First Minister John Swinney intervenes after Ibrox trouble

Martin O’Neill’s side secured their place in the semi-finals after a dramatic penalty shootout triumph against the Rangers at Ibrox on Sunday afternoon while St Mirren defeated Partick Thistle 2-1 to keep their hopes of a cup double alive.  Falkirk will take on Neil Lennon’s Dunfermline in the other Scottish Cup semi-final.

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Auston Trusty, Reo Hatate and Tomas Cvancara all converted from the spot for Celtic, while the Ibrox side saw James Tavernier and Djeidi Gassama fail to hit the target during the decisive shootout.

The Hoops are scheduled to meet St Mirren at Hampden Park across the weekend of April 18/19, although the exact date and kick-off time are still to be finalised with Premier Sports involved in that decision.

Prior to that showdown at the national stadium, O’Neill’s team face a significant run of fixtures in the Scottish Premiership. Celtic host Motherwell and St Mirren at Celtic Park, while also travelling to face both Dundee and Dundee United, with Martin O’Neill targeting a dozen points from those four pre-split matches.

Meanwhile, the Scottish FA has opened an immediate investigation into the disorder that followed the conclusion of the cup tie at Ibrox.

Celtic progressed with a 4–2 victory on penalties after neither side could break the deadlock across 120 minutes of football. However, the match ended amid chaotic scenes as tensions spilled over inside the stadium.

Shortly after the shootout, a number of Celtic supporters entered the pitch to celebrate, which prompted a response from the Rangers fans who also surged onto the field.

Police officers and stewards rushed to intervene as clashes erupted between rival supporters, with flares and objects reportedly thrown across the pitch and towards sections of the crowd.

Security personnel eventually formed barriers between the two sets of supporters to prevent further confrontation following several minutes of disorder, which was broadcast live on Premier Sports.

The Scottish FA has since confirmed that the incidents will now be examined under its disciplinary procedures.

A statement read: “The Scottish FA condemns the behaviour from supporters entering the field of play following today’s Scottish Gas Scottish Cup Quarter-Final at Ibrox Stadium.”

“An investigation will be carried out immediately in line with the Judicial Panel Protocol.”

Today Scotland’s First Minister John Swinney commented on the violet scenes and other controversies at Ibrox yesterday afternoon. He said. “The violence after the Old Firm (sic) game yesterday at Ibrox was completely and utterly unacceptable – there is no justification for it whatsoever.

“There was severe danger applied to fans and to police officers and to stewards, it was completely unacceptable in every respect.”

The First Minister continued: “What I want to make clear is the police have my full support in pursuing everyone involved in this incident, also that we will work constructively with the clubs – who must be horrified by the scenes that they witnessed – as well to address the situation, to work with the Scottish Football Association, to make sure that collaboratively and collectively, we do all that we can to make sure that these types of incidents have no place in Scottish football.”

The one common denominator in all these riots and an misbehaviour is that Rangers are involved and get beat. Ask the Hibs fans about the  2016 Scottish Cup Final riot. And let’s not forget what happened in Manchester.

The way to handle this is to deal with each club individually and make them accountable for their own behaviour on and off the park, that includes Board, players, management and of supporters. Anything else is lip service, nothing more and nothing with change.

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Conor Spence