CELTIC last night criticised the SFA disciplinary process after Rangers striker Alfredo Morelos escaped retrospective punishment for his actions at Ibrox last Saturday.

The Parkhead club also called on the SFA to allow John Beaton, the match official in the Ladbrokes Premiership match, to explain his decisions publicly.

And the Scottish champions, who lost the game 1-0, revealed they have requested a meeting with Ian Maxwell, the chief executive, and John Fleming, the head of refereeing.

The SFA announced on Thursday that Morelos, whose time in Scotland has been plagued by disciplinary problems, wouldn’t face any action for three incidents in the match.

The Colombian was seen kicking out at Scott Brown in the first-half of the Glasgow derby and then stamping on Anthony Ralston and grabbing Ryan Christie in the second.

But SFA compliance officer Clare Whyte is unable to raise a fast-track notice of complaint if any of the three match officials has seen the incidents - which Beaton had.

But Celtic, who revealed that Ralston suffered an injury, have questioned the logic behind that and urged the governing body to allow Beaton to explain his decisions.

The Celtic statement read: “Celtic Football Club is surprised that there will be no disciplinary action taken by the Scottish FA regarding the incidents during the match on December 29, which have been widely addressed in the media.

“It is reported that no action was taken because the match referee saw all of the incidents in question.

“Given that the referee took no action at the time, this tends to suggest that such conduct, which in one instance led to a Celtic player, Anthony Ralston, being injured, is acceptable in Scottish football. That cannot be right.

"On the day, Celtic did not play well enough to win the match, something we accept. However, this issue goes beyond the result of the match.

"Celtic is not the only club this season to raise concerns regarding the standard of officiating at matches in Scotland, concerns which have also been shared by many commentators on the game.

"In order to fully understand what is going on, Celtic, our supporters, Scottish clubs and the general Scottish football public need transparency in these matters, and we therefore call on the Scottish FA to allow the referee, John Beaton, to explain these decisions publicly as well as any match officials involved in other similar circumstances.

"In the meantime, we have requested a meeting with Scottish FA Chief Executive, Ian Maxwell, and the Association's Head of Refereeing."

Referees used to be able to explain decisions on "Whistleblower" on the official SFA website, but the section was closed down.

Rangers called for a change in the rules back in November after their appeal against the red card Ibrox winger Daniel Candeias received in a game against St Mirren was dismissed by the SFA.

They also claimed their were “underlying issues” with match official Willie Collum – criticism they were fined £6,000 for by an SFA disciplinary panel last month due to “indicating bias or incompetence” by the referee.