Andy Morris

@GrahamSpiers How many penalties have they had this season Graham and how many of those were given by John Beaton? A statistical anomaly?

Celtic’s grabbing of points in the closing minutes of matches this season has been extraordinary.

@KevinKyle1981 @MarkNewman1994 The throw in is not legal, foot is well over the line and Nicholsons hand is only in that position due to his arm being lifted by Trusty. For Beaton to make that decision with a 5 second look is astounding. And for them not to check the legality of the throw in is incompetence.

@MarkNewman1994 Just asking a question im not sure what the real outcome should be, picture is probably fake, im struggling to understand how the ball travelled so far, looks a header, it’s not clear and obvious. Minefield

Missing a lot of variables big man

@JeffH1960 @lynne_thomson2 The throw in is not legal, foot is well over the line and Nicholsons hand is only in that position due to his arm being lifted by Trusty. For Beaton to make that decision with a 5 second look is astounding. And for them not to check the legality of the throw in is incompetence.

Gary Lineker, Don Hutchison, Charlie Austin, Jeff Stelling, Bobby Madden, Steve Conroy, thousands of fans from Scotland, England and the world over. All wrong about the phantom penalty. Football people with two good, working eyes. Only the beneficiaries think it was. Very telling

@pieandbov The throw in is not legal, foot is well over the line and Nicholsons hand is only in that position due to his arm being lifted by Trusty. For Beaton to make that decision with a 5 second look is astounding. And for them not to check the legality of the throw in is incompetence.

The morning after the night before. Firstly, it’s 2026, let’s stop using still images to try and confirm anything that happens on a football pitch. Video brings context. Secondly, and related to point one, for fucks sake use some common sense. An image showing two balls and an English Premier League badge on the Motherwell shirt is actually being circulated by some people as “proof” of what happened 😂 Thirdly, unless you are genuinely blind, I think we can all agree on one point now. The ball absolutely DOES hit his hand, the evidence of that in slow motion and zoomed in, is absolutely clear. Fourth, the distance on the ball is because Nicholson does indeed head it, but he heads it with his hand between his head and the ball. Again that is absolutely clear when you watch it zoomed in and in slow mo, IMO. So, and this is only my opinion of course, the only debate to be had is about whether the hand is in an unnatural position or if his hand has ended up there because of contact from Trusty. For me, whilst his arm isn’t making his silhouette bigger, you can’t really say it being on his forehead is a natural position 🤷‍♂️ Whether a nudge by Trusty pushed his arm up there is I suppose up for some debate but that’s pretty subjective, again IMO, and could be argued either way. So, despite the initial furore, by me included, I genuinely can see why this has been given. In terms of “the worst VAR decision of all time”it’s not even close to being as bad as either of the penalties Hearts didn’t get just three days ago at the same ground. Most neutrals, me included, want Hearts to win the league, and that incident last night was massively disappointing, but I think we all need to calm down a bit. What it has shown though, is that we desperately need more and better camera angles if we are stuck with VAR, and we also need much clearer and consistent decisions on handball cos we are making an absolute arse of dealing with it up here. Some refs give what others don’t, and it’s incredibly frustrating (again see Fir Park on Sat night). That’s my 2p worth anyway, all I know for sure is it’s a very good time to be a football forum owner 🤪

@TEnglishSport @DonaldsonESPN The throw in is not legal, foot is well over the line and Nicholsons hand is only in that position due to his arm being lifted by Trusty. For Beaton to make that decision with a 5 second look is astounding. And for them not to check the legality of the throw in is incompetence.

Late finish. Profoundly grim that a penalty could be given for that and in those circumstances. A shocking call.

@AHoran79 His arm is lifted up by the Celtic players shoulder.

Goodness! X is rather lively tonight. Everybody and their granny weighing in on the Celtic penalty decision. Rather than questioning referees and VAR, folks might want to ask the Motherwell player what the heck he was playing at putting his hand so high between his head and the ball in the last seconds of the game.

@Brivanhooijdonk @Billyballoonhe2 @AgentScotland How its got there is the issue, not to mention its a foul throw as the Celtic players foot is over the line.

@AndyM1874 @Billyballoonhe2 @AgentScotland What’s this then ? Five fingers - could it be a hand ?

At the game, thought they were checking penalty for the elbow, even though they announced it as potentiel handball, thought the announcer made a mistake, thought the elbow would've been very harsh, but just saw the handball there and there's no debating it. Silly from Nicholson.

@Brivanhooijdonk @Billyballoonhe2 @AgentScotland Its a header not a penalty. Not in a million years.

@AndyM1874 @Billyballoonhe2 @AgentScotland So it hits his hand

@Auldheid Who?

So McKiness is saying referees and Celtic are cheating? Repercussions?

@SwavGav71 @JimSpenceDundee If you’re a Celtic fan absolutely.

@AndyM1874 @JimSpenceDundee Penalty. All day long.

I ask only one question. Does that penalty get awarded at the other end at that stage in the game?

@Billyballoonhe2 @AgentScotland His arm is lifted by the celtic players shoulder

@AndyM1874 @AgentScotland His hand is in front of his head

@old_punky @theawayfans His arm is lifted by the celtic player not by himself

@theawayfans Clear handball and arm not in a normal position. It's hard to jump with hands down by your sides but by the laws of the game it's handball.

Celtic were given a last gasp penalty at Motherwell for this… Correct decision? 🤨🤨

@chris_sutton73 The games bent.

That’s mental as anything… Celtic didn’t deserve it but huge result. That goal changes everything. Balls of steel from Iheanacho 🍀👏👏

@ScotlandSky Dermot the Celtic fan loses his objectivity. The head of referees in Scotland has said it’s a penalty. That’s because it’s a penalty.

🗣️ "It's a coming together more than a foul..." Ref Watch's Dermot Gallagher agrees with the decision NOT to award Hearts a penalty in their 1-1 draw with Motherwell ⤵️

@gtj1247 His arm is across his chest. Have you ever watched football? It was checked by var for all of 2 seconds.

Just catching up Frankie Kent handball.. How's Greg Aitken VAR not calling McLean over? Shot going over Kent's shoulder & certain goal, or deflecting off Kent on target, so Kent lifts hand & saves it. Hearts conceded 0 penalties... now allowed 11 goalies on the pitch - WOW!

Go Hearts women. Great result!! 👏👏👏🇱🇻🇱🇻🇱🇻

A 𝐇𝐔𝐆𝐄 three points for the Jambos! 🇱🇻 Two to go. 𝐁𝐄𝐋𝐈𝐄𝐕𝐄.

We are always so quick to complain about the standard of refereeing in this country, yet when a referee makes a genuinely good decision like McLean does here, the team on the end of it still makes a ridiculous fuss. It goes both ways and sometimes our refs should be praised.