WHAT THEY SAID
LEE ERWIN
‘I tried to shake Mohsni’s hand to wish him all the best but he told me to ‘f*** off’. I pushed him away and he reacted badly. ‘A player at a club at that level shouldn’t be acting like that. It’s embarrassing for him and the club. But I wish him all the best.’
BILEL MOHSNI
‘I’m very disappointed the way this has been portrayed. ‘What happened was I was leaving the pitch to the dressing room and I was extremely upset because Rangers had lost. ‘All I wanted to do was get back inside and didn’t want to talk to anyone, then this guy pushed me — he attacked me from behind. ‘What do you call someone who attacks you from behind? A coward. I was worried about my security, so I did the only thing I could ... I defended myself. ‘It was self-defence — I thought I was getting attacked.’
GORDON SMITH
‘I’m not going to defend the players because I think it was thuggery, but it happened in a football match and the football authorities have to deal with it. ‘I don’t think the police should be involved. ‘If you look at the scenario where there’s a bad tackle and someone kicks back at the other player. What happens? On the street that would be assault but in football the authorities should deal with it.’
RANGERS STATEMENT
‘RANGERS Football Club will co-operate fully with investigations following the disgraceful scenes at the Motherwell game yesterday. ‘Bilel Mohsni’s behaviour was completely unacceptable and had his contract not now expired, the club would have started disciplinary proceedings. ‘The club will also assist with any investigation into the behaviour of Motherwell supporters and we would like to thank the Rangers fans, who were excellent in showing admirable restraint despite severe provocation.’
PAUL LAMBERT
‘He’s out of contract, so you let him go: that’s how you deal with it. ‘He wasn’t representing just any football club and there were kids watching that. That’s the problem you have. Youngsters will see that and it’s not good for the game in general or Rangers in particular. ‘Did he want to have a fight with him afterwards as well? How can you get away with that? Think of all the great players Rangers have had. I don’t think they would conduct themselves in that way.’
IAN BARACLOUGH
‘It was a pulsating game to watch for any neutral and if the back pages are full of two or three people brawling, then that’s the wrong message to send out for Scottish football. ‘It was 10 seconds of madness that has no place in this sport whatsoever. ‘The game doesn’t need that. Scottish football doesn’t need that. I thought the two games were played in a decent spirit in relation to what was at stake. ‘To have that at the end has no place in the game.’