Celtic WANT to win but Rangers NEED victory as Hotline floats Dundee solution that would send conspiracy theorists wild

You can feel like a referee after an hour on the Hotline in Old Firm week as fans of both sides go at each other.

So you can only imagine what it must be like to be the man in the middle for the actual main event. Whatever the Scottish Football Association are paying John Beaton to run out at Ibrox Stadium on Sunday lunchtime isn’t enough and he faces a thankless task trying to keep order as the fierce rivals prepare to go head to head in Govan.

And two calls in succession sum up why Beaton is in a no-win situation. Jack Armstrong, Bathgate, said: “You really have to laugh at these fans who think John Beaton will give Celtic anything on Sunday. He has his own Rangers Supporters Club! Look what happened with Willie Collum - it took a while for him to referee a Rangers game again after the club complained about him but after Brendan Rodgers outed Don Robertson and John Beaton they get the next two Celtic games. Coincidence? I don’t think so.”

Chris Lowe, Yoker, said: “Chris Sutton seems to have plenty to say on John Beaton being appointed to do the Old Firm game. I must have missed his previous columns when serial offenders Kevin Clancy, Willie Collum, Don Robertson and Frank Connor were appointed to this fixture."

Kenny Wilson, Moffat, said: “In reference to Gary Stephenson saying Celtic are making excuses - it’s nothing of the sort. It’s a fact John Beaton should not be near this game but let’s hope the referee plays no part in the outcome of the game either way. As for excuses? His club is the best. The refs fault they lost the last two games against us, it was every other club in Scotland’s fault they got put down to the bottom division and it was even somebody else’s fans who wrecked Manchester. There’s a