McFadden hits back at ‘disrespectful’ Davies
JAMES McFADDEN has branded Celtic counterpart Chris Davies ‘disrespectful’ and rejected his claims that Motherwell did everything possible to unsettle the champions at Fir Park last weekend.
Steelmen boss Mark McGhee claimed not to know Davies’ name and accused him of lacking ‘Celtic quality’ after Brendan Rodgers’ right-hand man refused to shake hands at the end of a thrilling 4-3 win for the visitors.
The row broke out after McGhee had told Celtic’s players to stop using the goalmouth for pre-match shooting drills as portable posts had been provided.
Assistant McFadden yesterday insisted his boss had been right in trying to protect the pitch, and accused Davies of disrespecting groundsman Paul Matthew and the entire Fir Park backroom staff with his attitude at full-time.
He also accused his opposite
number of using the issue as a smokescreen for Celtic’s poor first-half display which saw them have to fight back from 2-0 down. ‘Celtic warmed up in an area of the pitch they were not meant to be warming up in,’ said the former Scotland star. ‘Under league rules, they have to shoot into the portable goals if provided. But they wouldn’t move for our groundsman, so the manager went up and moved them. That’s not unsettling them. That’s just him using his authority to go up and say: “You are in the wrong place, go and move”. ‘It’s a lack of respect from Celtic to say: “We don’t care. We will just shoot into the goals. We will do what we want.” So, no, I don’t think we were unsettling them. That’s maybe just a wee bit of a defence from Chris Davies after Celtic’s first-half performance. ‘After the game, he (Davies) refused to shake hands with every member of our staff. For me, that’s a lack of respect to everyone involved, especially considering how well we played and how much of a test we gave them. ‘He put his face in other people’s faces. To come and go right in someone’s face having refused a handshake and make a gesture is totally wrong, no matter who you are. The manager took offence to that — and quite rightly so.’ On Monday, Davies responded to McGhee’s comments by saying: ‘I was surprised he didn’t know who I was because in the match programme he extended a warm welcome to me — but the real story is 2-0 down away from home against a team doing everything they can on and off the pitch to disrupt us.’ McFadden insisted that the Fir Park men had gone out of their way to help Celtic. ‘We were more than accommodating,’ he said. ‘Celtic asked if they could come on Friday to put their kit in the away dressing room. It’s the one our young boys get changed in when they train and they could not use it. ‘If we were trying to unsettle them, we’d have told (Celtic) to put their kit in hours before kick-off. ‘Our pitch is in brilliant nick because we’ve put a lot of time and money into it and our groundsman knows what he’s doing. We want to keep it in good condition and the goalmouths are the parts that wear down the quickest. So we shoot into a portable goal before games. ‘If our groundsman doesn’t want people warming up in the goalmouth, then don’t warm up in the goalmouth. He thinks there’s a lack of respect towards him because he is “just a groundsman”. ‘Every other team that comes here shoots into the portable goals. And every stadium we go to, we do it. We expect teams to come here and respect that.’ Meanwhile, McGhee has been handed a two-match ban — with a further game suspended — after admitting using ‘offensive, abusing, and/or insulting language’ towards referee John Beaton and a steward after a 2-0 defeat at Dundee on November 5. Two further charges of ‘adopting an aggressive attitude’ were dropped, according to Motherwell.