John Hartson has responded to the bizarre defence of being provoked to justify physical attacks on Scott Brown.
Following yesterday’s Glasgow derby Steven Gerrard firstly admitted that he could no longer defend the violent attacks of Alfredo Morelos before switching to deflection mode.
Apparently Brown, who was attacked by Morelos, Ryan Kent and Andy Halliday had provoked the incidents.
Bit ridiculous to suggest it’s ok to throw an elbow into someone’s face.. and to throw a left hander at an opponent after the final whistle if your provoked. We are provoked everyday in society.. you own your actions. You choose how you react.
— John Hartson (@JohnHartson10) April 1, 2019
The Celtic skipper did brush against Morelos but that happens regularly in every match, the reaction of trying to elbow an opponent in the face is very rare and almost always punished.
Waiting to restart the match after Celtic’s second goal Kent decided to lash out with a clenched hand sending Brown to the deck. If anyone at Celtic had decided to react in the same way there could have been a major incident on the field.
The Celtic players trusted Bobby Madden to apply the laws of the game and send off Kent. Madden failed putting the spotlight on the SFA Compliance Officer.
At the final whistle Halliday’s attack on Brown was justified by his manager as defending his people, that comment alone deserves an explanation to the SFA.