He’s well known for refereeing powderkeg Old Firm games and Hampden cup finals, but there’s more to Steven McLean than just dishing out red and yellow cards.

Away from his high-profile, sometimes controversial role in Scottish football, McLean is a physiotherapist who owns two clinics - one of them in Largs.

Just as the ref keeps himself fit for football duties, he encourages his physiotherapy clients to do the same, keen to help the local community live healthier lifestyles.

And McLean will show his commitment to this mantra when he and his colleagues prove their fitness by climbing Ben Nevis for charity.

The Optimal Physio team will climb Scotland’s highest peak, hoping to raise £5,000 for the Community Heartbeat Trust to fund defibrillators - one of which they plan to place in Largs.

The whistler said: “We decided to climb Ben Nevis as it’s the highest mountain in the country - the pinnacle or the best - which matches Optimal Physio’s approach to health and wellness."

According to the British Heart Foundation, there are more than 30,000 cardiac arrests in the UK each year with a survival rate of less than 1 in 10. Immediate CPR and defibrillation can more than double the chances of survival.

McLean said: “We want to improve the health of our community and reduce their chance of heart attack in the first instance but also help provide more access to defibrillators in emergencies."

Optimal Physio's second clinic is based in Clarkston, East Renfrewshire, where the group plans to fund a second 'defib' through their Ben Nevis climb.

Football officials in Scotland are part-time and McLean is like most in juggling a career alongside his work with the SFA. Initially completing a degree in sport and exercise science at the turn of the century, McLean was already an experienced man in the middle.

"At that point," he recalled, "I was refereeing elite junior football and reserve football.

"I went on to study a Masters degree in physiotherapy in 2003 and graduated two years later."

Around the same time his medical career took off, McLean attained category 1 referee status and has managed to successfully combine the two roles ever since.

He founded Optimal Physio in 2011 and set a goal in 2018 which he achieved at the turn of the year.

He said: “I thought it would be great to help 5,000 local people live more active lifestyles.

"I knew that setting such a big goal would give me focus and direction. I knew that I couldn’t do it alone and would need to build a bigger and better team."

You can donate to the Optimal Physio via their Just Giving page.