Kennedy dismisses Gerrard’s reasoning
CELTIC interim manager John Kennedy has rubbished Rangers’ rationale for appealing the Covid-19 bans five of their players received last week - and called for consistency from the SFA and SNP.
The Ibrox club have appealed against the punishments that Calvin Bassey, Brian Kinnear, Dapo Mebude, Nathan Patterson and Bongani Zungu were hit with for attending an illegal gathering in Glasgow in February.
Steven Gerrard said on Sunday that he was unconvinced the full circumstances had been considered at the disciplinary hearing and was also concerned about the impact it would have on Nathan Patterson going forward. The appeal hearing was yesterday set for Tuesday, April 20.
But Kennedy dismissed those arguments, questioned why all five players were still playing nearly two months after their lockdown breaches and called on the SFA to explain why there had been a lengthy delay dealing with the case.
He is unhappy that Bassey, Patterson and Zungu were all involved in the Premiership game at Parkhead last month – and may feature in the Scottish Cup last-16 game at Ibrox a week tomorrow.
He recalled how Holyrood had requested that Celtic have two games postponed after Boli Bolingoli, who was banned for three games by the SFA, was found to have flouted coronavirus protocols.
“We were addressed very quickly in the situation we were in,” he said. “We’d games postponed and the players were dealt with fairly quickly. I really don’t know what the delay and the hold-up is. It’s not our situation but, looking from the outside in, I don’t understand why there’s such a delay. A player played against us who probably should have been banned.
“They’ve broken rules. Regardless if you are a talent or you’re not. The SFA probably need to address this themselves and give a bit more clarity to everyone in terms of the hold-up and why it’s taken so long. It’s only my opinion, but it’s something I think should have been dealt with a hell-ofa-lot quicker to remain consistent with all the other decisions.”