Following last month’s League Cup Final, Willie Collum described Alan Muir’s decision-making as “unacceptable.” Despite the controversy, Muir will be on VAR duty this Saturday for Dundee’s visit to Celtic Park.
The Hampden Final was nearly overshadowed by a penalty incident that led to significant backlash, with Ibrox releasing two statements that painted Muir as the primary culprit.
In response, Muir was excluded from officiating in the next round of SPFL fixtures. However, he is now set to return to the spotlight while Colin Steven takes charge of refereeing duties for Celtic’s clash with in-form Dundee.
Addressing the contentious decision during the VAR Review show, Collum, as reported by the Daily Record, made it clear that the officiating error was unacceptable:
“By firstly acknowledging that it’s a really, really poor decision. It’s an unacceptable decision. The VAR team know that, everybody in refereeing knows that. It’s unacceptable.
We will do our very, very best through our coaching and analysis to make sure an incident like this never happens again. But it’s a mistake, it’s a bad mistake. You talk about accountability. I was very open when I took on this role at the start of the season that there would be accountability in refereeing.”
Muir’s return to high-profile fixtures was perhaps inevitable, given that he is one of three full-time VAR officials alongside Andrew Dallas and Greg Aitken.
Until last season, Muir was still actively refereeing SPFL Premiership matches before transitioning to a full-time VAR role over the summer.
Although Saturday’s match at Celtic Park won’t be televised, it’s unlikely to escape scrutiny. Any errors or controversies involving Muir will undoubtedly draw attention, particularly given the heightened focus on refereeing standards following recent incidents.
