After seven weeks of waiting the SFA has handed out four match suspensions to Nathan Patterson and his Ibrox Covidiot pals.
On February 14 the Ibrox starlet was handed a Fixed Penalty by Police Scotland for attending a ‘house party’ with the SFA very reluctant to take action. Soon afterwards James Tavernier suffered a sore leg and hasn’t played since.
With a four match ban covering two SPFL matches and two Scottish Cup ties, starting on Sunday against Cove Rangers, all five players will be fit and available for a potential Scottish Cup quarter-final on April 24 or 25 ahead of the Glasgow derby with Celtic on May 2.
BBC Scotland reports:
Bongani Zungu, Nathan Patterson, Calvin Bassey, Dapo Mebude and Brian Kinnear have all been cited after a party was broken up by police in January.
The group were fined by the club, who were also in dialogue with the SFA and Scottish government about the incident. A four-match ban will be served immediately, with two suspended until the end of the season.
A disciplinary hearing took place on Thursday last week, with Tuesday’s outcome meaning those still involved with first-team duties will miss a large chunk of the season run in.
Bassey, Patterson – who has been playing at right-back in place of injured captain James Tavernier – and on-loan Amiens player Zungu have featured for Steven Gerrard’s side this season, while Mebude is on loan at Queen of the South. Goalkeeper Kinnear is a youth player.
Back in August it took the SFA 18 days to suspend Boli Bolingoli, in November Jordan Jones and George Edmundson only had to wait 17 days from the date of getting Fixed Penalties to being suspended by the SFA.
No explanation has been given over why it took more than twice as long to deal with the Ibrox Covidiots compared to earlier cases.