Referee Bobby Madden has announced his retirement from football.

The whistler, 43, relocated down south over the summer and took charge of English domestic fixtures instead of Scotland.

But now he will hang up his whistle for a final time after announcing his news on his Instagram.

He said: "Twenty's plenty...It's time to hang up my whistle."

Madden worked as a ref for the past 20 years from 2003 until 2023. He is yet to announce if he will embark on a new venture.

After exiting Scottish football in June 2022, Madden said: "I would like to thank the Scottish FA for their support over the years – from my first match as a young referee to various derby matches and international appointments.

“It’s been some journey in that time, from Scottish Cup finals to refereeing and training during a pandemic, but the time is right for me for a number of reasons to relocate and as a result I’m grateful for the opportunity with the FA.”

Meanwhile, Don Robertson has opened up on his experience of refereeing Sunday's Old Firm clash between Rangers and Celtic.

He said: “It was just like a normal game until 1.15pm. I was out pitchside watching the guys warm up and taking in a bit of the atmosphere.

“Willie came off and there was nothing abnormal. When we got in the changing room Willie said he thought he’d done his calf.

“He thought it was serious but he didn’t want to call off. The former SFA doctor John MacLean was working at the game and assessed him between 1.15pm and 1.20pm.

“I thought it didn’t look good and decided I’d better get ready in case he had to call off. At around 1.20pm they made the decision he wasn’t going to start so I had ten minutes’ notice.

“My wife and father-in-law were at the game, and said they were as surprised as everyone when they saw the teams walking out.

“They must have thought Willie had had a hair transplant then realised it wasn’t Willie who was refereeing!

“There were also a couple of looks from the players when we lined up and a couple asked what the story was.

“It’s the only time I’ve refereed without a warm-up. I was careful for the first ten or 15 minutes, I didn’t want to push or sprint too hard in case I got injured.

“People said it was maybe good there was no time to think about the magnitude of things and I was just thrown in. My mentality was it was just a game of football.

“I’ve refereed Celtic and Rangers lots of times previously, the only difference was they were playing each other.

“I was fortunate there were no controversial decisions and the players played in a good spirit. It was so unusual though, in my whole career I’ve never had it happen.”