Appeal to players for fair play-not refs
THERE is no doubt that there is a different level of physicality in football to what it was back when we played.
I watched the Celtic game against Motherwell last week and I did think that Kieran Tierney was fortunate to walk away without any serious damage to his knee after the challenge from Ryan Bowman.
However, what I would say is that I think these tackles tend to be highlighted more because we see them far more rarely than we ever used to.
And rather than appeal to referees to sort it out, I think the message has to be directed towards players across the board.
I think we all enjoy watching a competitive game and it is good to see some robust tackles, but so long as there is a genuine challenge to win the ball then that is fine.
I was also at Celtic Park a couple of weeks back for the Scottish Cup tie against Inverness and I actually felt that there were some really bad tackles flying in.
Given just how well Celtic are playing at the minute I think that teams are coming to Glasgow wanting to bring a bit of physicality in order to compete.
That doesn’t mean going over the top and we are left looking at someone who could be looking at a serious and possibly career-threatening injury.
In this day and age we see much less of it than we used to but it has to be a philosophy that applies to every team and every player – no-one should be on the end of a tackle with intent to injure them.
That is not just Celtic players that applies to, that is anyone who walks onto a pitch to play a game of football.