By Lucinda Cameron, Press Association Scotland
A teenage pitch invader who disrupted play during Celtic’s Champions League
match against Manchester United was today locked up for six months.
John Murphy, 18, was also banned from attending national or international
football matches for five years, one of the longest such banning orders imposed
in Scotland.
Play had to be temporarily stopped during the first half when Murphy, from
Glasgow, went on to the pitch during the clash at Celtic Park on November 5.
Celtic fan Murphy, of Glenavon Road, Glasgow, admitted charges of breaching the
peace and being drunk in a sports ground when he appeared at Glasgow Sheriff
Court earlier this month.
Last Thursday Celtic were fined £42,430 by Uefa for the invasion and for the
late start to the game, which ended 1-1.
Sentencing Murphy today, Sheriff Linda Ruxton branded his behaviour “dangerous
and irresponsible”.
She said: “Not only did you create a situation in which there were fears for
the safety of the players on the pitch, but you interrupted a high profile match
and created a situation which might easily have provoked serious public
disorder.
“Furthermore, you brought Scottish football generally and Celtic Football Club
in particular into disrepute and your behaviour caused the club to be fined a
substantial amount.”
She said she would have detained him for nine months but in view of his guilty
plea she reduced it to six months.
She also imposed a football banning order which bars him from attending any
regulated football match in the UK or abroad for five years.
She said: “Such a sentence is particularly designed to have a deterrent effect
on others who need to appreciate that such behaviour at football matches will
not be tolerated by the courts.”
She admonished him on the drunkenness charge.
Procurator fiscal Caroline McLeod told the court the incident happened about
half an hour after the 7.45pm kick off.
She said: “The accused breached the trackside security cordon in the west
stand and ran on to the pitch. He attempted to engage with the players.
“Clearly there was concern for the safety of the players and the accused’s
actions caused a disruption to the match.
“There was a definite public disorder issue due to the accused’s actions and
the home fans began berating the accused.”
Stewards led Murphy from the pitch and he was arrested by police.
They noticed that he was very drunk, slurring his words and unsteady on his
feet.
The court heard that Murphy had a previous conviction from August 1 this year
relating to a breach of the peace at Ibrox Stadium when Rangers were playing
Liverpool.
The sheriff said: “You have, for a man of your age, a significant criminal
record, including a record for crimes of disorder and an analogous previous
conviction for breach of the peace at a football match.”
Defence agent Eddie Robertson said his client had been given a ticket to the
Celtic match by a friend and was not a Celtic season ticket holder.
He said that Murphy had been drinking since about 11am on the day of the game
and could not remember anything of the incident.
He said his client had written to Celtic Football Club to apologise for his
behaviour.
“He does offer a real apology to Celtic and their fans. He is a Celtic
supporter,” said Mr Robertson.
“Mr Murphy realises that Celtic have paid a major penalty for this financially
and also their reputation has been tarnished.
“He is deeply sorry for what he has done.”
Celtic had been expecting some level of punishment in relation to Murphy’s
actions after Uefa warned them previously about the behaviour of their fans
following a similar incident a year ago when a fan confronted AC Milan keeper
Dida.
The maximum football banning order without a custodial sentence is five years,
while 10 years is the maximum with a custodial sentence.

6 months seems pretty harsh but im admittedly not up to par on my scottish sentencing guidelines