David Healy has admitted that he lied about not seeing the missile throwing at Leigh Griffiths as Linfield lost 2-0 to Celtic in Belfast.
A range of missiles including a bottle of Buckfast were thrown at the Celtic striker with the game held up to clear the missiles from the pitch.
Referee Alejandro Hernandez decided to book Griffiths with Linfield chairman Roy McGivern accusing the striker of provoking fans into throwing missiles.
After the match Healy claimed that he hadn’t seen the incidents but yesterday he admitted that he had seen Griffiths being attacked and blamed ‘a few idiots’.
“Someone asked me the question about the incidents straight from the game and I claimed that I didn’t see the incident,” he explained to the Daily Record.
“But having seen and been made aware of the incident, I didn’t want to come out and say anything but now that two or three days have passed, it’s time for me.
“I know the club have made a statement about the idiots and it is hugely disappointing that with the amount of money that we spent and the efforts that the club make, we still have a few idiots who want to bring the club to the attention of other people.
“It is hugely disappointing as the manager of the club that (because) of a few idiots, the players didn’t come out with a lot more praise. A lot of people wanted to talk about what happened off the pitch.
“I did say about supporters throughout the world, sometimes no matter what you do as a club, you can’t prevent a few idiots that follow the club. We have made giant strides to make sure we are talking about what happens on the pitch.
“It is hugely important tomorrow night that the 1,000 supporters or whatever who are going to be here behave themselves in an impeccable manner, enjoy the scenery, enjoy the game, enjoy the occasion, and we come away talking about hopefully another positive Linfield performance.”
The missile throwing incidents could have been avoided had Linfield taken safety seriously rather than trying to minimise costs while maximising income.
Flooding the area around the corner flag with trained stewards and dispersing those fans into the thousands of empty seats around the ground could have saved Griffiths from the missile throwing.
No one at Linfield has apologised to Celtic or Griffiths with a heavy UEFA fine expected tomorrow for selling tickets to ‘a few idiots’.
