Report: SFA compliance officer issues probe into Alloa vs Celtic flashpoint

By David Walton

January 25, 2022

The SFA compliance officer has today highlighted the shocking challenge on Yosuke Ideguchi from Alloa’s Muhamed Niang as one to be investigated, the Daily Record reports.

Ideguchi has been left with a nasty knock after the challenge which saw him come off midway through the second half of Celtic’s 2-1 Scottish Cup win at the Indodrill Stadium.

Immediately after the match, Ange Postecoglou believed the player to be fine. However, upon further inspection, he now believes it’s worse than first thought [Celtic TV].

And today, the Record has reported that footage of the incident is now being reviewed by a 3-man panel of match officials. If they all deem it to be worthy of a red card, a disciplinary hearing will follow on Thursday should Alloa decline an automatic 2-game suspension for Niang.

Ideguchi, meanwhile, looks set to miss tomorrow night’s game against Hearts after Postecoglou’s most recent injury update.

Celtic fans have had to listen to some of the most ridiculous opinions on the incident in recent days. Richard Foster stated on Sportscene that he believed the challenge to be Ideguchi’s own fault for backing out of a challenge. Alloa boss Barry Ferguson, meanwhile, was too busy trying to convince us all that his player won the ball [Daily Record].

Alloa vs Celtic flashpoint deserved follow-up from compliance officer

We’re not in the business of trying our best to get lower-league footballers sent off. This isn’t about whether Niang misses games or not. He wasn’t overly dirty over the course of the 90 minutes against Celtic, and clearly tried to just make his mark on the game.

But allowing that challenge on Gucci to go unpunished would be setting a hugely dangerous precedent. One that the SFA can’t really allow to just be swept under the carpet. The fact Ideguchi had to come off tells you all you need to know.

There seems to be an urge from pundits and managers to act as though the follow-through in challenges don’t matter. It’s not a case of if you win the ball then you can do whatever you want with your trailing leg.

The truth is there is no reason for Niang to lift his left leg so high off the ground. He’s won the ball with his right and should be able to control his left more comfortably. We’re not saying it was a purposeful attempt to harm the Celtic man, but it was reckless.

That’s why it deserves retrospective action. Some of the commentary over this in recent days has been pretty incredible. But hopefully some common sense prevails here.

As for the Japanese international, fingers crossed he makes a speedy recovery as he looks to kickstart his Celtic career.

In other news, What Ange Postecoglou has told Johnny Kenny as Celtic striker lauds his manager