Scotland’s First Minister John Swinney has pledged full government support for police investigations following the violent scenes at Ibrox during Celtic’s Scottish Cup victory.
Celtic beat Rangers after a 4-2 penalty shoot-out win sparked violent scenes that shocked Scottish football and beyond.
And as the Scottish FA and Police Scotland release statements about the Ibrox scenes, the First Minister has now delivered his verdict on the row and has condemned the ‘unacceptable’ behaviour after the Glasgow Derby.
How can we ensure that the Glasgow derby can continue having full allocations after the latest incident?
John Swinney condemns Rangers vs Celtic fan ‘violence’
The First Minister has called for action and vows to get behind the investigations into the Ibrox scenes that marred Celtic’s win over Rangers.
Swinney told The Herald, “The violence after the Old Firm game yesterday at Ibrox was completely and utterly unacceptable – there is no justification for it whatsoever.
“There was severe danger applied to fans and to police officers and to stewards, it was completely unacceptable in every respect.
“What I want to make clear is the police have my full support in pursuing everyone involved in this incident, also that we will work constructively with the clubs – who must be horrified by the scenes that they witnessed – as well to address the situation, to work with the Scottish Football Association, to make sure that collaboratively and collectively, we do all that we can to make sure that these types of incidents have no place in Scottish football.”
What happens to Celtic and Rangers now?
Well, quite simply, the outcome of the investigation will determine what punishments should be meted out to both Celtic and Rangers.
The scenes at full time are completely unacceptable and should be investigated to the fullest so that a repeat of whatever failures happened do not occur again.
It is likely that both clubs will be heavily fined as the Scottish FA will undoubtedly throw the book at both clubs in the coming weeks.
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