John Kennedy has hit out at the SFA double standards when it comes to breaches of regulations for the pandemic.
In August Ian Maxwell couldn’t act fast enough to postpone two Celtic matches after Boli Bolingoli didn’t self-isolate after a trip to Spain. Within 18 days the player was hit with a three match suspension.
When five Ibrox stars were issued with Fixed Penalties by Police Scotland in the early hours of February 14 it looked ominous for them. Four days later James Tavernier got a sore leg and the SFA took cold feet.
The 18 days mark passed, so did a month before a hearing conveniently after the March 21 derby at Celtic Park. A four match ban seemed light but not light enough for Steven Gerrard who launched an appeal because Nathan Patterson is young and a four match ban could cause severe damage to his career.
Speaking before the SFA announced the appeal date John Kennedy told The Sun:
Steven Gerrard’s got his reasons to do that and say what he said but regardless if you are a talent or you’re not, you’ve still broken the protocols, and there’s a punishment that goes with that.
Our players are talented too. They have been punished. It’s the same difference. We paid money for them and have high hopes for them. Look at the Boli Bolingoli situation. Yes, he broke the law, and he was harshly punished for it — rightly so.
We’re not defending that. But it was a massive setback in terms of his career at Celtic. That’s the punishment for stepping out of line. You can’t do it. It was made very clear to our players these are the situations that you can’t get involved in.
One, because you’ll be punished for it, but it also brings extra pressure and scrutiny on the club. Bolingoli was punished and we accepted that was the right thing
These players have been caught breaking the law. The SFA have to address that quickly. It’s consistency that again a lot of people in Scotland will ask for whether it’s with officiating, the SFA disciplinary process or other things. It should be very clear in terms of how you deal with situations like this.
Regardless of the player, and how talented or valuable he is, there has to be a punishment when you step out of line in these situations. We’ve been dealt with harshly in the past and had to accept it, and we have to wait and see what comes Rangers’ way.
I’m not just saying this because it’s Rangers. Aberdeen were dealt with in the same manner as ourselves when their players were involved in their situation.
There’s a process in place as to how they deal with these things, but for whatever reason, it seems to have broken down at this point, and only the SFA can answer that.
Looking at the contrasting time lines Kennedy added:
We were addressed very quickly in the situation we were in. We had games postponed, and the players were dealt with fairly quickly. I really don’t know what the delay and the hold-up is.
Players who probably should have been banned played against us. They have broken rules. The SFA need to address this themselves, and give a bit more clarity to everyone in terms of the hold-up and why it’s taken so long.
It’s something I think should have been dealt with a lot quicker to remain consistent with all the other decisions that have happened.
Around 6pm tonight the SFA announced that the appeal will be heard on April 20- more than two months after the Fixed Penalties and three days after Celtic go to Ibrox in the Scottish Cup.
