football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
referee
A referee is an official, in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The official tasked with this job may be known by a variety of other titl ...
. He became a
FIFA
FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...
Ayrshire derby
The Ayrshire Derby refers to matches between the two professional Scottish football sides based in Ayrshire: Ayr United and Kilmarnock.
The first match was held on 14 September 1910, in the same year that Ayr United were formed. This game was th ...
between
Kilmarnock
Kilmarnock (, sco, Kilmaurnock; gd, Cill Mheàrnaig (IPA: ʰʲɪʎˈveaːɾnəkʲ, "Marnock's church") is a large town and former burgh in East Ayrshire, Scotland and is the administrative centre of East Ayrshire, East Ayrshire Council. ...
and
Ayr United
Ayr United Football Club are a football club in Ayr, Scotland, who play in the Scottish Championship, the second tier of the Scottish Professional Football League. Formed in 1910 by the merger of Ayr Parkhouse and Ayr F.C., their nickname is ...
, won by the former who went on to lift the trophy.
In March 2014 McLean refereed his first major national final, the
2014 Scottish League Cup Final
The 2014 Scottish League Cup Final was the 68th final of the Scottish League Cup. The final took place on 16 March 2014 at Celtic Park, Glasgow. The clubs contesting the 2014 final were Scottish Premiership (association football), Scottish Premi ...
between
Aberdeen
Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...
and
Inverness Caledonian Thistle
Inverness Caledonian Thistle Football Club, commonly known as Caley Thistle, is a professional football club based in Inverness, Scotland. The team currently competes in the Scottish Championship, the second tier of the Scottish Professional F ...
which Aberdeen won in a
penalty shoot-out
The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pen ...
. However at the end of the league season he angered Aberdeen manager
Derek McInnes
Derek John McInnes (born 5 July 1971) is a Scottish professional football manager and former player who is the manager of Scottish Premiership club Kilmarnock. He featured prominently for Greenock Morton, Rangers, West Bromwich Albion and Dund ...
by failing to award a foul in the last minute of their match with
Motherwell
Motherwell ( sco, Mitherwall, gd, Tobar na Màthar) is a town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, south east of Glasgow. It has a population of around 32,120. Historically in the parish of Dalziel and part of Lanarks ...
, permitting Motherwell to score the winning goal and thereby overtake Aberdeen in the standings.
In 2015, McLean took charge of a League Cup semi-final between Aberdeen and
Dundee United
Dundee United Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the city of Dundee. The club name is usually abbreviated to Dundee United. Formed in 1909, originally as Dundee Hibernian, the club changed to the present name in 1 ...
Celtic
Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to:
Language and ethnicity
*pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia
**Celts (modern)
*Celtic languages
**Proto-Celtic language
* Celtic music
*Celtic nations
Sports Fo ...
; he and his assistants came in for criticism for their performance in the latter match, where they missed an apparent deliberate handball by an Inverness defender in his own penalty area at a pivotal point in the game.
McLean was in-charge of another semi-final in January 2016 when Hibernian met
St Johnstone
St Johnstone Football Club is a professional association football club in Perth, Scotland which is a member of the Scottish Premiership for the 2022–23 season. The club's name is derived from St John's Toun ''aka'' Saint Johnstoun – an old ...
in the
League Cup
In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...
.
In May 2016 McLean was selected to officiate his first
Scottish Cup
The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,2016 edition at
Hampden Park
Hampden Park (Scottish Gaelic: ''Pàirc Hampden''), often referred to as Hampden, is a football stadium in the Mount Florida area of Glasgow, Scotland. The -capacity venue serves as the national stadium of football in Scotland. It is the no ...
involving Rangers and Hibernian, and was also chosen for Scottish football's most high-profile domestic league fixture, the
Old Firm
The Old Firm is the collective name for the Scottish football clubs Celtic and Rangers, which are both based in Glasgow. The two clubs are by far the most successful and popular in Scotland, and the rivalry between them has become deeply em ...
derby, on
Hogmanay
Hogmanay ( , ) is the Scots word for the last day of the old year and is synonymous with the celebration of the New Year in the Scottish manner. It is normally followed by further celebration on the morning of New Year's Day (1 January) or i ...
2016 - both matches passed with no controversy on the part of the officials.
As of 2016, McLean was employed full-time by the SFA as a recruitment and education officer for referees and is also a qualified
fitness instructor
Fitness may refer to:
* Physical fitness, a state of health and well-being of the body
* Fitness (biology), an individual's ability to propagate its genes
* Fitness (cereal), a brand of breakfast cereals and granola bars
* ''Fitness'' (magazine), ...
and
physiotherapist
Physical therapy (PT), also known as physiotherapy, is one of the allied health professions. It is provided by physical therapists who promote, maintain, or restore health through physical examination, diagnosis, management, prognosis, patient ...
(member of CSP). He was not selected on the SFA's list of international FIFA officials for 2017.
Steven is the son of former Kilmarnock player
Stuart McLean
Andrew Stuart McLean, (April 19, 1948 – February 15, 2017) was a Canadian radio broadcaster, humorist, monologist, and author, best known as the host of the CBC Radio program ''The Vinyl Cafe''.Brian McLean
Brian Stuart McLean (born 28 February 1985) is a professional footballer who plays as a defender for Clyde.
He began his career in Scotland as a youth and reserve player with Rangers before joining Motherwell in 2005, initially on loan. He t ...