UEFA will submit their verdict on the Ibrox fans’ sectarian sing-a-thon in Warsaw today, and even as we await their decision the club has been rocked by reports that a THIRD UEFA investigation has been opened into their conduct, for sectarianism at the game against Denmark’s Midtjylland.
Now, this is still up in the air, with at least one prominent Ibrox blogger denying the story is true.
But if this is true – and UEFA has not made a statement on it – there is little doubt that they are in big trouble here.
The club will, again, try to hide behind the “lessons that have been learned” since they were censured over what happened at Ibrox against St Patrick’s, but as I said in a previous piece this is like saying you would never have committed a crime if you’d known that you were going to be charged with a previous crime.
Try that defence in court; it’ll give the prosecution a laugh.
Three times in a single European campaign. And they’ve only yet been punished for one of them.
There’s a certain inevitability here about a stadium closure or worse. Their fans have been behaving like this for too long to change; I wonder if reforming them is even possible at this late stage. Those inside the club must be pulling their hair out.
Too bad though, as they have squandered umpteen chances to deal with this issue before now.
The Ibrox club has had this coming for years. Later on today I think we need to take a look at why it’s taken these pesky Europeans to try and sort this out; their fans now know UEFA is watching, but my money is on the full sectarian karaoke this weekend.
And that, folks, is the problem.
These Peepul won’t stop until someone forces them to. UEFA has acted.
We’re entitled to wonder why the SFA won’t, and they can stop this flannel about Strict Liability; the regulations already exist for this stuff to be dealt with, it’s just that the SFA has consistently refused to use them to do it.
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