TONY FITZPATRICK, the St Mirren chief executive, has openly criticised two of his players for comments made on social media regarding Sunday’s Old Firm match, claiming the club may look at introducing a Twitter ban on its playing staff as a result.
Scott Agnew and Stuart Carswell both took to the online platform at the weekend to show their support for Ladbrokes Championship side Rangers – who play in the same league as St Mirren and go to Paisley in two weeks – before and after the penalty shootout win over Celtic in the William Hill Scottish Cup semi-final.
Former Motherwell midfielder Carswell posted a short message on the site just a few a hours after he came off the bench in St Mirren’s 3-1 Renfrewshire derby win over Morton to say: “Good result today buzzing to see ma bro @naismith_jason back!! Now bring on the big one tmorw!!!”
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Just moments after the win for Rangers on Sunday, St Mirren team-mate Agnew took to Twitter as well to post: “Rangers better all over the park with players missing! Worrying for Celtic! Enjoy your Sunday troops!”
The tweets from both players were also accompanied by a small picture of a Union Jack flag, with angry responses from St Mirren fans leading the pair to eventually deleting both posts.
Herald Sport has learned that St Mirren do have a social media policy that has been in place since Brian Caldwell, the previous CEO, was in charge. And Fitzpatrick, who took over in February, has describe the comments from both players as ‘unacceptable’, ‘disappointing’ and ‘irresponsible’ as he revealed the club are now investigating the matter further.
“We are looking into it,” he said. “We have a policy where we speak to the players at the beginning of the season. I know before I came in Brian Caldwell and people like that would have set that out.
“You are also looking for players to have a responsibility for themselves. We can all put rules in place but you’d like to think footballers would take responsibility.
“It’s unacceptable. Whether it is Celtic or Rangers or whatever, you are playing for whatever team you are playing for. If you play for St Mirren, for me, it’s unacceptable.
“I know players support other teams but they should be responsible.”
It was reported last year that Les Ferdinand, the Queens Park Rangers director of football, was going to ban players from using Twitter after a series of online spats. It is a road Fitzpatrick admits the Championship club could go down.
“I think if people are going to be irresponsible the of course,” he said.
“Just being into the job, I know there are policies in place, we have got to gather the players in again.
“It’s just so disappointing. It’s unacceptable when players are playing for your football club and voicing things like that. It’s a private thing if they want to celebrate.”
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The timing of the messages appears to be one factor that has caused issue among the St Mirren support given their own derby had just taken place before the well-publicised meeting between Rangers and Celtic little under 24 hours later.
“It just saddens me,” said Fitzpatrick. “It was a fantastic result for us on Saturday against Morton and if they are going to put things out it would be nice to do it in a good way about St Mirren and the supporters.
“Alex [Rae, the St Mirren manager] said it but our supporters were like an extra man for us on Saturday. It was like the old stadium again.
“If these lads are going to tweet they should be thanking our supporters and not worrying as much about Rangers or Celtic.
“It’s distasteful when we have just won the game like we did on Saturday. I know people have their favourite clubs but I don’t think players who are playing for other clubs should be going out and saying things like that. It should be a private matter.”
Carswell and Agnew were not the only two players to voice their opinions on Sunday’s Old Firm match. Dundee United midfielder Paul Paton tweeted “Rangers are back!! No roars today” before later apologising, while Partick Thistle striker Steven Lawless appealed for a ticket in the Rangers section last week before posting on Sunday “Nearly Time #ComeOnThePeople” and “I need one of they Magic Hats!”.
Meanwhile, more than 130 fans signed up to the St Mirren Independent Supporters Association (SMISA) within 48 hours of the scheme’s launch in a bid that was exclusively revealed by Herald Sport last month.
SMISA has had a joint offer with ex-Saints director Gordon Scott for the majority shareholding in the club accepted in principle by the selling consortium. Construction boss and lifelong Saints fan Gordon will pay the bulk of the money and SMISA plans to borrow the rest, with fans asked to pay back the loan via a fan subscription scheme similar to the Foundation of Hearts.
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