Pundits often wheel out the line “there’s nothing worse in football than spitting” while apparently forgetting about problems with racism, match fixing and diving among others. That’s not to say it isn’t disgusting, and we’ve seen yet another ugly example.
The incident happened in the beautifully named Tunnocks Caramel Wafer Challenge Cup – you might joke about the name but if you go to one of the games you get a free wafer so it’s worth the embarrassment.
Rangers Colts were playing away to Ballymena when one of the outcasts from the main squad, Albanian international Eros Grezda, spat at one of the opposition players.
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To be fair to the Rangers management they’ve handled this about as well as you can do. The Daily Record reported that Greg Docherty, Graeme Murty and Mark Hateley all offered an apology to the entire Ballymena squad and Grezda was immediately subbed.
Steven Gerrard has also taken action by telling the player to find a new club. He said: “Grezda has been told face-to-face what his situation is. He’s been advised to find a different challenge for himself and his representation is aware of that.”
The Albanian looked like a bit of an uniformed panic signing when he arrived and he’s not made any sort of impact on the first team. They signed him after he played well against Gerrard’s men in the Europa League for Osijek.
He’s only made 17 appearances for the Rangers first team and that looks unlikely to increase after this mess he’s created.
The Rangers Colts team won the game 1-0 and will face a trip to face Solihull Moors in the next round as they continue on their quest to win the famous trophy.
It could be an awkward few months for Grezda as he tries to find a new club, it wouldn’t be a complete surprise if he’s released.
It’s not the first time Steven Gerrard has dealt with a player spitting at an opponent. The universally hated El-Hadji Diouf played for Rangers and Liverpool among many other sides. The Rangers boss told the Scotsman he had no respect for Diouf after he was caught spitting in an away game at Celtic during their time together at Liverpool.
