Douglas Ross has issued his response to a banner that was unveiled by fans at Celtic Park while he was officiating as linesman.
The Conservative MSP was running the line at Parkhead on Saturday as the Hoops were 5-1 winners over St Mirren in the Scottish Cup with goals from Reo Hatate, Hyeon-gyu Oh and Matt O'Riley finishing the game in a flurry for Ange Postecoglou's men. Ross who has officiated Scottish top flight games for the past few seasons was one of the linesmen involved in the tie.
During the first half a banner was unveiled from fan group the Green Brigade in their section of the stadium which read: “VAR decision: Douglas Ross is a c***". The banner, which was picked up by the TV cameras of Viaplay Sports, prompted an on-air apology from the broadcaster with the politician now responding to the incident.
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He told Radio Forth News: "I saw the banner being unveiled - I don't think anyone could not have seen it given the size it was - but my duty at Celtic Park was to run the line, be an assistant referee, support the refereeing team and that's where my focus was for the entire 90 minutes.
Asked if he was bothered by it, he added: "Others are looking in to this but my focus during 90 minutes is to get my decisions right. I'm just glad on the day my decisions were correct.
"We had a good Scottish Cup tie. It was six goals and competitive up until a sending off and that changed the nature of the game but ultimately my focus is on the pitch. Others can make comments about both my role as a referee and as a politician but for 90 minutes my focus is on the football."
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