Sport

Celtic pay the penalty

Celtic yesterday decided to draw a line under one of the more notorious Old Firm meetings and accepted a £45,000 Stg fine for…

By IAN ARCHER
Tue Aug 10 1999 - 01:00

Celtic yesterday decided to draw a line under one of the more notorious Old Firm meetings and accepted a £45,000 Stg fine for the disturbances at the league title decider against Rangers on May 2nd. They will not appeal against the sentence handed out by the Scottish Premier League (SPL) but they do not accept that their players - in particular French fullback Stephane Mahe - were completely to blame for events which led to referee Hugh Dallas needing stitches in a head wound after being struck by a coin.

The findings of an SPL Commission headed by Lord Mackay of Drumadoon cited the major reason for the punishment as Celtic's failure "to provide appropriate advice and instruction to the Celtic players as to the possible impact of their behaviour on the conduct of Celtic supporters watching the match". Mahe was sent off in the first half, a decision he debated furiously on the field.

Celtic's chief executive, Allan MacDonald, said last night: "We appear to be fined because of the perceived inadequacy of our pre-match briefing of our players.

"Stephane Mahe is a fine young man who reacted badly on this extremely volatile occasion. He has been punished by the club and the SFA. He has expressed his apologies publicly. It is time that the matter was closed." But the club also issued a warning to its own fans. "It is important that it is clearly understood that any individual amongst our support who does not embrace the standards and principles that Celtic and its supporters are proud to stand for will be banned for life."

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Th SPL said the £45,000 Stg fine would have been more severe if Celtic had not acted so quickly to discipline Mahe and Vidar Riseth who was also sent off. It also noted that the club had expressed concern before the game about the Sunday evening kick-off designed to meet Sky TV schedules.

This season's Old Firm games will have earlier kick-off times to ensure fans do not spend the entire day drinking beforehand. The SPL have still to rule whether Rangers should be punished for imitating the Celtic "huddle".