Interim Ibrox boss Barry Ferguson has addressed the incident involving objects being hurled at Celtic keeper Viljami Sinisalo during last weekend’s Glasgow Derby…
Yesterday at his media conference, the Finnish goalkeeper disclosed that a range of objects – including bottles, vapes, lighters, coins, and even mugs – were thrown at him from the Copland Road stand.
theRangers condemned the act of throwing objects following the match, with Ferguson commenting on the incident, stating: “You don’t want to see things like that happen.
“I’ve been honest with you when bottles come on. That’s something that I don’t like to see. Obviously, the club are going to take action with it because it can harm a player, hurt a player.
“I’ve seen it in the past with lighters or whatever. I had that issue when I was in Fenerbahce. There was stuff flying past my head. It’s not a nice feeling. You’ve got to be careful. You’ve got to watch what you’re doing. You want your supporters to come and support the team. But when you see objects like that getting thrown on, it’s not nice to see.”
The recent clashes between the two Glasgow clubs at Celtic Park and Ibrox have marked the return of a significant number of away supporters to both stadiums. Ferguson expressed hope that the recent bottle incident won’t have any lasting impact moving forward.
He said: “The last thing we want to see is fans not being allowed. Because it’s been far too long. I’m just happy that it’s changed and we’ve got fans back in. That’s the last thing you want to see.”
Whether it be Daniel Friel [Celtic’s physio] that required four stitches after being hit in the head by a bottle in 2022 or Joe Hart in the same game who had glass scattered in his box after coming out for the second half. There were also seven serious assaults of Celtic supports hit by glass bottles in that wee corner at Ibrox under the reduced allocation to just 800 supporters caused by Celtic’s colourful celebrations in the Free Broomloan.
Or it could be Arne Engels being struck by a coin in January, or Rodgers himself being targeted by objects. Scott Brown also had a Rangers supporter run onto the field to confront the then Celtic captain a few years earlier.
Sinisalo joins a long list of Celtic players and staff who have been repeatedly targeted at Ibrox. When will it stop? When will Celtic’s CEO speak up and not leave it to a young Celtic goalkeeper in his first season at the club.
Conor Spence
Celtic’s outstanding young goalkeeper Viljami Sinisalo today brilliantly called out theRangers for the actions of their vile support at last weekend’s Glasgow Derby at Ibrox…
While most Celtic supporters watch the game on television where the coverage of what was happening in the eighteen yard box was limited to say the least, the man on the front line was able to provide an update and it really is a disgraceful situation.
Here’s what Sinisalo said at today’s media conference and there’s a link below from Radio Clyde where you can listen for yourselves.
“Somebody mentioned that there was a bottle thrown at me, but it wasn’t just a bottle by the way, first of all I was hit with something, not in my upper body, it’s just somewhere in my lower leg, but it wasn’t just a bottle, there was lighters, vapes, coins, mugs, all sorts flying,” the Celtic goalkeeper said.
“Listen, when you think of it, and you say let’s say that glass bottle that was on the pitch hits me or hits someone else, what happens then? What if it hits you in the eye and you can’t play football after that? What happens then? So that’s the question that we need answers for.
“I know it’s not the first time it’s happened, I know I was there when Arne (Engels) was hit with something, Greg’s (Taylor) been hit, Joe Hart’s been hit, staff members have been hit, so it’s not the first time this happened, so you’re probably hoping that they stop it eventually, and trying to not give them anything back I suppose, it’s one of them, it doesn’t really affect you, it’s not nice but you try and focus on the game.
“It’s such an important game, there’s so much at stake every time you play a game like that, so you can’t really let that affect you because that’s what people want at the end of the day, they want that to affect you, which I’m glad to say that it didn’t.
” I’m just trying to do my job, there aren’t many jobs in the world that you get bottles thrown at you, I don’t know how people identify who it is because there are a lot of people. I’m talking 30-40 objects here, that was on the pitch, so it’s not just one individual, so to identify the individual is probably hard in itself, I don’t know, it’s up to them, I can’t say what needs to be done and what should be done, it’s up to the authorities and the club there.
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- A Celtic supporter’s head split open after being struck by a buckfast bottle at Ibrox in January 2023
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- A Celtic supporter’s head split open after being struck by a buckfast bottle at Ibrox in January 2023
“I don’t know what hit me. My bottle was right by their fans, and I went to have a drink, and I was not facing them because I didn’t know what was happening, what was getting thrown at me. So I don’t know.
“It wasn’t something big because it wasn’t a big impact or anything like that. I expect it to probably be a vape or something. Listen, that’s how it is. It wasn’t just the bottle, there were quite a few things thrown at us.
“No, it doesn’t affect my concentration because you’re very much in the zone. You don’t think that when you’re on the pitch, but when you see the pictures of the bottle and you kind of go back in the changing room and think, what if it did hit me? I’m glad it didn’t because it could have been bad. Listen, it’s not nice. No one wants it.
“I’m just trying to do my job. There aren’t many jobs in the world where you get a bottle thrown at you. So it’s tough for me to say what needs to be done. I’d like to think that something should be done. But that’s not for me to say what it is, but yes, it’s not nice.”
Here’s the audio as posted by Clyde 1 Superscoreboard. Have a look at the comments, mostly from theRangers supporters and just about all deranged and vile.
🔊 LISTEN: “It wasn’t just a bottle… there were lighters, vapes, coins, mugs, all sorts flying.”
“What if it hits you in the eye? What happens then?”
🍀 Viljami Sinisalo talks about the objects that were thrown at him during Celtic’s 1-1 draw with Rangers at Ibrox ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/amHC0iMZqi
— Clyde 1 Superscoreboard (@ClydeSSB) May 9, 2025
What say you Rangers FC?
What say you Celtic FC?
What say you SPFL?
What say you Scottish FA?
What say you Police Scotland?
What say you PFA Scotland – the players Union?
Here’s Viljami Sinisalo’s Media Conference…
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I think it’s unacceptable for fans to throw objects at players. It can seriously harm them and ruin the game. Clubs need to take a stand against this behavior!