Police Scotland, who just a couple of weeks back decided to get heavy-handed with large numbers of Celtic fans—blocking people from entering the ground on the flimsiest of pretexts—have tonight announced that Vaclav ?erný will face no criminal consequences for his conduct, which was liable to cause a breach of the peace at Celtic Park a fortnight ago.
Anyone claiming surprise hasn’t been paying attention.
?erný has a significant section of the media backing him. His manager has defended him. And now, Police Scotland have ruled that he hasn’t committed an offence worthy of sanction—although if you or I had done that in the middle of Buchanan Street bus station, I strongly suspect they’d have found a reason to hold us overnight and put us in front of a judge the next morning.
But this brings the matter to a legal close, and that means whatever excuse the SFA was using to avoid taking action no longer applies.
The only fig leaf they had left was the notion that Police Scotland were still conducting their investigation. The fact that it took two weeks—despite plenty of TV footage being available and case law that could have been Googled in five minutes—tells you everything about their real determination to see justice done, and swiftly at that.
At least the police can claim due process.
At least they can say they had to consult lawyers and procurators fiscal to determine if anyone actually wanted a prosecution. They had to consult with Ibrox about the defence they’d mount. They had any number of reasons they could use to explain dragging this out to such a feeble conclusion.
The SFA, however, has no excuse—none at all. I don’t care that this happened just before an international break. I don’t care that Police Scotland were looking into it for their own reasons. The SFA didn’t have to wait for the international break to be over. They didn’t have to wait for the outcome of a police investigation. Their offices were open. Their officials were working. Their executives could have jumped on a Zoom call and sorted this out in ten minutes if they’d had the will to do so.
We’ve already seen that football regulations don’t impact what a police force or a prosecutor decides to do.
The SFA finding a case to answer wouldn’t have prejudiced ?erný in the eyes of the law—these are two separate matters. The idea that one would have affected the other is ridiculous. You might as well argue that Police Scotland couldn’t make a decision on prosecution until the SFA reviewed its own bylaws.
The simple fact is, the SFA would have been delighted to pass the buck. Had Police Scotland taken action, they’d have had no choice but to get in front of the cameras and say, “Well, it’s a criminal offence, so we can’t ignore it.”
But while I believe that if a member of the public had done what ?erný did, it would have been treated as a criminal offence, I never thought he’d actually be charged. No one else seriously did either.
But that doesn’t absolve the governing body from taking responsibility.
Now that the police investigation is over, the SFA is out of room to manoeuvre. Their best hope now is to simply ignore it and hope it goes away. But it’s up to all of us in the coming days to make sure that doesn’t happen. Instead of letting it die, we should be turning the volume up—way up.
This is still a game where players get booked for celebrating with their own fans. So how exactly does a governing body that enforces that rule justify letting a player get away with taunting opposition supporters?
Even in a more benign setting than a Glasgow derby—billed as the most hateful, poisonous fixture in the world—it would be unacceptable.
At some point this week, someone is going to have to emerge from the Hampden bunker and explain whether ?erný is being charged or not.
Either answer will cause problems—but so what? That’s the job of a governing body: to govern. Or did nobody tell them that?
I, for one, am thoroughly sick of these spineless people.
And I won’t be remotely surprised if the answer is no answer at all. I won’t be shocked if they simply try to bury this. Most of the media would be happy for that to happen. Everyone at Ibrox certainly would.
But I’ll say again what I’ve said before: No Celtic player would have gotten away with this. Not only would no one have spoken up in their defence, but the media would have lobbied like mad until a heavy ban was handed down. That’s why there should be no question of our dropping it.
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I certainly wasn’t expecting a criminal charge being applied to him but then why would I. Double standards are pretty much always going to be dished out between ‘celebrity types’ and the general public and for that matter any representative of that club and our fans, players or managers.
I agree totally with the focus of your argument but if this was a hun fan amongst a group of hun fans would a charge have been forthcoming? In Buchanan Street, Glasgow Square or anywhere else for that matter ? Na mate
I’m pretty certain, if I had sprayed water on a cop I’d be charged with assault. If I was sitting in a seat next to the pitch and a player from the opposition came to retrieve a ball for a throw in and I’d skooshed him with water the likelihood is I’d be lifted and probably charged. The cops and the SFA have now allowed open season without recourse, unless you happen to kick with the other foot. No wonder this country is Fucked it’s corrupt to the core!
Like you I now await the SFAs response and I like you all will be wondering whether they deal with it appropriately or set a dangerous precedent for all match ‘celebrations’ for the future.
As Brendan said a line was crossed and a 2, 3 or 4 match ban would cover it. Maybe they’ll wait to the season’s end before they deliver it when he’s fucked off somewhat like their Covid rule breakers
Ah well free reign to all Hoops supporters then goin forward…
So at The Trongate Party (assuming it all goes to,plan on the field of play of course) I can get some buddies together agree prior to it to give each other a wee Cerny type water scooching shenanigans, give the nearest cops nearby a wee water jet cool down on a balmy spring day and there will be fuck all they (the cops) can do…
C’mon – Bhoys n’ Ghirls it’s allowed now last mobilise and plan ahead !
Edit = LETS mobilise and plan ahead – Not Last mobilise and plan ahead as itvreads !
The last paragraph sums up my thoughts, “no Celtic player would’ve got away with this” I believe that, you could say it’s just water and Cerny was just an overexcited twat but what would’ve happened if it was a Celtic player? The media would reference the incident in every story they wrote for months after, the player would be public enemy no. 1. Bill Leckie told Talksport the day after that it wasn’t just Cerny but that’s all swept neatly under the carpet too. I hope we just soundly beat them at Ibrox with no conduct issues from our fans (if the police let them in).
Nah – Get the fans to scoosh Cerny back with even more water…
This is allowed and the new normal in Scottish Football now Brattbakk !
Come on Clach – a bit of imagination…the dye the rivers green in NY and Chicago on Paddy’s day. Although we would probably be done for aggravated assault if we did that!
They’ll probably give Cerny a two game ban covered by the 2 he’ll miss through injury anyway.
Ach well then, the Celtic bench can arm themselves with water bottles for the game coming up at Ibrox, and spray the unwashed blue hordes with the contents every time we score a goal, and nothing can be said about it, for it’s not illegal. Better still we can fill the bottles with holy water which will blister their skin on direct contact, I do hope the mad zombies can control their reactions, after all it’s just good fun, a jolly jape. 🙂
Wonder what would have happened if Idah had done the exact same thing to the klanbase after our last minute winner at hamdump , the media would probably still be talking about it .
The metric I personally apply to situations like this is one you came up with James yourself a couple of seasons ago. Imagine Neil Lennon had done this to the rangers fans at castle greyskull ? Imagine the carnage that would have erupted afterwards ? Think about the media frenzy and kangaroo courts that would have condemned his actions throughout the country ? What Czerny did whilst not on the same scale physically was akin to Eric Cantonas jumping into the stands many years ago. Its the inflamatory aspect of his actions that should be scrutinised and considered here, especially as it was a glasgow derby.As usual the police and judiciary in scotland apply their own unique interpretation of events and I dont expect anything different coming out of Hampden either.
Come on Clach – a bit of imagination…the dye the rivers green in NY and Chicago on Paddy’s day. Although we would probably be done for aggravated assault if we did that!