Tavernier attacked by thug fan
Dempster threatens to shut down stand after yob confronts Tavernier
Hoodie ned boots ball away then tussles with Rangers star
HIBS chief executive Leeann Dempster has threatened to close her section of shame after Easter Road again turned ugly.
Rangers skipper James Tavernier was confronted by a home fan after the thug ran from the same area of the
ground where a bottle was thrown at Scott Sinclair just six days ago.
It was the latest in a line of controversies to swamp the Scottish game as incidents of violence and disorder drag its reputation even further down.
Hibs revealed they had 275 stewards on duty last night, 50 more than their Scottish Cup tie against Celtic. But that did not prevent the fan running from the East Stand and vaulting the advertising board to confront Tavernier at half-time.
He made a grab for the full-back, kicked the ball from him and then hit his face before he was hauled away by police.
Hibs apologised to Tavernier after the game, accepted by the player and boss Steven Gerrard, but Dempster has refused to rule out taking the ultimate action by emptying that area of the ground of fans.
She said: “This is a challenge for the whole game and we are in the middle of it. But I don’t think anything is off the table to be honest.
“Instead of talking about a good game of football we are talking about an idiot – again, so nothing can be off the table.
“Given everything we have talked about and what has been said and written in the past six days I find it astonishing I have to sit here and talk about another incident.
“I was going to call him a supporter but I don’t think you can call people like that supporters. To come on to the pitch and confront a player?
“I can use the word unacceptable but that isn’t strong enough. The person you saw is in custody, where he should be, and he won’t come to another football match at Easter Road. Ever.
“I had to write to Celtic and Scott Sinclair to apologise and I’ve had to apologise to James downstairs on behalf of the club.
“I told him the individual was in custody. I said to him we were embarrassed by it. James was gracious and took our apology. If there’s a case to be answered then we will deal with the SFA and the SPFL but I’m not thinking about that just now. I’m embarrassed because a supporter has come over the advertising hoarding and confronted a player.
“There is security there and there are briefings and it is unfair, perhaps, on us and other clubs when idiots like this who are determined manage to get through and do what they do.
“Clubs work really hard to try and stop this type of behaviour and it’s astonishing it has happened for the second time in a week.”
Rangers could fall 10 points behind Celtic if their rivals beat Aberdeen today but the end of the Ibrox league title bid was overshadowed by the appalling incident.
Gerrard said: “We’ve had an apology from Hibs and we’ll accept the apology but again I’m talking about fan behaviour. I don’t really know what to say because it seems we’ve been talking about these incidents every time for the last two or three weeks.
“We appreciate the apology, James appreciates it. We accept it and move on. But when we’re getting to the stage with fans running on to a pitch we’ve got a problem.”
Hibs boss Paul Heckingbottom said: “I’ve not seen it but I just spoke to Tav about it.
“Do we have to wait for something serious to happen before the issue is dealt with?
“We have to resolve this. I want the club to be proud of the fans but a minority can spoil it for the rest of them.”