Hearts v Celtic – Steven McLean has whistle, Greg Aitken is the VAR

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The Celtic Star

·20. November 2024

Hearts v Celtic – Steven McLean has whistle, Greg Aitken is the VAR

Steven McLean has been appointed as the man in the middle for Celtic’s Scottish Premiership fixture with Hearts at Tynecastle on Saturday evening…

Brendan Rodgers’ side travel to the capital aiming to maintain their unbeaten domestic run so far this season. The Scottish champions sit at the foot of the table having accumulated 10 wins from their 11 league outings.

Meanwhile, Hearts’ form under the stewardship of new boss Neil Critchley following the sacking of Steven Naismith in mid September has slightly improved. The Englishman has been victorious in three of his seven competitive matches since arriving at the Tynecastle club.

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Hearts remain on an underwhelming nine points only sitting a point above their archrivals Hibernian who languish in bottom spot.

The two sides met at Paradise earlier in the campaign with Celtic comfortably winning 2-0 versus a then struggling Jambos side. Hearts were the opposition which saw summer signings Arne Engels and Luke McCowan grab their first goals in green and white colours.

However, the last time Rodgers’ men visited Tynecastle it was on afternoon to forget. Indeed, Celtic’s last domestic defeat came in that match at Edinburgh back in March. It was an eventual day as Adam Idah missed from the spot whilst Yang was controversially sent off.

Despite Jorge Grant and Lawrence Shankland sealing the three points for the hosts, much of the discussion post-match was dominated by the bizarre officiating on the pitch from Don Robertson and the directives off it by John Beaton.

For Saturday evening’s clash, as confirmed yesterday by the Scottish FA, Steven McLean is the designated whistler. McLean will be assisted by AR1 Graeme Stewart and AR2 Daniel McFarlane.

Manning VAR duties at Clydesdale House is Greg Aitken with Gary Hilland appointed as the role of AVAR.

Kick off for Hearts v Celtic is 7:45 on Saturday evening. The match is live on Sky Sports Football. As always, for supporters outside Britain and Ireland, Celtic TV are covering the game.

Conor Spence

Celtic in the Thirties by Matt Corr, Volumes One & Two, Published by Celtic Star Books, November 2024.

Matt Corr’s wonderful new books, Celtic in the Thirties, Volumes One & Two are both out now on Celtic Star Books and you can order a signed copies by clicking on the links below…