Derek McInnes admits he is “scunnered” by bad behaviour among Scottish football fans and insists football clubs need to accept greater responsibility for the behaviour of their supporters.
The Aberdeen manager, commenting on a series of unsavoury incidents that have shown the Scottish game in a bad light – such as sectarian singing and missile throwing – takes the view that people who attend games and believe they can adopt such an approach need to be educated that their actions are unacceptable.
And he called for clubs to identify hooligans and warn them they could be banned.
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“It’s just one thing after the other,” he said. “You start to become embarrassed; you’re scunnered by it.
“Whether it’s banners, abuse or coin-throwing, it isn’t exclusive to Scottish football but in recent months it’s been far more prominent.
“I still think there’s an element of people who come to games, at most clubs, with the intention of causing bother.
“They pay their money and think they can act in any way they like. They can’t.
“They need to know there’s a code of conduct and it is clubs’ responsibility to know that’s not acceptable.”
McInnes, preparing his Dons team for the visit to Celtic Park today, stressed that he would not ask his family to stay away from matches, because it would be bowing to those in the crowd bent on causing trouble.
“In the street, I’m sure people shout abuse and throw coins and punches and it’s acted upon,” he added.
“Some actually glorify in how they act and it’s seen as banter, or a carry-on. It’s a disappointment in this modern day that people are videoing themselves on social media.
“It’s a sad course of events where we’re giving them the coverage that a lot of them will enjoy. But we need to highlight this behaviour and there’s been too many of these off-field incidents. We want to be talking about the football as there is a lot of good about Scottish football, this season in particular.
“Clubs need to take more responsibility and most will be trying to do the right thing. I still think they’re capable of more.
“Whether it’s throwing coins or displaying banners, racial or sectarian abuse, there is capability at most grounds to zoom in on most people. A warning can be made, either by phone call or on the spot, or an invitation to come in saying ‘we have you on CCTV’.
“Get them in and give them a warning: ‘If it happens again, you’ll not be back’.
“While it might be difficult going into a group of people who are shouting the same abuse, you can single people out and let them know you’re on them. That for me, is where all clubs can be a bit more pro-active.”
Meanwhile, Dons utility man Dominic Ball recalled last season's final game and his side’s win at Parkhead - Celtic’s first and only home loss last campaign - and saw no reason why the visitors cannot cause a similar upset today.
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Andrew Considine’s solitary strike early in the second half may have done nothing to impede Brendan Rodgers’s side’s march to title success; it did, however, leave the Dons in second place for the fourth successive season three points ahead of rivals Rangers, who fought out a remarkable 5-5 draw with Hibernian at Easter Road.
“We’re not going to hold back and settle for third or fourth,” Ball said. “We’ve been second in the last four years and that’s always been the target.
"We’ve made it hard for ourselves at times with some poor results but getting three points at Parkhead will mean we’re taking a step in the right direction.
“You always get a feeling before a game like that – I’ve had it a few times in my career – but there was a feeling of confidence in the changing room that day throughout the squad.
"We understand that Celtic will be our toughest opponent in the away games remaining but we have beaten them down there before and we can do it again.”
The Dons have injury concerns over Greg Stewart, Gary Mackay-Steven and Niall McGinn.
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