Celtic manager describes John Beaton as ‘one of the best’.

Brendan Rodgers has broken his silence on John Beaton’s appointment as referee for Celtic’s vital away game against Rangers this weekend.

He will be the man in the middle at Ibrox when Glasgow’s two biggest clubs meet on Sunday lunchtime in what promises to be a nail-biting match.

The teams at the top of the Premiership are separated by only one point, and the title fight is likely to go down to the wire for the first time in more than a decade this season.

On Tuesday, the Scottish FA announced that Beaton would be the on-field official for the huge game.

That decision came only weeks after Rodgers slammed his ‘incompetence’ in making VAR decisions as Hearts defeated the champions at Tynecastle.

The Northern Irishman was given a two-game suspension for his outburst, with one of those games suspended, allowing him to be in the away dugout this weekend.

And, despite his recent clash with Beaton, he believes he is ‘comfortable’ with him in charge, admitting he is one of Scotland’s greatest referees.

“For me, for John to be given the game, these games are for the top referees, and I’ve always said that John Beaton is one of the top referees in the country.

“So, he’s been allocated the game, I’m comfortable with that. He’s refereed games that have been there before.

“My point, like I said before, was for that one game. I’m not talking about John Beaton’s career as a referee. My gripe was on that day.

“They feel they have to appoint someone who is experienced and John is one of the top experienced referees in the country.”

In other news, Chris Sutton condemns Ally McCoist’s “reckless and irresponsible” hate crime remarks.