CELTIC last night issued an angry official statement questioning why Dundee United's Calum Butcher had not been punished by the SFA and was free to play in Sunday's League Cup final.
In an unusual example of a club openly seeking disciplinary against a rival player, Celtic publicly questioned why Butcher should escape action when it was clear that team-mate Paul Paton had been sent off for "his" offence in a case of mistaken identity. Paton was dismissed at in the turbulent 1-1 Scottish Cup draw between United and Celtic on Sunday when it had been Butcher who lunged into a tackle on Virgil van Dijk.
The Celtic statement said: "It seems completely illogical and fundamentally unfair that in an incident where mistaken identity has been claimed, the Dundee United player now identified clearly as being involved in the incident appears to have no case to answer - and would be available to play in the League Cup final and the Scottish Cup replay between the two teams - while Celtic's player may potentially miss both of those matches."
van Dijk and Paul Paton will find out tomorrow if they can play in Sunday's League Cup final after appealing their red cards in the game at Tannadice.
SFA compliance officer Tony McGlennan got involved in the drama by issuing a notice of complaint against Nadir Ciftci for violent conduct by deliberately kicking Scott Brown on the head. The United striker lashed out with his boot and caught Brown, but referee Craig Thomson took no action against him at the time.
Ciftci can accept the offer of a two-game ban or else contest the charge, and he has until 3pm on Wednesday to respond to the complaint. Ciftci is already suspended for the cup final and if he accepts the ban he will miss the Scottish Cup quarter-final replay against Celtic and the semi-final if United progress. His hearing, like van Dijk and Paton's appeals, are scheduled for Thursday.
Neither the referee nor the compliance officer felt action needed to be taken against Brown himself for an aggressive tackle on Ciftci in the first place. Now the only uncertainty is whether van Dijk and Paton will be cleared when their appeals are heard under the SFA Fast Track process. Paton seems certain to be exonerated given that he has formally claimed that he was a victim of mistaken identity, with assistant referee Graham Chambers at fault for telling referee Craig Thomson he should be sent-off when it was clear that the culprit was actually Butcher. van Dijk has claimed wrongful dismissal for violent conduct.
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