Gordon Smith has warned the SFA that they have opened up a can of worms by charging Scott Brown with ‘not acting in the best interests of Association Football’.
The little known charge surfaced on Thursday morning with the precise incident unknown.
During Sunday’s derby match Brown was elbowed and punched, at the final whistle he was confronted by half a dozen Ibrox players with team-mate Mikael Lustig pushed to the ground with his shirt ripped.
In the eyes of most Celtic fans Brown showed incredible restraint but yesterday the SFA announced that he was being charged.
???? WATCH: If SFA hammer Scott Brown for #Oldfirm celebration they have to haul every other player into the dock says ex #RangersFC star Gordon Smith#CelticFC #RangersFC #Scottbrown pic.twitter.com/uZEVr1Ez0x
— PLZ Soccer (@PLZSoccer) April 4, 2019
There needs to be consistency. That’s what you look for.
If this is going to be the case, you can’t just say ‘Oh, it happened in an Old Firm game, so we are going to take some action’.
It would have to be consistent right across the board at all levels – don’t celebrate in front of opposition fans.
Don’t go towards then and don’t gesture towards them. Andy Halliday was booked for gesturing against Morton a few years ago – and he was at the halfway line.
We have to careful and we have to be consistent. You have to take every incident into account and do the same.”
Smith was Chief Executive of the SFA from June 2007 to April 2010 and later took up a Director of Football role at Ibrox under Craig Whyte.
Since then he has had a number of media roles with his opinion on SFA and legislative matters keenly sought after.
Celtic have promised to vigorously defend the charge made against Brown.