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Thompson urges book to be thrown at Rangers COVID rulebreakers
Steven Thompson claims the SFA will dish out bands to the five Rangers players who were caught breaking COVID guidelines.
Bongani Zungu, Nathan Patterson, Calvin Bassey, Brian Kinnear and Dapo Mebude have all been named and shamed by the Gers after they were reported to have attended a party at the weekend.
All five of the players are away from the Rangers first-team and in self-isolation as they await further punishment.
Ex-Gers striker and BBC Sportscene pundit Thompson wants the ‘Covidiots’ to be heavily punished and believes the SFA will also get involved.
“I think they should throw the book at them,” said Thompson on BBC Radio Scotland on Wednesday night, as quoted by the Daily Record.
“For me, it’s completely unacceptable what they’ve done. Is a fine enough? Is an internal fine enough for these players?
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“I’m pretty sure the SFA will give them a ban of some sort but for me it’s just unthinkable that the players, given the privilege that they have at this minute in time to be able to go out and work and do their job when everbody else isn’t really able to do that, go and throw that in the face of their club, of their supporters, of their manager and get caught out at a house part.
“It really defies logic, it’s beyond comprehension.”
Bans won’t be enough
If Jordan Jones and George Edmundson being banned doesn’t stop this type of idiocy from footballers then something far worse should happen.
We’re not condoning these incidents one bit but when it first happened with Jones and Edmundson, we weren’t as furious as we are right now.
It was the first time it had happened in the Rangers squad but now, a few months later, five players have decided to do the same thing.
We feel sorry for Steven Gerrard. He must feel completely betrayed right now and whatever he decides to do with these give players, we’ll support it.
Zungu is an obvious one. His loan deal is up in the summer and there’s no way his permanent option will be triggered. It wouldn’t be a shock to see the South African flop returned to Amiens early.
Kinnear isn’t someone we’ve really heard of making waves in the Rangers academy so the young goalkeeper could be cut adrift by the club too.
It gets tough with Patterson, Bassey and Mebude because they are bright young talents. Patterson and Bassey have both signed deals at Ibrox and both could have a good amount of resale value in the future.
But the punishment has to be consistent. It will set a dangerous precedent if a more valuable player gets let off a bit more easily than someone who isn’t key.
If all of them are transfer listed or released then we fully support that decision.
In other Rangers news, this Gers rulebreaker has shared a phone conversation he had with Gerrard.