Ex-referees want points deduction for Rangers bottle incident v Celtic
The spectacle of the Old Firm derby was overshadowed on Sunday by a broken glass bottle being thrown onto the Ibrox pitch by a Rangers fan.
The incident happened just before the second half was due to kick off with Celtic goalkeeper Joe Hart heading towards the goal to drop off his towel and water bottle.
Steve Conroy and Des Roache, both former referees in Scotland, want to see clubs being deducted points for fan behaviour in an attempt to stop it from happening so often.
“Fans particularly don’t give a stuff if the club is fined. It makes no difference to them,” Conroy said on the Get Involved Referee podcast.
“If their team is docked three points, five points, ten points then 20 points then maybe they will pay attention.”
Roache agreed with his colleague’s premise, saying: “For me, I would go down the points deduction. That’s where it will hurt the team and the fans if you’re going to take this as a serious issue.
“If you close a section of the stand, you’re still going to have 35,000 people. What you’re missing out in fans, players played through a lockdown with no fans. But if you got a points deduction, then the players feel that and if the players are feeling that, the fans will.”
Fair enough, but…
It might not be a popular decision if it were made but it does make perfect sense to try and stop this sort of behaviour from happening.
Fans are far less likely to disrupt a game if they know that it will lead to their club suffering a points deduction that might have an enormous impact on their season.
Conroy and Roache raise some very good points but there is one massive flaw in the plan that could see the game descend into madness.
If the offender comes from the home end then the home team gets punished, but what would stop a group of Celtic fans from buying tickets in the home end at Ibrox with the sole purpose of disrupting a game and getting their rivals a deduction.
Vice versa too, it could be pure and utter chaos if this is introduced unless there is some way in which those intent on being unsociable with their behaviour, then maybe it’s best if this idea stays out for now.
In other Rangers news, we believe Giovanni van Bronckhorst will make two changes for the Europa League game against Braga on Thursday.