WE CAN’T TURN A BLIND EYE
Old Firm game under scrutiny after Gers fans rammy
A WAR of words has broken out between Nicola Sturgeon and Rangers following the mass gatherings of supporters celebrating the team’s title win at the weekend.
The First Minister accused the club of not doing “nearly enough” to help stop fans meeting in Glasgow’s George Square and outside Ibrox stadium during the Covid lockdown.
Sturgeon was responding to a letter from Rangers chairman Douglas Park who said he was “disappointed” in the Scottish Government’s criticisms of the club.
The First Minister expressed her “anger and dismay” at supporters who congregated in large numbers after Steven Gerrard’s side clinched the Premiership title.
Thousands of fans took to the streets to celebrate by setting off fireworks, ignoring Covid social distancing, breaching crowd gathering rules and trashing memorial benches in George Square.
In Holyrood yesterday, Sturgeon said: “The behaviour witnessed at the weekend was disgraceful and it was selfish.
“We will be having further discussions this week with the football authorities and certain football clubs, who in my view do need to show much more leadership on occasions like this.
“Let me be clear, in making these comments, I don’t care about the colour of the shirts.
“I said some harsh things about Celtic’s decisions at the start of this year.
“As far as I am concerned, in this case Rangers Football Club did not do nearly enough to help avoid this situation arising at the weekend.
“The fact is that elite sport is being allowed to continue just now so that fans – deprived of so much else in life right now – can continue to watch and support their teams.
“It would be deeply unfair if a minority spoil that for the majority and I very much hope that will not be the case.”
The SNP leader also said discussions would have to be had between the authorities and the clubs about the upcoming Celtic v Rangers game at Parkhead.
She added: “Given the fragility of the situation we face right now, we cannot simply turn a blind eye to what happened at the weekend, and we won’t.
“So we will report back in due course and certainly ahead of the Old Firm match scheduled for March 21 on the discussions taking place this week.”
Her words came after Rangers chairman Douglas Park said he was “disappointed” with Deputy First Minister John Swinney’s comments on Monday that the club hadn’t done enough.
In a letter, Park wrote: “I write in relation to comments made by John Swinney MSP during today’s public briefing and, in particular, his commentary around Rangers Football Club and our fan base.
“It is particularly disappointing that there has been a complete lack of acknowledgement from the Scottish Government to the wide range of efforts we undertook in recent weeks to limit public safety issues.
“These are not only in relation to general public safety but with an acute focus on the Covid-19 pandemic and the Government guidance.
“It is also particularly disappointing Mr Swinney has chosen to lambast Rangers publicly, given the fact that we had proactively initiated engagement with Police Scotland, the SPFL, the Scottish Government as well as
Rangers did not do nearly enough to avoid this situation FIRST MINISTER NICOLA STURGEON
the local Member of Parliament.
“To brand us as ‘disgraceful’ is indeed a ‘deep element of concern’ for Rangers as we believe this narrative is not only unfair but crucially, totally inaccurate.”
Scottish Greens co-leader and Glasgow MSP Patrick Harvie also weighed into the war of words by saying the club did nothing to prevent the “dangerous mass gatherings”. He said: “A football
club which, let’s be honest, seriously did nothing to prevent dangerous mass gatherings in its name, gatherings which trashed the public realm, risked the safety of front line workers as well as posing a public health threat.
“Surely it’s not enough just to appeal to the good sense of those who’ve shown that they don’t care?
“Why are we even contemplating letting this business carry on in the weeks ahead when we know it’s likely to generate a repeat of the scenes we saw at the weekend?”
During her statement, Sturgeon said Scotland’s top cop had asked John Scott QC to look at Police Scotland’s handling of the celebrations.
Sturgeon said she would be speaking to Police Scotland’s Chief Constable Iain Livingstone about what can be done to prevent similar scenes in the future.
Many criticised the police after footage was shared showing fans being escorted into Glasgow city centre by officers.
Livingstone defended his officers and said the gatherings shouldn’t have taken place.
He added: “Across the weekend, thousands of Rangers supporters in Glasgow participated in spontaneous and intense mass gatherings. This should not have happened given the continuing public health crisis.
“Experienced officers, highly skilled in public order management, took appropriate steps to manage these challenging circumstances to protect people and minimise disruption to communities.
“Officers and staff worked, as they have done throughout this pandemic, with impartiality, professionalism and selfless commitment to public service. They have my personal support and I thank them for all that they do to protect their fellow citizens.”