First Minister John Swinney has accused the Old Firm of taking too long to react to the widespread disorder which followed last Sunday’s Scottish Cup tie at Ibrox.
The Scottish FA immediately condemned the shocking scenes and later committed to overseeing a full review of what happened, while the players’ union PFA Scotland also hit out after fans invaded the pitch.
However, both clubs remained silent until Thursday evening when Rangers ‘unequivocally’ condemned the disorder before Celtic said that ‘examples of unacceptable behaviour’ must be addressed.
Speaking on an upcoming episode of the BBC Scotcast series, Mr Swinney expressed his dismay at how long it had taken the clubs to say anything.
‘I think it took them too long to say anything about it, bluntly,’ he stated. ‘I think we’ve got to try to bring the clubs together with the football authorities because, at a very basic level, I am not prepared to tolerate that violence at a football match.’
The First Minister also accused some supporters of going to the game with ‘malicious intent’, and cited the headwear widely seen among the ultra elements of both fanbases.
First Minister John Swinney says he is not prepared to tolerate violence at a football match
Ugly scenes followed the Scottish Cup quarter-final between Rangers and Celtic at Ibrox
Swinney says many supporters showed ‘malicious intent’ by wearing balaclavas to the derby
‘Who needs to go to a football match wearing a balaclava? It wasn’t very cold that day,’ he added. ‘You’re going there with malicious intent. You don’t need to wear a balaclava.’
The derby clash was the first to be played with 7,500 visiting fans at either of the clubs’ grounds since 2018 due to Scottish Cup rules.
Despite a desire among many fans and club officials to see that arrangement extended to league matches, where only between 2,500 and 3,000 tickets are issued to away clubs, that now seems unlikely to happen any time soon.
Mr Swinney had previously said that he would not take his teenage son to an Old Firm game.
However, he stopped short of suggesting that future Glasgow derbies should be played behind closed doors.
‘I would rather that’s not the case, but I think none of us can watch those scenes and think that there isn’t something that’s got to give as a consequence of what happened at the weekend,’ he warned.
‘I want to take time to engage… the clubs and the SFA, to identify what is the best course of action to take.’
Celtic’s penalty shoot-out victory in the Scottish Cup quarter final was marred by ugly scenes, which were sparked by dozens of visiting fans spilling onto the park after Tomas Cvancara converted the decisive spot-kick.
Scores of Rangers supporters, predominantly from the section in the Copland Road stand which houses the Union Bears ultras, then reacted by also entering the field and making their way over the halfway line towards a police cordon.
With missiles being thrown, at least one fan was injured and a number of arrests were made in the aftermath of the game.
Chief Constable Jo Farrell had also hit out at the Old Firm’s ongoing silence before they made their statements last Thursday.
She said at the time: ‘(There was) lots of coverage in the media in relation to the events of Sunday afternoon (but), when we got to Monday evening, there was still no commentary from either of those clubs in respect of the violence that was witnessed.’
