker just completely bizarre.
Former referee Des Roache was speaking on the Get Involved Referee podcast when he took a swipe at Sutton for his comments regarding under fire referee John Beaton, “I think I’d be questioning the understanding of the rule book by most pundits.
“If you’re working at a high profile game broadcasting to the nation and questioning the referee’s knowledge of the laws of the game then you should have that knowledge yourself.
“Why not get all of the presenters or pundits to be given a better understanding of the laws – it would give them more credence when they’re broadcasting.
“It’s disrespectful but John is probably relaxed about it – it’s water off a duck’s back – especially as our knowledge of the laws of the game is encyclopaedic compared to theirs.
“I guess it’s playing to the audience – but if you’re going to question a referee’s understanding of the laws then you had better be damned sure that you know them inside out.”
Here’s the thing, and I’ll say it again. Sutton was 100% correct. Beaton got it wrong. So wrong that it was picked up almost immediately.
And if, as Roache claims, Beaton’s knowledge of the game was encyclopaedic, how did he not know the handball rule had changed but most pundits did?
And as for playing out to the audience, there seems to be only one person doing that Des isn’t there?
And it’s not Sutton.