Ex-Rangers star Scott Nisbet to pay £2,400 for injuring man with pint glass

• Nisbet threw pint glass and injured pub-goer

• Ex-footballer voices disapproval in court despite avoiding jail

Glass smash ex-Rangers star barred from city pub

Nisbet fined £2400 after injuring fellow drinker in outburst

Nisbet, 43 was ordered to pay victim Matthew Smith £2400 at Edinburgh Sheriff Court yesterday after he admitted reckless and culpable conduct at Tamsons bar in Easter Road.

Shards of glass became embedded in Mr Smith’s hand and cut him so deep that a tendon was exposed.

Today, Jimmy O’Donnell, the assistant manager who witnessed the incident, said Nisbet’s action were “totally out of character” but added that the former footballer would never be allowed to return.

He said: “Scott came in with his girlfriend at the time and he was being a bit funny with her. Matty, who lived on Easter Road, was sitting on a stool at the bar so there was just the four of us in.

“It was about 12.15am and Scott got himself another drink but wouldn’t buy his girlfriend one. He had an empty pint glass and a full one in front of him at the bar.

“I was washing glasses, getting ready to lock up when Scott asked Matty, ‘What do you think about that, young man?’

“Matty’s a really nice guy, but he said, ‘I think you’re being a bit of a p****’.

“Scott said, ‘Sorry, young man?’ and I told Matty to leave it.

“Scott sat stewing on his stool for about 15 minutes then suddenly he got up and threw the glass, which hit the bar. Some of the glass went into Matty’s hand.

“I grabbed Scott and pushed him against the wall and he left. I helped Matty try to wash the glass out in the sink. It was bleeding heavily, you could see the tendon.

“Scott’s girlfriend lent us her car so I could take Matty to Edinburgh Royal Infirmary. We were there till about 5am when his hand was stitched up.”

Nisbet was originally facing a charge that he severely injured Mr Smith by throwing a glass at him and punching him repeatedly on the head and body during the incident on October 13 last year.

But prosecutors agreed to drop this in return for Nisbet pleading guilty to the lesser charge.

Mr O’Donnell said: “Scott had been drinking here for a couple of years because his girlfriend lived nearby. He never caused any trouble. This is a Hibs pub but he never got any bother, he just had a laugh and a joke with everyone.

“This was totally out of character but he’s barred for life now. Matty shouldn’t have said what he did, but it wasn’t his fault.”

Mr O’Donnell said that the victim was now working as a hotel chef in the Peebles area.

The court heard yesterday that Mr Smith was signed off sick and unable to work for six months following the incident.

Defence solicitor Fergus Christie told the court that Nisbet was sorry for his actions and was willing to pay his victim for the time he spent off work.

Speaking previously about the incident, Nisbet, of Queensferry Road, said: “It was a pure accident. I spoke to the boy the next night and apologised.

“The boy was standing at the other end of the bar. I slammed my glass down on the bar and it smashed. A piece of glass hit him in the hand.”

Nisbet won league championship medals with Rangers in 1990, 1991 and 1992 before retiring due to injury.

Passing sentence, Sheriff Derrick McIntyre said: “A person of your age and background should know better.”