Edinburgh derby ‘confrontation’ citation a surprise to both managers

The decision to penalise Hearts and Hibs for a “confrontation” during last week’s Edinburgh derby has left Tynecastle manager Craig Levein expressing fears for the game, and his Leith counterpart dismissing the incident as “irrelevant”.

Both men were surprised by the citation, which could lead to a financial penalty for the clubs unless the capital rivals are able to successfully defend themselves at a hearing scheduled for next week.

“I worry about the game when that is seen as a mass confrontation,” said Levein, whose team fought out a goalless draw in a match that was overshadowed by off-the-field controversy. “People think players are robots who can control every emotion going. But the whole idea of teamwork is to support your teammates.

“When I look at the first situation I don’t see anything in it. I see a lot of people going in to break things up and stop a situation arising. In fact, I thought they were helping the referee!”

That view is not shared by Compliance Officer Clare Whyte, who was unhappy with the behaviour of players in the wake of Florian Kamberi’s sending off for a foul on Oliver Bozanic.

“If the compliance officer wants to watch some games from the past then maybe she would recognise exactly what a difficult situation that is. But that was nothing. And I really worry if that is what is going to be seen as a confrontation – that’s nothing.

“Just about everyone is trying to keep the peace and trying to help the referee. Just because there are people there doesn’t mean it’s confrontational. I certainly think those situations could have got out of hand had it not been for the players trying to calm it.”

It was a view backed by the Hibs boss. “I agree! You see that all the time. There were a lot of players in there trying to calm things down rather than start anything up,” insisted Lennon. “There is a new rule that has been brought in about three or more people being involved in an incident and I’m guessing this is them trying to invoke that rule but in terms of what went on, it was dealt with there and then and we are talking about something that was irrelevant. It was a bit of pushing and that was the end of it and the game went on.”

0 Florian Kamberi: Sent off.