Joe McHugh at VideoCelts posted one Hell of an article earlier, with some video footage and a still photograph which strongly suggests that Kyogo was the victim of an unprovoked assault by John Souttar, in an off the ball incident in last night’s game against Hearts.
He makes a good case.
That is a case which the SFA compliance officer has to look at.
If there is nothing in the incident, then all well and good and we move on.
If it’s what it looks like, then Souttar has to be punished to the fullest extent in the regulations.
The Hearts manager ought not to complain either; he is of the mind that the officials were easy on Celtic last night and he’s all for them getting these decisions right then this is definitely one that needs to be looked at properly.
None of us are experts and the compliance officer may have access to footage which none of us has seen.
Kyogo’s stomach certainly was marked in the photo.
That doesn’t look like something you do falling down on the pitch. It is more consistent with – as the video footage suggests – someone grabbing hold of your midriff and digging their fingers in.
Which is a clear example of violent conduct. How can it not be?
This isn’t bloodlust. This isn’t us demanding that some innocent party be punished.
If there really is nothing to see here then fair enough, but it has to be examined and Kyogo spoken to and Souttar spoken to and that footage properly looked at because if that’s what happened then it’s a piece of naked off-the-ball thuggery.
And of course, it is especially applicable when hysterical Ibrox fan sites and even some Sky Sports “pundits” are howling at the moon about our player with some of them having already accused him of being a diver and a cheat.
That’s not on, and for those reasons alone, this should be looked at closely.
Will the compliance officer do anything NO
Will Celticfc complain NO
Let’s just move on to our next manager
Tony Mowbray tried and gave up aslong as we depend on the blue pound we’re at the back of the bus.
He has no midriff to grab. Joe Mchugh never seen the bottle incidents so not a mention.
You write very well James but this is nonsense in the extreme. Joe Mchugh quotes tweet after tweet, never a story of his own. These stories make us look stupid, something we would mock if it came from Govan.
Why do folk focus on the results of an assault and not on the assault itself ?