Calum Beattie has discussed the SPFL’s ability to deduct points from club’s due to fan misbehaviour.
Recently it was announced that Celtic, Aberdeen and Partick Thistle face charges for incidents towards the end of the season.
The use of Pyro has been on the increase but after previously turning a blind eye to it clubs have been charged during the 24/25 season.
Celtic fans have been puzzled by how disciplinary action is taken, over their last three visits to Ibrox two glass bottles have been thrown at Celtic players with Arne Engels struck by a missile in January while taking a corner kick.
In April 2022 the second half of a match at Ibrox was delayed to remove pieces of glass from Joe Hart’s penalty box.
Beattie is the Chief Operating Officer of the SPFL, in charge of ensuring that the four divisions operate in accordance with the rules.
On Saturday he appeared in Sportsound with the BBC website reporting:
Beattie stressed he hopes to see “a reduction in these incidents” and cited examples of how the criminal justice system was intervening and said the league is committed to trying to address the issue.
However, he hinted that imposing points deductions on clubs for the misbehaviour of their supporters was unlikely.
“A points deduction is a possibility under any SPFL complaint that is taken against a club,” he said.
“We don’t like to run towards points deductions for obvious reasons.
“We want football to be played out on the pitch and for competition integrity, we want it determined on the pitch.
“Our position on that for many years has been we believe in individual responsibility. That does not mean that clubs cannot be sanctioned for issues with their supporters but they’ve got to do everything reasonable practicable to address it.
“We know how challenging it is for clubs. These are societal issues. We’re not alone in having to address these issues. The clubs aren’t alone. They are doing their utmost to address these issues but we’re still having to deal with them.
“We don’t think it’s right to then leave the clubs themselves and say: ‘If you don’t deal with this, if you cannot address this issue, you’re going to get a points deduction.’ We don’t think that’s proportionate.”
Celtic will kick off the 25/26 season with a home match against St Mirren on August 3 with a 4.30pm kick off.
Matchday three sees Celtic host Livingston with the option to postpone that fixture since it falls between the Champions League Play Offs.
Celtic will have played two Premiership matches and one League Cup tie by that stage leaving Brendan Rodgers to decide whether a home match with Livingston will sharpen up his squad for the Play Off matches which will decide whether Celtic play in the Champions League or Europa League which will switch eight SPFL Premiership matches to Sunday.
Funny how they scumbags at cheating liebrox have never been punished for their crimes dirty corrupt scum at masonic hampden sfa.spfl i bet celtic will be the first toget points took off them and the cheats at liebrox get away with murder rats the lot of them liebrox and hampden..
I would absolutely stunned if BR sent the troops out against a Livvy team managed by a man with definitive leanings and a squad full of hammer throwers just prior to such a vital match.
I would have to seriously question his decision making if he did.
Excellent point Bhoy4life…
Let’s hope he’s learned his lesson with the brutal hatchet job on Rio at Pittodrie…
It worked well for Aberdeen in the cup final…
It’d also work well for Martindale and his beloved Sevco if Celtic fail to get to The Champions League…
So target Daizen will be the name of the game for them…
POSTPONE IT BRENDAN !
You and me both Bhoy4….Good point well made.
Both the SPFL and SFA are incompetent bodies: we have masses of evidence from over the years, to back that up.
The most obvious, persistent example: VAR and match officiating in general is farcical at times.
Who in their right mind would ever trust them to apply points deductions in a fair and reasonable manner,
…and consistently across ALL clubs?
Callum Beattie = Lying Bastard…
How you may ask ?
“They (The Clubs) are doing their utmost to address these issues, but we’re still having to deal with them”
Joe Hart and the BROKEN glass in his box… No camera evidence – What f**kin utmost then ya liar…
And what did he and his spineless cohorts do to the perpetrator club (Sevco) that as of today is 12 years and 328 days old…
The square root of f**k all – ‘Twas always thus and ‘Twill always be thus !!!
Of course we are always able to rely on our Board tackling these issues head on… and calling out the SFA and Sevco when required….Oh wait…..Did I say OUR BOARD??……Sorry about that.
Calum Beattie –
the Chief Operating Officer of the SPFL ! In other words he’s a big COO in Scottish football parlance !
I can’t see points deductions for fan misbehaviour ever working. Aside from the illogicality of trying to punish businesses for the actions of their customers, over which they have minimal control if any at all, it would leave scope for ‘false flag’ operations: in a tight title race or relegation battle – say in the Championship – fans of one club could attend their rivals match, release a load of flares and smokebombs or cause some other kind of rumpus solely to get their rivals docked points and – boom! they win the title or stay up. It’s utterly absurd as an idea and totally unworkable in practice.
Whatever about fans misbehaving during matches…. I came across this story about the great Bert Trautmann in Harry Gregg’s autobiography. “I was there the day his career came to an end in ignominious fashion. United had no match so I went along to Maine Road to watch him play against West Ham United. The ball floated across the box and Bert missed it by the proverbial counrty mile — Geoff Hurst heading it into an empty net. Bert, possibly for the first time ever, lost his cool. Adamant he had been pushed, he called to the referee. The official ignored Bert’s pleas, turned his back and pointed to the centre circle. Completely out of character, Bert picked the ball out of the net and began running upfield. I knew what was coming next and sure enough he kicked the ball against the referee’s backside. Before the gob-smacked official could put the whistle in his mouth, Bert pulled his jersey over his head and walked off. It was a sad end to a wonderful career.” Something similar could easily happen in the SPL as the MIBs give dodgy decisions to their favourite team.