Steven Gerrard does not believe Ryan Kent's clash with Scott Brown was violent conduct

By James Simpson

Thursday 4 April 2019 17:08, UK

Rangers manager Steven Gerrard says he does not believe Ryan Kent's Old Firm clash with Scott Brown was violent conduct.

Kent was charged by the Scottish FA for appearing to strike Celtic captain Brown in last Sunday's Old Firm game, but he has contested it, allowing him to play in Rangers' 3-0 win over Hearts on Wednesday.

However, Gerrard believes still images of the incident have made it look worse than it was for his player, who faces a two-game ban.

"We wait to find out what the next step is and we go from there," Gerrard said ahead of the fast-track tribunal, which takes place on Thursday afternoon. "We spoke to Ryan and the players around the incident.

"We've got our version of events which are totally different than what we feel has been reported or what he's been accused of, and we will challenge it and see what we get from it.

"We don't think it was violent conduct, and we don't think it was in the face. Simple as that.

"It's always easy to look at pictures that look worse than they are. I've known Ryan since he was eight, nine years of age. He hasn't got a violent bone in his body."

On Thursday morning, both Gerrard and Brown were charged by the SFA - the Rangers boss for comments made to referee Bobby Madden after the match, and Brown for "not acting in the best interests of Association Football".

And Gerrard believes Brown should be held accountable for his part in the incident with Kent, defending his forward.

"He has never been involved in something like this before," Gerrard said. "I think Ryan was merely pushing [Brown] away to get him out of his face after being provoked. That's our side of it.

"But we will see what three people on the panel and Clare [Whyte, SFA compliance officer] think and we will see what comes from it."