BRENDAN RODGERS has defended the referees in Scotland from some of the scrutinies they now find themselves under but Rodgers words also cut deep to the underlying issue when he describes the officials in Scotland as ‘amateurs’. The Celtic manager doesn’t say this to provide a derogatory synopsis of how he perceives their ability to referee a match but in a very real sense, they are amateurs.

Part time referees with full time jobs making mistakes and getting the same scrutiny as a full time referee would get elsewhere. The number of wildly inaccurate and game changing decisions they’ve presided over would see anyone of us in our normal day jobs be told to get lost. Heck if we had a full-time job and a part-time job on the side we weren’t very good at then surely we would be unable to continue in that job.

Instead, we get rhetoric and blister from the referees association and the SFA who almost in tandem express they’re doing their best and if you don’t like it then tough.

Speaking about the current situation to CelticTV, the Parkhead boss was clear and tried his best to take some of the heat off officials.

“It’s a very difficult job up here for referees. The guys are doing their very best. The reality is they are amateurs. They are amateur referees.

“Most of them have jobs to go and work, but the focus doesn’t come off them any less. But that’s the reality of where they are up here. They are amateur referees who will sometimes make mistakes.”

“We only have a very small pool of referees, refereeing in what is a fanatical country for their football.”

Celtic has been on the receiving end of some dubious decisions this season and it would be easy for the Celtic manager to criticise. Instead, he wants to see the SFA and referees up their game and become more involved in our game.

Brendan completely advocates full-time refs and it’s something which should be on the table with everything else at this point.