Celtic hit with notice of complaint by SPFL but nothing said on Ibrox bottle throwing | OneFootball

The SPFL has issued an ‘unacceptable conduct’ warning to supporters while also confirming another year-on-year rise in attendances across the Scottish game. And three clubs – including Celtic – have been hit with notices of complaint following incidents that occurred towards the end of last season.

Celtic Park on Trophy Day. Photo The Celtic Star

SPFL STATEMENT: UNACCEPTABLE CONDUCT RECORD ATTENDANCES FOR SCOTTISH FOOTBALL COMES WITH A WARNING…

The SPFL statement, as posted on their official website, reads as follows:

Scottish football fans have smashed the SPFL attendance record for the third consecutive year in season 2024/25 – and it has been phenomenal to see the level of passion and loyalty shown by supporters throughout Scotland.

A total of 5,336,353 supporters turned out to watch their teams across all SPFL competitions in season 2024/25 – the highest figure in the SPFL era and a rise of nearly 185,000 on the previous record, set last year.

Celtic Park on Trophy Day. Photo The Celtic Star

The jump in attendances follows a hugely dramatic end to the season across all four William Hill SPFL divisions, with the race for promotions, European places, and to avoid relegation going right down to the wire.

We’d like to thank Scotland’s dedicated fans for the incredible support they continue to provide to clubs, as well as the work of our member clubs, Police Scotland, the authorities, and those working at matches throughout the season.

While the vast and overwhelming majority of supporters are an undoubted force for good in our game, it’s been extremely disappointing to see a small number persisting with dangerous, irresponsible and selfish behaviour. Whether that’s flares, fireworks, smoke bombs, throwing missiles, or pitch invasions, these actions put staff, supporters and players at risk and are completely unacceptable.

For example, the incident which saw Aberdeen player Jack Mackenzie left injured at Tannadice Park after a chair was thrown onto the pitch, simply beggars belief. It goes without saying that players, staff and fellow supporters should have the right to attend games free from the risk of being struck by projectiles.

The swift cooperation between clubs, supporters and Police Scotland helped identify the alleged perpetrator, who has since appeared in court. This is a model of how our system should work. In another recent incident, Livingston quickly issued a lifetime ban to an individual who allegedly spat at a member of the Ross County coaching team, and we commend the club’s prompt and decisive action.

As well as club bans, unwelcome incidents such as these have unfortunately made it abundantly clear that there is a need for far more widespread use of football banning orders (FBOs) and we are encouraged by the progress being made in partnership with our clubs, Police Scotland and the Scottish Government.

We have been discussing broadening the scope of these orders as part of the Scottish Government’s FBO working group and we’re extremely pleased to see this was covered in the Programme for Government in May. These recent incidents reinforce the need for such sanctions to protect the match-day experience for the vast majority of law-abiding fans.

During the 2024/25 season the SPFL took disciplinary action against a number of clubs and notices of complaints have now been raised against three clubs in respects of incidents which occurred at the end of the season – Partick Thistle, Aberdeen and Celtic.

The SPFL will undertake a number of discussions with supporter groups to better understand their views and explore the challenges involved. We’re committed to open and constructive engagement as we work together to ensure a safe, enjoyable and inclusive match day experience for all fans.

We will be having further meetings with key stakeholders over the summer to review the most recent season and look ahead to 2025/26. We remain committed to ensuring a safe and enjoyable match day experience for players and supporters – they are the lifeblood of our game and deserve nothing less.

Statement Ends.

Celtic supporters at Ibrox theRangers v Celtic, 4 May 2025. Photo Vagelis Georgariou (The Celtic Star)

So we get the Aberdeen incident will be the idiot throwing that seat and hitting one of his own players. Partick Thistle and Celtic, not so sure – anyone got any ideas? Maybe pyro- related? What is striking though is that they managed to avoid mentioning the bottle throwing at the recent Glasgow Derby at Ibrox where Celtic goalkeeper afterwards stated that he had around 40 objects – including a glass bottle – thrown at him from theRangers supporters at Ibrox.

And before this there has been a sorry list of serious injuries to Celtic staff and supporters while playing at Ibrox which have resulted in prison sentences for the culprits but not a worthy an end of season mention or warning from the SPFL.

Celtic will deal with the complaint professionally as always but they should be asking the question about the recent Glasgow Derby and what has happened every time Celtic go to Ibrox, especially as we’ll be back there probably in early September.

VAR decision at Ibrox for their offside goal. theRangers v Celtic, 4 May 2025. Photo Vagelis Georgariou (The Celtic Star)

And another point on the record breaking attendances, perhaps the SPFL could help push these even higher by encouraging clubs in the Scottish Premiership to do all that they can to avoid empty seats in stadiums when there is clearly a demand from away supporters, especially from the two big Glasgow clubs.

Daniels Balodis of St Johnstone celebrates with team mates after scoring to give St Johnstone a 1-0 lead. St Johnstone v Celtic, Scottish Premiership, l, McDiarmid Park, Perth, 06 April 2025: Photo Stuart Wallace/IMAGO Shutterstock

The argument that reducing the away support somehow helps the home team was disproved by St Johnstone who tried that against Celtic and lost 6-0 before deciding to fill the stadium – and take the money – and ended up beating Celtic 1-0.

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