'These people shouldn't be at a football match'

Rangers win away to St Mirren was somewhat marred by mire crowd controversy. The Glasgow club's stirker, Alfredo Morelos, was hit by objects thrown from the stands during his celebration of his side's second goal of the game. 

After continuing his promising early season form by scoring Rangers' second, the colombian did his trademark knee slide celebration in front of the incensed home fans, which prompted a wave of objects to be thrown in the player's direction. 

It was evident that a coin did indeed hit the player, but thankfully only on the lower leg of Morelos, as opposed to anywhere more severe.

Yet this only continues the crowd control debate in Scotland, after Hibernian boss Neil Lennon was struck in the face with a coin during his side's clash with Hearts last week. 

 

November 3, 2018

Rangers boss Steven Gerrard has since spoken out against the behaviour of the St Mirren fans, stating that "'These people shouldn't be at a football match. You just ban them forever. It's that simple. Then it will stop. If it gets ignored, it will go on and on."

Gerrard continued by explaining his comments: "At any stadium in the world, we don't want to see things getting thrown onto the pitch. And I say that to all my rivals out there as well. It's not right to throw things from the crowd. It's not acceptable in any sport. Is it going to have to take someone's eye to come out or someone to be badly hurt from an object for us to make it stop?"

The Rangers manager admitted that Morelos was not forthcoming in mentioning the incident, but teammates had informed him of the missiles being thrown during the Glasgow clubs 2-0 win. 

"Alfredo didn't mention it. He gets on with it and just wants to play football", said Gerrard, "He's been called up for Colombia. He's been excellent and he deserved his goal."

St Mirren boss Oran Kearney denied that he had seen the incident himself, and had not seen it back on video, although it has been confirmed that television cameras had caught the incident. 

Kearney said: " 'If that is the case, there's no place for that in football. Any person who steps inside a football ground should have an entitlement to their safety and the same when they walk out of it again. That's the bare minimum we can ask for."