Ferguson torn to shreds over ‘unacceptable’ response to Rangers v Celtic incident
Rangers fans once again put pressure on the club with their behaviour in the 1-1 draw with Celtic at Ibrox last week.
Not only was a Graeme Souness tifo in the Copland Stand in bad taste, but there was also an incident when loads of objects were thrown onto the pitch in the direction of Celtic goalkeeper Viljami Sinisalo.
The 23-year-old claims he was “hit by something” when missiles rained onto the pitch, with Sky Sports’ cameras even capturing the image of a glass bottle that had been thrown from the stands.
Rangers manager Barry Ferguson was asked to respond to Sinisalo in his press conference ahead of his side’s Scottish Premiership clash with Aberdeen on Sunday.
However, the Ibrox boss has faced criticism for his reaction.
Ferguson accused of dismissive reaction to Celtic incident
Keith Hackett has slammed Ferguson for not responding in a strong manner to such a dangerous incident at Ibrox.
As quoted by The Herald on 9 May, Ferguson said that Rangers “are going to take action with it because it can harm a player, hurt a player”.
Although it’s a fairly regular issue in Old Firm games, with the same happening at Celtic Park earlier this year, there was no plea for it not to happen again, no scathing criticism. The interim Gers boss seemed rather blasé in his words.
Former Premier League and FIFA-listed referee Hackett is annoyed by Ferguson’s failure to really condemn the fans guilty of throwing objects on the pitch, and he also wants to see a response from the Scottish Football Association.
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“There is a responsibility on the stakeholders in the game to ensure the safety of the players and match officials in our sport,” Hackett told Ibrox News.
“It is not good enough from Barry Ferguson. Frankly, it needed a much stronger approach to this problem.
“Viljami Sinisalo has stated that objects hit him during the game.
“Objects can easily blind or seriously injure someone, and it is unacceptable to just dismiss this problem
“The Scottish FA must take action before it escalates and games are then at risk of being abandoned.
“Protect the players, protect the match officials. Protect the integrity of our great game.“
What next for Ferguson at Rangers?
Ferguson’s win-rate as the Light Blues’ interim boss has been pretty pathetic.
He’s on a record-breaking run of failing to win a league game at Ibrox and has won just 33.3% of the 12 games he’s overseen since Philippe Clement was sacked.
Ferguson does, however, want to stay as Rangers’ manager and has had talks with Kevin Thelwell.
It’s unlikely that anyone will seriously want that though, other than Ferguson himself.