CHARLIE NICHOLAS has claimed that after his move to Aberdeen he stopped receiving a number of "soft decisions" that he would have got at Celtic.

Nicholas left the Hoops in 1983 before going on to enjoy a succesful stint at Arsenal before heading north to the Dons.

In his Daily Express column today Nicholas addressed the issue of referee conspiracies after claims were raised on social media that Rangers were getting favourable decisions from whistlers.

It comes after the Ibrox outfit were awarded a late spotkick against Aberdeen last week when Fashion Jr went down under the challenge of David Bates.

Nicholas said: "We've had some terrible days. I remember doing the game when Hugh Dallas got hit by the coins. That was a dark, dark day for Scottish football. I have played for Celtic and against Rangers, and against Celtic. I have seen both sides when it comes to referees.

"I remember the Hope brothers, Kenny and Dougie.

"We all knew they were Rangers fans but they were also pretty good referees. You could have a conversation with them and you could wind each other up.

"I also remember the Celtic manager Billy McNeill had a ding-dong with Andrew Waddell. We, at Celtic, always felt he had an agenda against us after that as Billy had challenged him during a game.

"When I went to Aberdeen I felt due to the lack of the crowd you never really got the big decisions.

"It was the big crowds who put the referees on edge. Did they miss something and it puts pressure on them?

"I was never a diver as a player although I did get kicked a lot. There was no doubt that I definitely got some soft decisions because I played for Celtic.

"When I played for Aberdeen, I never got close to the amount of decisions that I probably should have got."