Viljami Sinisalo is already facing the predictable wisecracks after coming out to state that he had ‘lighters, vapes, coins and mugs’ thrown at him in addition to a Buckfast bottle at Ibrox last Sunday.
When using the word ‘mugs’, Celtic’s Finnish goalkeeper surely meant paper cups. No matter, his mistranslation — and his quite shocking take that there were as many as 30 or 40 items on the pitch — has been pounced upon in certain quarters.
‘Next, he’ll be saying a 24-piece dinner set got lobbed on… or a presentation teapot… or a Ford Focus’, goes the chat.
For the record, it isn’t funny. This is a matter of the utmost seriousness. And in among all the obfuscation and finger-pointing and inevitable whataboutery, just a handful of words uttered by Sinisalo in discussing what went on in the final Old Firm game of the season should cut through everything.
‘I’m just trying to do my job,’ he said. ‘There’s not many jobs in the world where you get a bottle thrown at you.’
And that really is the nub of this. Whatever you think of footballers and the money they’re paid and how they have to accept they’re going to be on the end of a bit of abuse, there is no excuse for anyone going to work and having their personal safety put at risk in this manner.
Viljami Sinisalo spoke out about the variety of objects thrown at his goalmouth last weekend
A glass bottle lies on the Ibrox pitch and the fear is that one day soon a player will be struck
Sinisalo marshals his goalmouth during the derby draw but focus was soon on off-field matters
Yes, it looked like Sinisalo appeared in front of the media on Friday with the particular intention of drawing attention to what went on at Ibrox and what has gone on there before.
He spoke of Arne Engels being hit just above the eye with a coin in January. He mentioned Greg Taylor and Joe Hart being targeted in the past, a member of the backroom staff requiring treatment.
This results, of course, in accusations of Celtic players going on about this more than anyone else. So what? Why shouldn’t they? It is an important matter that everyone inside the sport should be doing more to meet head-on.
Of course, it also leads to Rangers supporters demanding to know why more wasn’t made of missiles being thrown at their players at Parkhead in the wake of Hamza Igamane’s late winner in March.
And you know what? They make a very good point. Vaclav Cerny scooshing a fan in the face with some water commandeered all the headlines, but there was very clear video evidence of missiles being thrown at Rangers players that afternoon and it does feel as though it wasn’t highlighted sufficiently.
Just like Sinisalo, someone from within the Ibrox dressing room should have raised the issue. And kept on about it. The media should have made more of it, too.
And from now on, every player or manager who does find themselves dodging coins or vapes — or the infamous cannabis grinder Rangers captain James Tavernier picked up after being showered with stuff at Parkhead last year — should speak up or at least make sure their club clambers all the way up to the rooftops and starts shouting until the capture and punishment of the idiots responsible becomes routine.
They have a responsibility to all their fellow professionals to eradicate this — because, make no mistake, it is not an Old Firm issue. And it should not be painted as such. It requires solidarity throughout the game, across the country.
Straight off the top of the head, there have been a number of incidents of this nature all round the Premiership alone this season.
Dundee United manager Jim Goodwin demanded life bans after a vodka bottle and other items were thrown in the direction of his dug-out by Aberdeen supporters at Tannadice in December.
Dundee striker Simon Murray was struck by a vape at the same venue in March with the game being stopped by referee Nick Walsh and United making an announcement over the tannoy threatening to cancel the derby game if missile-throwing didn’t stop.
Referee Don Robertson passes a coin to the fourth official after Engels was struck in January
Hearts wing-back James Penrice was clearly struck by an object thrown from the Hibs end during a 1-1 Edinburgh derby draw at Easter Road in October. It drew parallels with Lawrence Shankland being targeted by all sorts, including a pie and a bottle opener, the season before.
In November, Celtic striker Adam Idah stated ‘I could probably buy all my Christmas presents with the coins on the pitch’ after scoring at Tynecastle in November. The list just goes on. And on. And on. And that’s only in the top-flight.
Yet, it doesn’t feel like anywhere enough people guilty of this are being caught and dealt with. It’s not just the individual who threw the bottle at Sinisalo last weekend that should be tracked down and banned. It’s absolutely every single person who hurled something towards the field of play.
Rangers, their CCTV team, the police and the authorities should be going after the lot. And the same goes for any similar incident that should happen with any club and at any ground in future.
Idah revels in a goal at Tynecastle in a match where he noted many coins on the pitch
Just as with Cerny’s water-squirting at Parkhead, the missile-throwing at Ibrox almost got lost last weekend amid all manner of handwringing over a tifo display of former Rangers manager Graeme Souness brandishing a shotgun — a graphic taken from a photo dating back to the 1982 World Cup — beside a message about ‘taking aim against rebel scum’.
It was pushing the envelope. It upset people. But it was never a police matter. And it’s never going to put the US consortium close to buying Rangers off completing a deal despite the hyperbole. They understand UK fan culture. They know it’s different from taking in a few chukkas from the comfort of the champagne tent.
Celtic banned a tifo at yesterday’s home game against Hibs. The North Curve ultras group claimed on social media that it was because of a recent anti-Israel protest and banners honouring the late IRA bomber Brendan McFarlane.
It looks like Rangers are finally waking up to the wisdom of taking a little more interest in the messages that form these displays too and it is something that should be relatively easy to police.
Dundee United manager Jim Goodwin spoke out after he was targeted on his return to Pittodrie
It also pales into insignificance beside bottles being hurled at people. Sinisalo claims he was struck on the lower leg by one object. What might have happened had that bottle hit him on the head isn’t worth thinking about.
That’s why there has to be a greater determination around the game — and outwith it — to put out CCTV pictures of guilty parties, track down those responsible, put them through the courts and keep them away from football stadia for good. To bring real-world consequences into play for these morons who do nothing other than damage their clubs and the wider game.
SFA president Mike Mulraney, in discussing the separate issue of pyro earlier at the turn of the year, pointed out the infrequency with which football banning orders are used in Scotland. He stated there had only been one in the past year. Isn’t this another scenario where they could be considered?
The old spectre of ‘strict liability’ has raised its head in the last week and it is something that no one with football at heart should want. Given the current SNP government’s past attitudes towards the national sport and those who support it, would you trust them to handle it wisely and objectively?
Engels is one of many players who can count himself fortunate to have avoided serious injury
Unfortunately, it is going to come more and more into the conversation should missile-throwing and other issues of disorder continue.
It’s why Sinisalo speaking up is good. This needs highlighted and harped-on about until it is dealt with properly using current laws and legislation in conjunction with the clubs, police and their surveillance technology.
All manner of stakeholders have a role to play in that — including players and coaches, whose testimony of avoiding projectiles that could cause life-changing injuries must surely convince all right-minded fans, no matter their team, that stopping this damaging nonsense is a matter of urgent importance.
Scott Brown offers further proof that big-name players don’t always make good bosses
There remains some talk of progress having been made at Ayr United this season, but Friday night’s last-gasp loss to Partick Thistle in the Premiership play-off quarter-finals surely leaves Scott Brown at a crossroads in his managerial career.
A goal up from the first leg at Firhill, blowing it on your own patch against a Jags outfit down to the bare bones and handing a 17-year-old his debut is a disaster.
Listening to Brown in the wake of the final whistle didn’t inspire much confidence either. He talked of his team not even trying to win the game in the latter stages, lacking mentality. It felt he was chucking them under the bus.
Brown had bodies missing himself, but his admission that ‘watching that, it’s not really my team’ is worrying. Instilling a hunger, a winning mentality, making his side a reflection of himself, was surely one of Brown’s major selling points given his uniquely combative nature as a player.
Ayr were going great guns earlier this term, but their regular season ended with just two wins from nine league fixtures. Brown mentioned naivety taking its toll over the run-in, but he also looked downbeat on Friday evening and lacking in answers.
Drawing attention to the number of fouls committed by Partick’s Stuart Bannigan and expressing unhappiness with the referee didn’t really wash either. To win games of football, you need shots on target. Simple as that.
Brown says, somewhat cryptically, that he’s off to have a long, hard think about things. We’ll have to see what that results in.
Right now, though, following on from his sacking at Fleetwood Town in his first job, the 39-year-old is starting to look like another in a long line of individuals about to prove that being a successful footballer doesn’t mean you’re going to be a successful boss.
Plastic pitch ban is harsh on Falkirk
Falkirk chief executive Jamie Swinney must be encouraged to challenge the Premiership’s ban on artificial surfaces from season 2026-27 should he fail to secure a suitable package from the SFA over cash for ground improvements.
The newly promoted Bairns are just one of seven clubs talking to the authorities about grants and interest-free loans to return to grass and have expressed concerns over the lack of process in last June’s vote among top-flight outfits that saw a change to league rules.
Falkirk will need to rip up their artificial surface and replace it with grass in time for next season
Falkirk need to improve their squad before stepping up and, as he points out, don’t have another £1.2million lying around to lay a new pitch and buy grow lights to help with winter maintenance.
They’ve already spent £350,000 on a plastic pitch that would be deemed suitable for UEFA competition. And that’s a key point.
Artificial surfaces get it in the neck regularly, but they do make financial sense for certain teams. If they are good enough to host Bodo/Glimt against Spurs in a Europa League semi-final, they are surely good enough for Falkirk against Ross County in the SPFL.
Put simply, if clubs feel it’s better for them to have one and are committed to making sure it meets a certain standard, what right to do other sides with greater resources have to say that they can’t?
