DEREK McInnes last night admitted he will be interested to see if the SFA take disciplinary action against Celtic following the sectarian abuse he was subjected to in the second-half of the William Hill Scottish Cup semi-final at Hampden.
McInnes admitted that he had been wrong to make an offensive gesture towards fans of the Parkhead club – an incident he was immediately ordered off by referee Craig Thomson for - during a game which his side lost 3-0.
However, the Pittodrie manager revealed the chants of "Orange b******" that were directed at him would be included in the match delegate’s report and confessed he is intrigued to find out if the Scottish champions are punished as well.
READ MORE: Sam Cosgrove claims Aberdeen didn't lose the plot against Celtic
“I shouldn’t react and I was wrong to do so,” he said. “I should be better than that. I’ll take my punishment.
“I’ve heard that song a hundred times aimed at me and I’ve never reacted to it so the frustration maybe from the game has played a part in that. The referee or the fourth official deemed my reaction a red card offence. If it is, it is, and I’ll take my punishment for that.
“The role of the fourth official sometimes is to give you a warning, a chance to let Craig Thomson know what I reacted to. But it fell on deaf ears.
“But it will be interesting to see if everybody gets punished for the incident. I don’t want to say any more – it’s up to everyone else to say their bit. It’ll be in the delegate’s report, which is refreshing as it’s not always in their report, when they hear sectarian singing. It certainly wasn’t in the last cup final.
“But that’s not my fight. It’s for others to condemn. For my part, I take responsibility for my own actions – I didn’t react the first time, I did the second time. If my reaction is deemed a red card offence, I’ll take my punishment."
READ MORE: McKenna says Ball red card shows Aberdeen get unfair treatment versus Celtic
Tony Docherty, the Aberdeen assistant manager, was also ordered off at half-time after making comments to Thomson. “Tony was sent off for acting in an irresponsible manner,” said McInnes. “I heard him at half-time – it wasn’t different to anything you’d hear on a Saturday. That was harsh as him.”
McInnes was unhappy that Dom Ball was sent off for a second yellow card for a challenge on Ryan Christie in the first-half that left the Celtic midfielder unconscious – but admitted that Lewis Ferguson could have no complaints after receiving his marching orders for a foul on Tom Rogic in the second-half.
“The game totally changed on the sending-off,” he said. “Of course I’m the Aberdeen manager but I thought it was extremely harsh.
“The first yellow card, one of the officials said it was stopping a promising attack. Jonny had kicked the ball out of the pitch. It is a foul, 100 per cent it’s a foul, I’m not denying that, but I didn’t think it was a yellow card offence. It was Dom Ball’s first foul in the game.
“The second one is difficult. We’ve all played the game, when that ball bounces both players have got to go for it and it’s ended up with young Ryan having a bad injury. I think both players have to be committed to it. I don’t think there is an elbow or a flailing arm. It was late and I think it was totally accidental.
“I need to remind people about when (Dedryck) Boyata took Gary Mackay-Steven right out in the (Betfred) cup final not so long ago. That was deemed to be a reckless challenge, it was late, Gary ends up in hospital.
READ MORE: Aberdeen pay the price for their physical football as classy Celtic move to the brink of history
“It wasn’t a penalty kick, it wasn’t a yellow card offence, and not that we were probably looking for it because we can see how these things happen it’s mistimed and it’s accidental. But in that six minutes of injury time added for Gary being treated we lost a goal. And we lost in the added injury time again today.
“It was a sore one for us, that, because if you can get in at 0-0 we’ve managed to win at Ibrox. It got even worse when Ferguson got sent off. That is a red card. It was deserved, it’s something he needs to learn from, he’s allowed his frustration to get the better of him.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel