John Hartson has criticised Rangers for their hypocrisy and stated that Celtic did nothing wrong on Sunday.
There have been so many talking points to come out of Celtic’s 2-1 win over Rangers at Parkhead. The main one should be the fact that the Hoops are now 13 points clear. Instead, however, it’s more been focused on Scott Brown.
The Celtic captain was at the centre of the game’s main flashpoints. On all of those occasions, however, Brown was the victim as he was lashed out at by Rangers players.
Steven Gerrard had a pop at Brown for goading his players post-match. Hartson, however, believes that Celtic didn’t do anything Rangers didn’t after the 1-0 defeat at Ibrox back in December. Speaking in the Evening Times today, Hartson looked to put things right.
“Don’t blame others when you cross a line. It’s not someone else’s fault if you lose your cool. Take responsibility for your own behaviour. Provoking an opponent is part of the game. It happens all the time. It began over 100 years ago – it will always be part of football.
“Rangers won at Ibrox fair and squad. They deserved to win, they won it very well. Brown was provoked in that game. There were 50,000 Rangers fans screaming all sorts of obscenities at him every time he touched the ball. Nothing wrong with that.
“Brown decided to be a professional – he didn’t lash out at someone. He didn’t punch anyone in the face, and he didn’t confront any Rangers player after the 90 minutes had been done. He shook hands and took defeat on the chin – like a man.”
Rangers could learn a few things from Brown
Hartson brings up one of the fine points that have been overlooked since full-time on Sunday.
After the derby defeat in December, Rangers reveled in it. We had the Scott Arfield celebration in front of Brown, as well as pathetic behaviour from Alfredo Morelos throughout.
Yet all throughout those 90 minutes, Brown sucked it up and left the field of play at full-time. Despite being goaded throughout the contest by the likes of Arfield and Morelos, he didn’t bite. He didn’t go jumping in the face of Rangers players at full-time, and certainly didn’t punch anyone either.
Brown should be totally absolved of any blame here. His attitude on the park was exemplary. His actions were totally excusable. Just because Rangers couldn’t take it doesn’t mean he should be pulled up.
Hartson has called it right once again. Maybe one day Rangers will just learn to accept defeat without subsequently wanting a scrap.
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