Celtic release statement following Ryan Christie ban

The SFA have decided to ban Celtic’s Ryan Christie for two games because of an incident with Alfredo Morelos in last week’s Glasgow Derby.

Some decisions just leave you scratching your head. And the SFA’s decision to ban Celtic playmaker Ryan Christie for two games for what was in all probability an accident, is one of those.

The incident took place in last week’s Glasgow Derby when Ryan Christie appeared to grab Alfredo Morelos’ groin area after the Colombian had nutmegged him. It is very possible though that it was completely accidental as it appears to be an instinctive grab on Morelos from Christie in order to stop the Rangers man from making any further progress past him.

Christie was found guilty of committing “an act of brutality” and was banned for two games by the SFA. How they managed to tell that there was intent on Christie’s part is anybody’s guess. In fact, we have seen Morelos get away with far worse on a number of occasions during his time in Scotland.

The game was marred in controversy throughout with Morelos making a ‘throat-slit’ gesture at the Celtic fans after being sent off for diving and Ryan Kent making ‘gun signs’ while celebrating his goal. Interestingly, neither of them have been banned by the governing body for those incidents and it is looking unlikely that they ever will be.

According to Superscoreboard, Celtic released this statement following the SFA’s decision:

"“Celtic Football Club and Ryan Christie are extremely disappointed at the outcome of the hearing today.Given the recent treatment o Celtic players and the lack of sanctions being imposed on those responsible, the fact that a sanction has been imposed on Ryan for incident in question demonstrates a worrying lack of consistency in the Scottish FA fast track process.Naturally, we will be contacting the Scottish FA regarding our concerns. Scottish football deserves a disciplinary process which is fair, consistent and fit for purpose."

Christie’s ban will see him miss the upcoming games against Partick Thistle and Kilmarnock. But with him undergoing surgery recently, he was likely to have missed those games regardless and thus the ban is probably not going to have any effect on Celtic’s plans.