SUTTON DEATH THREAT
Former Celtic hitman due to meet with cops today as they investigate chilling message
A CHILLING death threat was sent to ex-Celtic star Chris Sutton after the Old Firm match at Ibrox.
Police are investigating the sinister message sent to the outspoken TV pundit last week.
Sutton, 45, said: “It is in the hands of the police. It wasn’t a particularly pleasant thing to receive.”
FORMER Celtic striker Chris Sutton is expected to meet police today after he received a death threat.
The sinister message was sent to Sutton last week in the wake of the Rangers versus Celtic match at Ibrox and it is understood officers are treating it seriously.
The 45-year-old – one of the game’s most outspoken pundits and a Record Sport columnist – confirmed last night: “I don’t want to go into any detail as this is a private matter and it is now in the hands of the police.
“Suffice to say, I have seen what’s been sent and it wasn’t a particularly pleasant thing to receive.”
It is understood Sutton has reported the threat to police near his home in England.
The revelation follows death threats made to match referee John Beaton in the wake of Rangers’ 1-0 victory on December 29.
He had to be given a guard as he arrived at Somerset Park in Ayr on Saturday to referee the Championship match between Ayr United and Falkirk.
It is believed the threat was made to Sutton after the match but before he penned a controversial column in the Record.
He was scathing about the SFA’s failure to take retrospective action against Rangers’ Alfredo Morelos, who was involved in three incidents during the game where he appeared to lash out off the ball.
The SFA took no retrospective action when it emerged Beaton had witnessed them all.
In his Record column, Sutton claimed the SFA’s decision not to take disciplinary action against Morelos for his derby antics looked “like a stitch up”.
He said: “If they had applied the rules correctly then El Buffalo would have been on the end of three separate red cards.”
In his role as a pundit on BT Sport, Sutton branded the SFA decision as “shambolic” and “buffoonery of the highest order”.
The threats to figures within the game follow concerns at a rise in thuggish behaviour at matches, with coin-throwing, pyrotechnics and even racist incidents on the increase.
The threats come as Scottish football enjoys one of its most exciting seasons, with just a handful of points separating the top six teams in the SPFL top flight.
Sutton is noted – even in the opinionated world of football pundits – for his outspoken views.
In August 2017, he mocked an “anti-Rangers refereeing” petition.
Thousands of Rangers supporters rallied together online calling for the SFA to take action against match officials following Beaton’s performance at Ibrox in a home defeat to Hibs – ironically the same referee now in the firing line from Celtic fans over the Ibrox match.
Beaton controversially ordered Ryan Jack off after the midfielder clashed with Anthony Stokes during the match.
But while Sutton agreed Jack should not have been shown red, the Celtic legend ridiculed the Twitter campaign by punters.
He wrote: “Ryan Jack red card was an awful decision. But the petition for anti-Rangers refereeing? There’ll be one for Neil Lennon cheering a goal next.”
Sutton also tweeted support for the Hibs boss after a coin was chucked at him from the crowd at Hearts’ Tynecastle Park last October.
Sutton said: “On the Neil Lennon incident tonight… How can Neil Lennon be to blame for somebody throwing a coin at him? It’s a ridiculous notion.”
The threat to Sutton follows a long list of death threats being levelled at players, managers and referees.
Following the result at Ibrox, Beaton’s contact details were leaked online.
Trolls have since bombarded the official with threatening and abusive messages. A police
spokesman said: “We can confirm that a complaint has been made to police regarding texts and calls received by a 36-year-old man. “Police inquiries are ongoing into this matter.” Following the threats to Beaton, SFA chief executive Ian Maxwell said in a statement: “It is with deep dismay that, in the last 24 hours, we learned of one of our match officials having had threats made against him and his family.
“We are in close contact with those involved and with Police Scotland to ensure they are safe and that those responsible are identified and held accountable for their actions.
“This is not the first time in recent weeks that our match officials have been targeted.
“Another referee was allegedly threatened and assaulted at a lower-league game prior to Christmas. These incidents are isolated but they are unacceptable and extremely concerning when they occur.”
In November 2017, a Rangers supporter who threatened to kill Lennon in a Facebook post was spared jail. Sean Cowan, 54, asked fellow fans for a gun so he could “shoot” the Hibs boss in the head.
Cowan was incensed after the former Celtic star cupped his ears in celebration during a Scottish Premiership match at Ibrox. He posted the remarks on August 12, after Hibs’ 3-2 victory.
And in November, graffiti saying “hang Neil Lennon” was daubed on a wall near Tynecastle Park.
In 2011, a sectarian mob hanged an effigy of Lennon in his native Northern Ireland. Sutton was acclaimed as a Celtic hardman but says that he could not have withstood the bullets and bomb scares faced by Lennon.
In 2011, Sutton said: “I don’t know how he put up with the stuff last season and I think that had an effect on where the title went.
“I can honestly say that if that was me, then I’d have been gone. I don’t know anyone else who would have stayed.
“Anyone else would have walked away from it all. It says a lot about his character. The stuff last season was ridiculous.”
Ex-Rangers star Fernando Ricksen, now bravely battling motor neurone disease, also previously revealed, in 2010, how he was targeted.
He said:“I’ve had hate letters sent to me with bullets in them. I’d messages telling me bullets were sent to the IRA so they could kill me.
“People phoned my son threatening to sort him out and beat him up at school. Supporters have physically and verbally threatened me on the field. My wife was abused in the street by them, they spat in my face while we were out shopping.” Nacho Novo received death threats in 2008 as a Rangers player months after helping the Ibrox club to the UEFA Cup final. He needed his home guarded.
And after joining Irish League club Glentoran in 2017, Novo was again targeted. The threats were said to come from dissident Republicans.
Novo said: “Hearing the news about the threat was hard because you would not want that to happen to anyone but I got lots of support and that was important to me.
“The support came from everywhere and I appreciated it, because what happened to me was nothing to do with football.”
In 2010, then rookie referee Willie Collum received death threats after Rangers won 3-1 at Celtic Park.
And when Rangers won the league at the same venue in 1999, referee Hugh Dallas was struck by a coin from the crowd, then had the windows at his home smashed by thugs and received death threats.
Sources say Sutton will meet officers from Norfolk Constabulary to discuss the threat.