Mo: Racist fans should be jailed

Motherwell boss Maurice Malpas last night called for racist fans to be jailed. Malpas insists the police and courts should take tough action against those who brought shame to his club by racially abusing St Johnstone striker Jason Scotland on Wednesday. And Celtic manager Gordon Strachan joined the debate by insisting Motherwell should not be held responsible for what happened.

Malpas revealed he will write his own apology. He said: "If we catch them, the police should get involved. If you behaved like that on the high street the police would arrest you so the same should apply here. We have done everything we can to find these people.We came out straight away with a statement and didn't stick our head in the sand. It can't be condoned or swept under the carpet because it's upsetting for the player. I will write to Jason myself.

"The pleasing thing is the other fans who pointed the finger. They are our true fans andthe culprits aren't. What happened has nothing to do with Motherwell and nothing to do with football. It was a one-off incident for us but it's a problem because it has happened. It could happen again but hopefully it won't. The difficult thing is to stop it but the best thing we can do now is point the finger at the people who did it and get them kicked out of the club. We will do something at Monday's game againstHearts to show racism the red card."

A Motherwell spokesman said: "Good information has come into the club from a variety of sources and we have passed all of it on to the police. We've been asked about pointing fans out on CCTV but it doesn't have sound. It would have been easier for us if this had been a normal home match with season-ticket holders sitting in their usual seats but anyone could pay to get into the ground and sit wherever they liked. We've had anonymous claims that the ground was infiltrated by supporters of a rival club intent on causing trouble and we have passed that on to the police."

Meanwhile, Strachan lashed out at the yob culture that he reckons led to Wednesday's shameful scenes. Celtic's manager has had several run-ins with fans since returning to Scotland after two decades in England but he refuses to have racism linked with football. He said: "The colour of the scarf is irrelevant. The fact this incident occured in a football ground is coincidental. People who are racists, bigots or morons are that way before they go into any ground. Don't blame Motherwell and look at the bigger picture. If you're a racist, you're a racist. The yob culture is creeping in everywhere."

Strachan has written about bust-ups at petrol stations with rival fans in his biography and recently clashed with three yobs in a cinema car park while out with his wife. He said:"If someone spits at me in the street I don't look at the colour of the scarf they're wearing.It's an irrelevance. Some people think they have this licence to behave as they see fit. They walk into grounds and abuse players, managers and officials using any kind of language they like. But they would be equally objectionable outside and use the same language in pubs or whatever. If you ask me if there's a racism problem within Scottish football, then I would have to answer that I've never heard of one. Don't hold the game responsible for everything that goes wrong with society."

Daily Record