The SFA and SPFL are expected to make a statement on crowd behaviour later this week in reaction to recent events.
Last night BBC Scotland mentioned a new initiative while the Daily Record claims that Ian Maxwell of the SFA and Neil Doncaster of the SPFL spent three hours together on Monday working on the latest action plan.
The new measures seem to be in response to a Hibs fan confronting James Tavernier on the pitch-side at Easter Road on Friday night.
According to the Record:
A source said: “The SFA and the SPFL have been in discussions about the current hooligan problem for some time but events of the last week or so brought the matter to a head. The two bodies have decided to tackle this together with a co-ordinated, cohesive strategy.”
The timing of the latest action is bound to be viewed suspiciously with neither the SFA or SPFL making any comment or action when assistant referee Callum Spence required stitches after being struck by a coin during Livingston’s match with the club from Ibrox in September 2018.
In April 2017 no action was taken during a Glasgow derby during which Scott Brown was confronted by a fan on the park, Scott Sinclair suffered racist abuse and a battery was among missiles thrown at Leigh Griffiths.
Although new measures are likely to attract attention the favoured get out of excusing clubs who ‘have done everything possible’ to avoid trouble is likely to remain.
If incidents continue to happen it is surely up to clubs to step up their actions rather than simply issue warnings and statements on websites or match programmes.