Tom English: McGregor should be forced to face the music

In the aftermath, all we got from Walter Smith was a weak-as-ditchwater comment that said "these things happen". Yes, they do. And every time they happen is it not the duty of a manager to talk about it instead of appearing to brush it under the carpet, as Smith did?

"These things happen" was, coincidentally, the same verdict from John Hughes on the day. It was as if the two men met in the tunnel before talking to Radio Scotland and agreed on what they were going to say.

"Let's play this down, Yogi."

"Aye, Walter. These things happen, eh?"

We don't know, but we can only assume that the Rangers manager has filleted McGregor behind closed doors. Maybe he's fined him a week's wages. Maybe he's told him that the next time he disgraces his club he'll be warming the bench for a fortnight. Smith, you fancy, hasn't just accepted this blithely. But private sanction is not good enough. It's too easy.

He needs to make it public, needs to make it clear that McGregor has been made to face the music because, yes, these things do happen in the game, and if people as strong as Smith are not seen to be clamping down on them then the game is up. Personally, I think McGregor should be made to do all the Rangers press this week; television, radio, daily newspapers and Sundays.

Let him be bombarded by questions about his own stupidity and then, maybe, he won't be so half-witted to do it again.