SCOTT BROWN has described the SFA’s decision to ban Ryan Christie for three games as “laughable”.
The suspension – for an incident involving Alfredo Morelos in the champions’ 2-1 loss just before the turn of the year – was decided at an SFA disciplinary hearing at Hampden yesterday afternoon, as CQN reported.
Christie tussled with Morelos and appeared to motion a hand towards the Colombian’s groin area.
The Scotland international playmaker was found guilty of committing “an act of brutality” which constitutes as violent conduct. He received an automatic two-game ban – sidelining him for the Scottish Cup-tie against Partick Thistle at Firhill on Saturday, January 18 and the Premiership match against Kilmarnock the following midweek.
He was hit by an extra one-match suspension when his red card against Livingston in October came into the equation – and will now sit out the visit of Ross County on Saturday, January 25.
The champions released a statement stating the club and Christie “are extremely disappointed at the outcome of the hearing”.
Skipper Brown, talking to Sky Sports News, said: “Now you’re going to have to watch where you put your hands when you tackle people, like with penalties now, you’ll have to have your hands behind you.
“We don’t want everyone phoning up the SFA and people getting pulled up. We need that consistency and the club has done the right thing by sticking by Ryan because we all think it’s laughable.
“It’s silly decisions like that, you can’t accept that, and people are now going to worry about where everything goes when you go into tackles.
“Ryan didn’t know where his hands were going, he’s just trying to use his body to stop him.”
