BRENDAN Rodgers reckons that the racist abuse directed at Scott Sinclair at Ibrox on Saturday shows the importance of remaining vigilant against all forms of prejudice in society but insists that it won’t put other top stars off from moving to Scottish football.
A 28-year-old Rangers supporter called Paul Kenny admitted making a monkey gesture towards the Celtic striker after he scored the opening goal in Saturday’s 5-1 Old Firm win at Ibrox, while a 17-year-old girl was reported to the Procurator Fiscal yesterday for a message on social media which contained an alleged racist slur towards the Celtic player.
Another Rangers fan admitted sectarian singing during Saturday’s match, with a fourth running onto the pitch to confront Scott Brown, but the Celtic manager feels these are “isolated incidents” which won’t deter further big names from moving to Glasgow.
“I was surprised by it because I haven’t seen anything like that coming since I’ve been up here,” said Rodgers. “All the stadiums I have been in, the supporters have been passionate. You get abuse, of course you do. That’s football and you expect that.
“But that [racism] is just not what you want,” he added. “A great education has gone on in Britain over the last 20 years in terms of dealing with this sort of thing. There is no place for it in society. There is certainly no place for it in football. At least there has been actions put in place for it for Scotty. His team-mates and our supporters are all behind him. We will move on from it and hopefully there won’t be more incidents like it.”
Rodgers reckons supporters of all clubs should simply be glad that Sinclair is playing in Scotland rather than anything to the contrary.
“In the main, the majority of Scottish football supporters – although they know he is a threat – will notice a real upgrade in level of player when they watch him,” the Northern Irishman said. “Not only that, he is a real good kid as well. He is a young man who leads his life well, trains virtually every day.
“All the supporters up here want that type of talent to be here, not to be pushed out of it any way at all. My responsibility is to bring the best game to Scotland that we can, particularly Celtic, and for that you need the best players.
“I would hope not [that it won’t put other players off coming here],” he added. “It’s an isolated incident. I would always speak in defence of the people up here and the football clubs here. And it’s not isolated just to Scotland. It does happen but thankfully it’s much less so in Britain now. You have to show your strength together.”
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