Kilmarnock’s Rory McKenzie says there was “no badness” from Celtic fans on Sunday

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Kilmarnock star Rory McKenzie has brushed off any idea there was malice in Celtic’s celebrations on Sunday.

The Hoops have been criticised by the likes of Kris Boyd for running onto the pitch post-Kilmarnock. The 1-0 win put Celtic eight points clear at the top of the Premiership. Supporters, therefore, expressed their joy in a big moment for their team this season.

McKenzie himself was on the pitch during the incident. Having come on as a late substitute for Steve Clarke’s side, he was as fresh as anyone when it happened.

And, in a surprising turn of events, he’s denied that there was any malice in the celebrations. Speaking in the Scottish Sun today, McKenzie gave his honest verdict.

“Obviously conceding a goal that late wasn’t nice and then to have Celtic fans on in your face wasn’t nice as well.

“The few that come in, there was no malice in it at all, most of them that I saw were young kids.

“To be fair they had their phones out. I think they were just trying to get pictures, there was no badness. The fact that all the G4S staff were on the pitch for a minute or two, you wanted the game to get going again. That was the only frustrating thing on my part.”

A refreshing and much-needed take

No doubt McKenzie’s opinion will quickly be swept away. After all, it doesn’t follow the narrative that Celtic fans are villainous.

But, in reality, this is a refreshing take from a player who was there at the time. The fans were, as we all know, simply on the pitch to support the team and celebrate with them.

Yes, questions can arise over safety. After all, anyone can get on the pitch and go up to a Kilmarnock player or their supporters and do something nasty. But you can hardly blame the Celtic supporters for something that didn’t happen, and they didn’t harm the Kilmarnock players.

Celtic will have to pay a fine for the broken seats and any other vandalised equipment at Rugby Park. Rightly so, and the Killie board have demanded it in a statement.

But there shouldn’t be any form of punishment for invading the pitch. Fortunately, there’s been no reports yet stating that would be the case, despite the backlash from opposition supporters.