Rangers vs Celtic referee revealed as Don Robertson's unlikely Hampden stand-in earns him Ibrox starring role

Don Robertson will be the man in the middle for the derby between Rangers and Celtic when the sides face off on Sunday for the first time this season.

The whistler will be assisted by Frank Connor and David Roome with Steven McLean as the fourth official at Ibrox Stadium and Alan Muir on VAR, assisted by Daniel McFarlane.

Robertson was given an eleventh hour call up for the Scottish Cup semi-final between the bitter rivals last season. He was due to be fourth official with Willie Collum taking centre stage but the veteran referee suffered a calf injury in the warm up and had to pull out. And it was only 10 minutes before kick-off that Robertson was confirmed as taking over the main role. He had to be careful himself after going into the game without a warm-up due to the fact he was meant to be standing between the managers on the touchline.

He later said: “It was just like a normal game until 1.15pm. I was out pitchside watching the guys warm up and taking in a bit of the atmosphere. Willie came off and there was nothing abnormal. When we got in the changing room Willie said he thought he’d done his calf.

“He thought it was serious but he didn’t want to call off. The former SFA doctor John MacLean was working at the game and assessed him between 1.15pm and 1.20pm. I thought it didn’t look good and decided I’d better get ready in case he had to call off. At around 1.20pm they made the decision he wasn’t going to start so I had ten minutes’ notice."