Rangers boss Steven Gerrard claims the worldwide image of Scottish football could be tarnished if there are further unsavoury off-field incidents this season.
The Light Blues travel to Hibernian for Friday’s Ladbrokes Premiership clash, less than a week after a bottle was thrown on to the pitch while Celtic winger Scott Sinclair prepared to take a corner in a William Hill Scottish Cup quarter-final tie at Easter Road.
Partick Thistle are investigating claims of coin-throwing by Hearts fans at Firhill on Monday night and earlier in the season missiles were thrown at Rangers striker Alfredo Morelos during a win against St Mirren in Paisley.
That came days after the then Hibs boss Neil Lennon, now in charge at Celtic, was struck by a coin thrown from the crowd at Hearts during an Edinburgh derby.
“I have said it in my last couple of press conferences and I will echo it again that it is not nice to see,” said Gerrard.
“Scottish football is shown round the world and when you speak about Scottish football and games up here to people they are excited about what they see, the standard, the intensity and they talk about all the positives.
“We don’t want to get in a situation where people are talking about what is coming from the stands and talking about the bad side of the game.
“It is important that we keep trying to have a positive image of the game around the world.
“It is not just about me and what I think, it is about the image around the world.
“In the main, I think we are in a good place. There have been a few isolated incidents that have crept in recently but let’s hope that doesn’t snowball and that type of behaviour continues – then we have got a big problem.
“It is not nice to see from the side.
“I have had some experiences as a player; it is poor behaviour and we need to stamp it out.”
After Rangers had urged fans to support the club in the “correct manner” in their Scottish Cup tie against Aberdeen at Pittodrie last Sunday, a reported 60 seats were broken beyond repair in the away section.
Asked specifically about that issue, the former Liverpool and England captain said: “I don’t want to get involved where I am talking about this every press conference that I do.
“I have been very clear about the behaviour of all sets of supporters.
“I don’t want to repeat myself. We need to stamp it out all over the world, not just here.”
Gerrard was “very pleased” with his side’s performance at Easter Road during the goalless draw there in December.
However, this time he is looking for all three points to keep the pressure on Celtic, who are eight points ahead at the top of the table.
He said: “We are going for the points, the performance will be a bonus.
“I was speaking to Neil Lennon after the game, he was very impressed with the team. But you get nothing for that.
“We went away with one point when we should have gone away with three and that is the pressure we are under.
“We need to go there and try to find a performance that is capable of getting three rather than one.
“If we can hit those heights again and be a bit more clinical in front of goal I am sure we will get what we are looking for out of the game.”
