Barry Ferguson did a lot more than moan to his favourite newspaper, it seems to me.
He also admitted that he instructed his players to go in hard on Celtic’s.
We sanction players for that. But if those players were simply following the instructions of their coaches, shouldn’t we sanction the coaches too? What would the charge be? Bringing the game into disrepute?
Ferguson may think that his tactics and his comments are reasonable. But the laws of the game do not permit an “anything goes” attitude when you come up against a superior football team. His excuse that Celtic had better technical players does not absolve him or his players of the sort of barbaric behaviour that they were guilty of during the match.
I mean for God’s sake, can you imagine the kind of game we would have in this country if every club sent its players out to “get in their faces” and “bite ankles” when they came up against better sides?
There would be anarchy. It would be a bloodbath.
As E-Tims pointed out, Ferguson’s instructions were carried out to the letter.
Ankle injuries saw Abada and Ideguchi leave the field, the latter player on the end of a vicious and thuggish challenge which Don Robertson only punished with a yellow card. Our captain left the field with a cheekbone injury which will require surgery.
So there is little doubt that he was well pleased with the efforts of his players, and when you face a team that is intent on this kind of “football” you look to the officials to protect you as best they can.
Robertson was scandalously lax in that department, and having failed then to do it on the pitch the least the SFA should do is provide restitution after the fact.
It is absolutely clear that Alloa’s players were sent out to stop Celtic playing football at any cost.
Any cost to us.
This is something the governing bodies should investigate and should punish and they don’t need to look too far for the evidence.
A national newspaper has helpfully published Ferguson’s confession.
dont hold your breath!!
They were all hoping that their wee pet ‘ pundit ‘ at the Record was gonna pap us out
Unlucky ya wee hun rat i hope you go down and get sacked and that’s your management career f*cked
It is not a confession it is a boast and once again he is sticking two fingers up.
That’s exactly what he was doing SB. If you read everything he said, it was actually quite clever. He deliberately said at every possible turn that he did not send his players out to hurt Celtic players. He also said that a player whose intention was to do exactly that would not make his squad.
So there is absolutely HEE HAW chance of him being pulled up.
The “bite ankles” comment was his attempt at humour. Two fingers up at us, as you correctly stated. Something he has previous for obviously.
We should not be calling for Ferguson to be hauled up – he is an irrelevance. We should be calling for Celtic to haul up refs who fail to protect our players in the same manner Kevin Clancy was “unofficially” sanctioned for his performance last week in the Sheep v hun scum match.
Agreed. How many times must we watch this happening before something is done? We hear Bankier is working behind the scenes but what is a limp little weasel like going to do? “Excuse me could you please not let the nasty boys kick our players?”
We need an absolute monster at the helm, not the parade of mewling kittens we have now that roll over and let the filth rub their bellies laughing…
A former “the rangers” manager called ALL referees CHEATS and nothing was done. So what’s the chances Ferguson will have to answer for that comment..none
As you so clearly identified SB its a boast from a spoiled favoured bigot who admits to cheating with a violent consequence. Its another middle finger from him to Scottish football and its fans.
The SFA itself is a corrupt authority, they are the governing body allowing refs to get away with cheating, indeed sanctioning it, the same refs time and time again. Even historically hiding a Celtic player’s registration. Celtic should ask Uefa to look into them. That’s the severity of the message, this authority is corrupt, Celtic need to stop kidding themselves that the SFA are independent. HH
If the matter of on-field assaults is not dealt with appropriately by the football authorities then clubs and players may prefer to exercise their rights under normal law and have their complaints resolved in court.
Statistically, what’s the odds of a team receiving 3 bad injuries in one game. Injuries that will probably cause them to miss games. I’ve watched football for decades and don’t remember this happening too often, if at all. I think Ferguson, Malcom and their players set out to assist the Sevco cause. I think getting to the next round of the cup was not even in their thoughts. Celtic need to complain about this and the SFA need to take Alloa to task.
the scottish f a disciplinary judicial panel will judge a complaint against mouhamed niang on 27 january 2022 for his foul/dangerous play in the alloa vs celtic game last saturday.
the competency of the referee should be reviewed by the referee’s association. synthetic pitches were banned for the english premier league many years ago and recently a big company wants them allowed. no players like them. in the american NFL 16 fields are GRASS and about 3 fields synthetic. players hate synthetic fields. the condition of the alloa field was very variable. ferguson MUST be severely punished for his admitted instructions to his team.
Obviously out to injure as many celtic players as they could.