Referee for Saturday’s Clydesdale Bank Premier League clash with Hearts at Fir Park will be the familiar face of Alan Muir.
Incredibly, it will be Muir’s fifth Motherwell match of the campaign after previously taking charge of Celtic’s 4-0 win in early September, the 1-0 win over Aberdeen, Bob McHugh scoring the winning goal, some fourteen days later, the 3-0 victory of St Johnstone at McDiarmid Park and, most recently, the 3-1 home win over Dunfermline last month.
He also managed four matches last season too, having overseen the 1-1 draw with St Mirren in Paisley last November, January’s 2-0 home win over Hibs, February’s 6-0 capitulation at Ibrox and at Celtic Park as an unfamiliar side crashed to a 4-0 defeat with Stuart McCall resting players ahead of the Scottish Cup Final.
He’ll be a familiar face to Motherwell fans having handled three games the season before last as well.
A 4-0 defeat by Celtic in Glasgow was instantly forgettable. He also took charge of the 3-2 extra-time with over Inverness Caledonian Thistle in the Co-operative Insurance Cup Fourth Round and the lively 2-2 draw against Dundee United back in late November 2009.
In all those games he has produced 43 yellow cards, 22 of which were shown to a player in claret and amber, and three red cards, the first given to former defender Paul Quinn for a professional foul on David Fernandez in a 1-0 defeat to Killie, to Michael Higdon, then an opposition player, in a game with St Mirren last November and, most recently, Stephen Craigan in the last match the Pars.
The 36-year-old has taken charge of twelve SPL games in this campaign, including Kilmarnock’s 1-1 draw with Dundee Utd, Rangers’ 2-0 win at McDiarmid Park, Kilmarnock’s 1-0 win over both Hearts at Tynecastle and Rangers at Rugby Park Inverness CT’s 2-1 victory of Aberdeen on Christmas Eve.
Alan will be ably assisted on the day by Gordon Middleton and Gary Cheyne, with Stephen Finnie on fourth official duties. Referee observer is Ray Morrison and the SPL delegate is Andy Ritchie.