‘You give a certain amount of trust’ – Kyle Lafferty’s ‘sectarian language’ incident discussed by Northern Ireland boss
KYLE LAFFERTY'S Northern Ireland manager has admitted the alleged 'sectarian language' incident which sparked a Kilmarnock club investigation happened during a team-bonding session for the international squad.
Striker Lafferty was subject of a wind-up while posing with a fan who shouted "Up the Celts" to the camera capturing footage of the pair.
The footballer's reaction was filmed and then circulated online, leading to his exit from the national team camp and prompting an internal enquiry by his club bosses at Rugby Park.
Ian Baraclough was quizzed on the striker's situation ahead of Northern Ireland's Nations League match in Greece on Tuesday and believes the incident took place last Tuesday when the squad had a sanctioned team-bonding session.
The former Motherwell boss explained: "We all went out. We all went to the restaurant and we all came back.
"The players had a day off the next day. They are adults. They know they have got a responsibility and when they are on international duty they are still representing themselves, their clubs, their families and me.
Most read in Football
"You can’t keep them couped up in a hotel and you give them a certain amount of trust. You hope that is the right thing to do going forward as well.
"We are talking about a team bonding session and people being themselves and seeing them in their natural state and at times you do have to learn from it. It might be something we look at further down the line."
Former Hearts and Rangers striker Lafferty's withdrawal from the squad was announced by the Irish FA on Friday after the video surfaced but cited a back problem - though the statement also confirmed officials were aware of the clip and Killie's investigation.
Baraclough previously denied the injury was a smokescreen but defended the decision to allow his players time off.
"It has always served Northern Irish teams really well when they have had that bit of time to themselves so for me it was something we weren’t expecting to wake up to those sorts of headlines and that type of news. I’m disappointed.
"It wasn’t as we were together at the restaurant. For me there is an enquiry ongoing on that so I suppose I can’t comment too much more on that."
An Irish FA spokesman also confirmed no further action would be taken against Conor McMenamin after the forward also missed the 2-1 win over Kosovo over another viral video.
The Glentoran winger is back in the squad to face Greece after an investigation discovered the historic footage was taken almost a decade ago and the player had already faced disciplinary action at the time.
Keep up to date with ALL the latest news and transfers at the Scottish Sun football page