Clancy was the man in the middle for the Old Firm clash at Celtic Park which the home side won 3-2. The match involved a contentious decision in the first half when Alfredo Morelos thought he had put Rangers ahead but it was ruled out for a foul on Alistair Johnston.

The SFA confirmed its “a series of unacceptable messages” had been sent via email and phone and the organisation’s security and integrity manager has been liaising with the referee and police.

“The nature of the messages goes way beyond criticism of performance and perceived decision-making – some are potentially criminal in nature and include threats and abuse towards Kevin and his family,” SFA chief Ian Maxwell said. “We have referred the correspondence to the police and condemn this behaviour in the strongest possible terms, as well as the posting of a referee’s personal details online with the sole purpose of causing distress.

“Football is our national game. It improves and saves lives. Without referees, there is no game, and while decisions will always be debated with or without the use of VAR, we cannot allow a situation to develop where a referee’s privacy and safety, and those of his family, are compromised. We all have a responsibility to protect our game and those essential to it.”

The SFA has confirmed, the referee operations team have responded to Rangers request over the Alfredo Morelos decision. It was one which manager Michael Beale was critical of after the game.

“The first goal, you look at Alfredo’s shirt, it’s twisted round his back and I don’t think their player is trying to play the ball," he said. “Only one player is trying to play the ball. There was a lot going on with the two players, so why pick on our player in that moment? Kevin sees it there and then, so the referee on the pitch has to see what he gives. They are very fussy about that.”

Celtic v Rangers referee Kevin Clancy sent threats and abuse as SFA refer 'significant volume' to police

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