Scottish football is "set for crisis talks in an urgent bid to crack down on hooligans who are shaming the game," according to Keith Jackson of the Scotland DAILY RECORD. The Scottish Professional Football League plans to hold a "series of top-level discussions" this week with various interested parties after being "outraged by a spate of recent high-profile incidents in grounds around the country." The move comes "hot on the heels of ugly incidents in the last two televised top-flight matches," Heart of Midlothian against Hibernian last Wednesday and St. Mirren versus Rangers on Saturday. SPFL CEO Neil Doncaster "plans to head up a raft of emergency discussions" with clubs, the Scottish FA and police to "crack down on the yobs and drive them out of the game." An SPFL source said, "Enough is enough where these rogue elements are concerned. They have to realize they will be identified and arrested for behaving in such an unacceptable manner" (DAILY RECORD, 11/6).
'ONE OR TWO IDIOTS': The BBC reported it "would be wrong to punish clubs for the misconduct of fans," according to St. Mirren CEO Tony Fitzpatrick. He said, "In football, it's very hard to stop. We had nearly 7,000 people here on Saturday and you've got one or two idiots out of that number." Clubs are ruled by "strict liability" when competing in European competitions but not domestically, with SPFL members voting "overwhelmingly against such a proposal" in '13. Fitzpatrick: "How can you punish a club? It's a problem for wider society. We need to look at how young people are being brought up" (BBC, 11/5).
