Barry Ferguson has slammed the abuse directed at Kevin Clancy after Celtic vs Rangers at the weekend as 'a disgrace.'
The SFA released a statement on Monday evening revealing the whistler had been subject to a vile outpouring of abuse after his personal contact details were published online. They said some of the messages were 'potentially criminal in nature' and 'included threats and abuse towards Kevin and his family,' saying they had referred a 'significant number' of them to Police Scotland for investigation.
Clancy was under the microscope for some of his decisions with Alfredo Morelos' chalked off opener for a push on Celtic's Alistair Johnston sparking a furious response from Rangers, who wrote to the SFA demanding an explanation. Ferguson put the football into perspective, saying the abuse aimed at the official in the aftermath isn't on no matter what happens during the game.
The former Ibrox captain said on Go Radio: "That's very poor if you're asking my opinion, I don't like to see that. Listen, I felt he got a few things wrong, but there's absolutely no need for that sort of behaviour from people.
"He's only human at the end of the day. I've said before, you must be crazy to be a referee with some of the abuse they take. They have bad games, and he got some decisions wrong at the weekend, but just with the statement you've read out there...it's not right, let's be honest."
Fellow pundit Mark Guidi then took up that line of thought, pointing out that criticisms of decisions should never go to the extremes where they impact referees' families and mental health. And Ferguson responded: "It's a disgrace, let's be honest. A disgrace."
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