Rangers thug Alfredo Morelos escapes SFA censure over derby assaults

Rangers striker Alfredo Morelos will face no disciplinary charges over his derby assaults on Celtic players during the Ibrox side’s 1-0 win at Ibrox.

The 22-year-old striker kicked Celtic skipper Scott Brown in the groin, before stamping on defender Anthony Ralston, punching midfielder Ryan Christie in the groin and elbowing Christie again after the midfielder had played the ball to an opponent.

In what was a predictable decision from the Scottish FA, given their past actions over Morelos’ thuggery, he will face no disciplinary charges whatsoever. What makes this whole sordid affair even more laughable is that match referee John Beaton claimed to have seen three of the incidents in their entirety and saw nothing wrong with any of the incidents.

That means the Colombian will face no retrospective action after the match officials and a panel of three former referees claimed the 22-year-old had no case to answer.

No great surprise

The decision by the Scottish FA comes as no great surprise given the ‘one rule for Rangers another rule for everyone else’ policy that seems to be self-evident within Hampden Park and sends a message that it is now okay for Rangers players to get away with anything on the pitch – especially when the referee is and is from a family of well-known Rangers supporters.

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Morelos has been sent off three times in 34 games this season and shown 13 yellow cards, albeit one of those red cards was overturned despite video evidence clearly showing the striker kicking out at Scott McKenna.

The inaction of the Scottish FA after that incident has given Morelos carte blanche to continue his thuggery in Scottish Football and sets a horrific example of a so-called professional football player.

And yet apologists for the striker claims he is just petulant and is hot-headed at times due to his age. And yet, if you acted like that on the streets – no matter his age – he would be jailed.

The striker has once again reiterated his desire to move to the English Premier League, but no manager or club in their right mind would sign such a player with his violent mentality knowing the full well the risks they face when he pulls on one of their strips. Maybe that phantom Chinese club will come back in for him. No not that unnamed Chinese club, the other unnamed Chinese club.

Racism claims a ploy invented by Rangers

One prominent Rangers fan site claimed in the run-up to today’s decision that the criticism of Alfredo Morelos was due to racism. This individual, who was himself sacked as a Rangers director after just one day after using a terror attack on a Paris satirical magazine to peddle his hatred of Muslims, claimed that the Scottish Mainstream media was inherently racist and that anyone criticising Morelos for this thuggery was themselves racist.

This laughable and detestable claim from someone well-known as a racist bigot has not been challenged by the Scottish media – who used to run to this person regularly for wee comments on the previous Rangers regimes.

But let’s get one thing clear – the criticism of Morelos has got nothing to do with his colour or anything else that is away from the football pitch. The criticism he faces constantly has got everything to do with his thuggish and violent tendencies, and maybe it is time that Steven Gerrard and Rangers Football Club employ a mental health specialist or anger management specialist to work with Morelos before it is too late.

What will it take for the Scottish FA to take action against this sort of behaviour? Will they wait for a player to be seriously hurt or worse? Or will they claim no action to be taken then also?

Morelos decision fallout

With the news that Morelos was escaping censure there was a huge outcry from all quarters over the Scottish FA decision.

Former Celtic striker labelled it ‘buffoonery of the highest order from the SFA’:

While his former strike partner John Hartson called it a ‘baffling’ decision:

Morelos escaping censure is even more laughable given that Hibernian manager Neil Lennon was banned for pretending to be an aeroplane after his side scored a late goal against Rangers at the end of last season.

Stamping, elbowing and kicking opponents is okay in the eyes of the Scottish FA it now seems but pretending to be a jumbo jet isn’t!

The Scottish FA, its disciplinary panel, the compliance officer and its pool of referees and match officials are not fit for purpose and it is time that Celtic and their fans took action to take the fight to the governing body once and for all.