Sport: Hibs chief Dempster vows to ban ‘idiot’ Hearts fan who smashed seat
Hibs chief executive Leeann Dempster has vowed to ban a Hearts fan from Easter Road for smashing up a seat.
A supporter in the away end was filmed breaking the chair during the drawn derby on Sunday before throwing it forward.
The footage was posted on Twitter and was noticed by Dempster who shared it on her timeline, saying she will contact Hearts to try to identify the fan and have him banned from Easter Road.
She suggested that she intends to invoice Hearts for the damage.
Dempster tweeted: “You just cost your club around £60 mate – this will be shared with our colleagues at @Jamtarts to see if we can identify you and have you banned from OUR stadium in the future. We are all sick of this type of behaviour. #callingyouanidiot.”
It is not the first time this season that a controversial incident has happened off the field in the derby. There has been incidents of coin throwing, players being assaulted, racist abuse and flares or smoke bombs thrown on to the pitch.
Sunday’s game finished 1-1 with Uche Ikpeazu’s late strike cancelling out Christophe Berra’s own goal. Hibs’ Marc Mcnulty had missed a penalty prior to Hibs taking the lead.
The Scottish Football Association is “aware” of the comments from Paul Heckingbottom following Sunday’s Edinburgh derby and could be set to hit the Hibs head coach with a ban.
Heckingbottom accused fourth official Gavin Duncan of swearing at him during the 1-1 draw between Hibs and Hearts at Easter Road and said if they were anywhere else, he would have “knocked his teeth out”.
Due to the nature of the potential offence, it is not governed by Fast Track rules and Heckingbottom may have to wait a few days to learn his fate from the SFA compliance officer Clare Whyte, who will consider whether to take action or not. Referee Craig Thomson must file his match report by today.
Kilmarnock manager Steve clarke was not served a notice of complaint until last Thursday following his outburst about referee Steve nm clean’ s performance in the previous Saturday’s defeat by Aberdeen.
He has decided to appeal the charge having been cited for an alleged breach of Rule 72 that relates to interviews and impinging on someone’s character. This could be the offence Heckingbottom is charged with following his out-of-character comments in an interview with BBC Scotland directly after his side had been held to a draw by Hearts, who scored a late equaliser through Uche Ikpeazu. The head coach refused to expand on what he said in a later press conference with reporters.
Celtic skipper Scott Brown was recently charged for an alleged breach of rule 77, which requires all football staff to “act in the best interests of Association Football”, after his conduct following his side’s 2-1 win over Rangers last month. He appealed and won his case last week.
• Hibs midfielder Stevie Mallan was a double winner at the club’s Player of the Year Awards dinner. The 23-year-old was voted Player of the Year and also the Players’ Player of the Year. Defender Ryan Porteous, 20, was named Young Player of the Year.