Kilmarnock chief Billy Bowie has thrown another parting shot at Celtic, and claimed the club’s directors were “embarrassed” by the away support on Sunday.
The Hoops celebrated wildly after securing a last-minute winner at Rugby Park. Scott Brown’s goal sparked mass scenes of celebration from the away fans. This ended with supporters spilling onto the pitch despite goalscorer Scott Brown not going near them.
Kilmarnock last night released a statement condemning a variety of actions from the Celtic support. This ranged from the pitch invasion to the coin-throw at striker Kris Boyd.
Yet, Bowie couldn’t resist yet another dig in the Scottish Sun this morning. Speaking after all of the events, Bowie claimed even the Celtic directors couldn’t bear it.
“The Celtic directors apologised after the game. They were embarrassed by what happened with their fans and they did apologise to me personally.
“I don’t doubt for a minute that Celtic will be taking action against those responsible. When you are showing a good game of football live on TV, stuff like that does spoil it.
“The main thing for us is the safety of fans. We will be having meetings this week to decide on a way forward.”
Are we looking to take passion out of the game?
So one of two things has to be recognised here. Are we either looking to take the passion away from football or are the Celtic directors just not the same kind of supporters the rest of us are?
When Celtic fans spilt onto the pitch on Sunday, it was simply out of sheer passion. Nobody was hurt, and outside of some damage to chairs that Celtic will pay for, no harm was done.
There certainly wasn’t this outcry when Rangers fans invaded the pitch at the Tony Macaroni Stadium when they went 3-0 up on Livingston. Yet, for some reason, this is turning into a crisis for Scottish football.
Celtic should, meanwhile, be banning any supporter that threw the coin at Boyd. That was a despicable act and goes way beyond the line of what’s acceptable at a football ground. It doesn’t matter that it’s a Celtic fan – acts like that bring shame on the club we all love.
But let’s not pretend there was anything disastrous or embarrassing about the pitch invasion. Celtic had just secured arguably their biggest league win of the season. Eight in a row just got a lot closer, and fans had every right to bask in the moment with their players.
The damage to the chairs was unfortunate, but nobody can accuse it of being purposeful. As always, the reaction has sent Scottish football into meltdown, and some just can’t seem to take it.
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