Former referee Steve Conroy insists the SFA must come down on Rangers winger Vaclav Cerny one way or another for his ‘pathetic’ behaviour.
Cerny is under investigation by Police Scotland for spraying water at Celtic fans as he celebrated Rangers’ winner in the Glasgow derby on Sunday.
Celtic were beaten 3-2 by their city rivals as they fought back from 2-0 down to level things up at 2-2. But Hamza Igamane’s late strike handed Rangers their first win at Parkhead since 2020
The Czech Republic international could face a ban from the SFA, with Celtic also ‘raising concerns’ over the flashpoint near the dugouts.
Cerny later branded the whole ordeal ‘absurd’ as he awaits the outcome of the police investigation and how the SFA will act upon the behaviour.
Steve Conroy criticises Cerny behaviour during Celtic vs Rangers
Ex-referee Conroy is adamant Cerny’s act will be reprimanded one way or another, whether it be a one-game ban or a censure from the country’s governing body.
Conroy went on to describe Cerny as ‘pathetic and infantile’ for the incident. Speaking on SM Media’s The Ref’s View podcast, he said: “You wonder what would be the sanction – something will happen to him, obviously.
“He will get some sort of sanction, but that wasn’t the refereeing team’s calls.
I doubt very much that (fourth official) Don (Robertson) was looking over there, anyway. When the goal is scored the first instinct is that all the team is going to be checking that everything is alright on the pitch.
“Once that is okay, then you can deal with the dugouts. So, it was nothing to do with us (referees), absolutely nothing.
“But the SFA will have to do something, whatever that is. I don’t know, do you ban him for a game? Do you just censure him? I have no idea. It was pathetic, it was infantile.”
To be frank, it’s not a very common course of action for the governing body. Conroy has suggested a censure could be the way they deal with Cerny after his water soaking incident.
A censure is often delivered to players who have spoken out of turn. Former Stenhousemuir player John Gemmell was dealt a censure after reacting on Twitter to something Ally McCoist had said.
Gemmell responded to McCoist’s complaint that Rangers had to play four matches in 11 days, three of which were away from home.
In a separate incident a year later, Brad McKay of St Johnstone was hammered for calling former Hearts star Manuel Delgado Lloria ‘a typical foreigner’ while also accusing him of cheating.
It could be the right course of action for Cerny. Certainly, a one-match ban seems far too severe.
