Coin throwing thug who assaulted Celtic’s Arne Engels avoids jail | OneFootball

So, the ‘supporter’ of theRangers who ‘forcefully launched’ a coin at Celtic midfielder Arne Engels during January’s Glasgow Derby at Ibrox has finally faced some overdue justice — and it only took a trawl through CCTV and a public appeal for him to eventually turn himself in.

Arne Engels hit by coins at Ibrox

Cameron Douglas, a 23-year-old from Springburn, appeared before Glasgow Sheriff Court and admitted to assaulting the young Belgian star “to his injury.” And let’s not gloss over that by the way, this wasn’t a drunken chant or a flare in the corner of the stadium, instead this was a deliberate act of violence in front of 50,000 people aimed recklessly at a professional footballer doing his job.

Unlike his fellow ‘supporter’ Andrew Watt, he of the ‘distinctive white teeth’, who pled guilty to throwing a Buckfast bottle at Viljami Sinisalo on Friday, as we previously reported on The Celtic Star Cameron Douglas managed to avoid a prison sentence.

The court heard how Engels, standing near the Broomloan Road end was struck just above the eye by a £1 coin hurled from the crowd. He fell to the ground clearly hurt and needing treatment, as the referee halted play and a coin was found lying near by Engels.

Arne Engels hit by coins at Ibrox

Let’s call it what it is, its assault, simple as that, and the fact that Engels got up and continued playing is testament to the player’s professionalism — because, frankly, he could have been seriously injured.

Douglas was identified thanks to his attire — a black jacket and red, white and blue scarf, his teeth must have been unremarkable this time— before eventually turning himself in.

Once charged, he apparently muttered:’I understand what’s happening. I’ll bet you do. You threw a coin at a Celtic player in front of witnesses, TV cameras, and CCTV. We all understand what happened.

Match Referee, Don Robertson removes an object from the pitch after it was thrown towards and hit Arne Engels of Celtic during the SPL Premier League match between theRangers and Celtic at Ibrox on January 02, 2025. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

In court, his defence lawyer tried the usual lines — poor mental health, drink taken, no memory of the event, a “working man” and “father of one” now ashamed and remorseful, blah blah, blah. Spare us all that old pony please. He’s lucky the sheriff didn’t hand down a custodial sentence, like his fellow supporter got just last week.

Instead, Douglas was hit with 200 hours of community service, a 9-month curfew, and, crucially, a five-year ban from all football matches. A welcome, if not overdue, outcome.

But the bigger question remains — what’s being done inside Ibrox to prevent this from happening again?

Match commander gathers evidence against theRangers thugs

This isn’t an isolated incident. Coins, bottles, lighters — we’ve seen it all before at that ground, be it players, staff or supporters of Celtic. And while Douglas is rightly being punished as an individual, the culture that enables this kind of mindless and moronic behaviour continues to fester in the stands without serious consequences for the club.

Engels was just doing his job. He should have been protected by the police in the stadium, the stewards and the authorities, instead of that, he took a coin to the face from a so-called fan who thought rage and rivalry justified violence.

And for the second time in the space of a just a few days, the courts have had to act in the case of violent behaviour at Ibrox. Douglas is banned. But until Ibrox gets its house in order, the rest of Scottish football will keep asking — how many more, and how far does it have to go before sections of Ibrox face closure?

Because that’s the only punishment they will ever understand.

Niall J

Alec McNair, Celtic’s Icicle by David Potter. Available at Celticstarbooks.com

Help raise funds for Celtic Youth Academy by playing the Celtic Pools Weekly Lottery and you could win up to £25,000. The lottery is £1 per week. Click on image above to join.

More Stories / Latest News

Coin throwing thug who assaulted Celtic’s Arne Engels avoids jail

Jun 26 2025, 21:54

Benji Nygren arrives in Glasgow ahead of £1.5m Celtic move

Jun 26 2025, 21:43

Celtic ranked among Europe’s most financially stable clubs

Jun 26 2025, 21:20