Silence- Ibrox club go into denial as Craig McPherson head-butt goes viral
Soccer Football - Scottish Premiership - Rangers vs Celtic - Ibrox, Glasgow, Scotland, Britain - January 2, 2023 Celtic CEO Michael Nicholson, former Celtic CEO Peter Lawwell, Rangers chairman Douglas Park and Rangers honorary Life President John Greig pay their respects during a service on the anniversary of the 1971 Ibrox disaster in which 66 people died, outside the stadium before the match Action Images via Reuters/Lee Smith
We’ll pick each other up, we’ll move on, we’re Glasgow Rangers.
That was the closing comments from Malky Thomson to his club’s You Tube channel as he provided a staunch and dignified collection of cliches following the 1-1 draw with Celtic in the SWPL at Broadwood last night.
As he was doing so one incident from the match, which was the first ever SWPL match shown live on Sky Sports, was on a loop on Twitter.
Craig McPherson, Thomson’s trusted assistant manager had head-butted Fran Alonso soon after the final whistle. Not face to face but from behind as the Celtic coach congratulated players from both teams.
The head-butt incident was being shown on a loop by Sky Sports News but neither Thomson nor his club would acknowledge it which puts it under a greater focus.
Awareness has never been a strength at Ibrox, deny and deflect works in most cases regardless of what the club has got upto.
Last April broken glass mysteriously found its way into the penalty box to be defended by Joe Hart during the half time break in a match against Celtic.
Incredibly no-one witnessed what ad happened, no stewards or police, not even the Ibrox groundstaff who were in the penalty box carrying out some running repairs at the time.
The second half was held up for five minutes as the glass was cleared, avoiding a career/life threatening injury to a player from either side.
Afterwards silence was golden. No comment from the club, the SFA or SPFL, certainly nothing from Celtic.
Reluctantly at the Celtic AGM Michael Nicholson admitted that the CCTV wasn’t working at the Copland Road Stand during the half-time break.
Straight after the final whistle Celtic physio Daniel Friel was hit on the head by a glass bottle, the person that threw it, Alan Crawford was in a hospitality seat.
There has still not been any comment or apology from the Ibrox club about either incident but it looks like McPherson might be shamed out of his job with the prospect of Police Scotland investigating his televised attack.