Thomson to ref Hibs v Rangers Challenge Cup tie

By Adam Higgins
Jul 22, 2015
4 min read

CRAIG Thomson will referee the Petrofac Training Cup 1st round tie between Hibernian and Rangers on Saturday, the SFA has confirmed.

The 43-year-old, from Paisley in Renfrewshire, will take charge at Easter Road as the two Scottish Championship sides battle for a place in round two (KO 12:30pm, live on BBC ALBA).

He will be assisted by linesmen Graham Chambers and Stuart Stevenson while Barry Cook will be the fourth official for the televised encounter.

Hibernian and Rangers both failed in their attempts to gain promotion to the Scottish Premiership via the play-offs after finishing second and third respectively, with Hearts going up automatically as title winners.

Thomson, who is also a solicitor outside of football, had another busy campaign in 2014-15 during which he oversaw 47 matches across seven different competitions.

The Edinburgh-born whistler brandished 179 yellow cards, sent off eight players and awarded nine penalties overall.

His final domestic game came only at the end of May at Fir Park as Motherwell ran out 4-0 winners over Rangers to complete a 6-1 aggregate victory in the Premiership play-off final before he sent off Bilel Moshni and Fraser Kerr following the final whistle after unsavoury scenes broke out on the pitch.

His performance throughout the game, though, brought negative comments on social media:

Two weeks later, Thomson was in the middle for his second Euro 2016 qualifier of the campaign and handed out five yellows as Switzerland won 2-1 in Lithuania.

The Uefa Elite Category official, who handled two games as referee at Euro 2012 and three games as a fourth official at Euro 2008, also oversaw two Champions League and two Europa League matches last term but only one beyond the group stages.

Among his domestic highlights last term were a Dundee cup derby, Highlands derby between Inverness and Ross County, the League Cup semi-final between Old Firm rivals Celtic and Rangers as well as refereeing 26 Premiership matches.

Thomson was also in charge of a controversial Scottish Cup quarter-final at Tannadice in March as Dundee United took Celtic to a replay in which he sent off Dundee United's Paul Paton and Paul Dixon and Celtic's van Dijk as well as awarding two penalties.

Despite their participation in the Scottish second tier, Thomson refereed five Rangers games last season including league fixtures against champions Hearts at both Ibrox and Tynecastle.

Inactive: Thomson has not officiated a match in the Petrofac Training Cup for nine seasons (Picture from Sky Sports)

But for the first time since the 2000/01 campaign, he went an entire season without officiating a match involving Hibernian.

Thomson has also not overseen a Challenge Cup tie since he was appointed to the 2006 final when Ross County beat 10-man Clyde on penalties at St Johnstone's McDiarmid Park.

He has only taken charge of two previous matches between Hibernian and Rangers, both in the Scottish Cup in March 2008 when he sent off Gers keeper Allan McGregor in a goalless draw at Easter Road before dismissing Gers striker Nacho Novo and boss Walter Smith in the Ibrox replay a week later.

Thomson has a plethora of high-profile domestic fixtures under his belt having been in the middle for three Scottish Cup Finals, three League Cup Finals, two Scottish Cup semi-finals, five League Cup semi-finals, 11 Old Firm derbies and five Edinburgh derbies.

Number one: Thomson is often considered over other officials to take charge of high-profile matches because of his wealth of experience (Picture from BBC Scotland)

On the European stage, Thomson was criticised for his poor handling of the Champions League quarter-final second leg between Borussia Dortmund and Malaga in 2013 while Dortmund's two late goals in their 3-2 win appeared to be offside.

Two years earlier, he was the man in black for Barcelona's 5-1 thrashing of Shakhtar Donetsk in the Champions League quarter-finals and has also refereed Europa League semi-final first legs in both 2011 and 2012 as well as a last-eight first leg in 2010.

For a number of years, Thomson - who missed out on going to the 2014 World Cup in Brazil - has held the mantle of being Scotland’s leading match official but it is widely thought that he has now been overtaken in that respect by Willie Collum.

Having first taken up the whistle in 1988, he was promoted to a Category One official in 2002 after just two years in the Scottish Football League and named on the Fifa list just 12 months later.

Thomson, who is well respected among managers and players in Scotland for his approach, has since gone on to establish himself at the highest level with consistent displays on a regular basis but has a tendency to use cards more frequently.

Hibernian and Rangers met at the same stage of the competition for Championship, League One and League Two clubs last term with the Gers progressing 2-1 after extra time at Ibrox as Hibs' Danny Handling was sent off by referee John Beaton.

Beaton was also at the helm when Hibs beat Rangers 1-0 at Easter Road in May in the play-off semi-finals but the Glasgow side went through after winning the first leg 2-0.

Rangers won't have fond memories of their last Challenge Cup match at Easter Road when they lost 1-0 to Raith Rovers in the 2014 final, having begun their campaign that year with a 4-0 win over Albion Rovers in the first round.

Elsewhere, relegated St Mirren's home tie with League One Berwick Rangers will be refereed by Alan Muir, Crawford Allan will take charge of holders Livingston against League Two outfit Clyde and Kevin Clancy will oversee the other all-Championship encounter between Cowdenbeath and Raith Rovers.