Celtic Women manager Fran Alonso would not have expected to be assaulted when his side equalised late on in the Glasgow derby a few weeks back although that is what transpired.

Rangers coach Craig McPherson made a dart for Alonso and shamefully head-butted the Spaniard in an act for which there are no excuses.

And now, former Scottish lower leagues referee Des Roache has said he believes McPherson should’ve been sacked by his club for what he did (T10 Digital via Daily Record):

“Rangers should have dismissed him. That’s gross misconduct. You can’t have that from a senior part of the organisation. If I was running an organisation, I would have sacked him.”

It was one of the most deplorable acts we’ve seen all season with Roache going on to say the punishment McPherson received was not significant enough:

“Without a shadow of a doubt, the ban is too lenient.

“I was talking to a ref colleague and there was a situation where there was a threat of an assault on a referee, but it was averted. However, the person who made the threat was given a 12-game ban – this guy McPherson gets six and he actually committed bodily assault.”

As well as saying what McPherson got for his act was not sufficient, Roache also stated that if the coach did what he did on the street and the police seen it, he would likely be criminally charged.

This is an extremely valid point that few would disagree with.

It also puts further testament to the view that McPherson’s ban is inadequate and not reflective of the act he carried out.

Nevertheless, he will have to be on the sidelines for the next six games despite how much a former referee believes it should be more.