Aberdeen’s Jack MacKenzie bloodied after being struck by seat thrown by own fans

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Aberdeen defender Jack MacKenzie was left bloodied and bandaged after having appeared to be struck by a plastic seat thrown from the stands following his side’s Scottish Premiership defeat at Dundee United.

MacKenzie, an unused substitute, received treatment on the pitch after being struck by the projectile that was thrown from the Aberdeen section of the stand at United’s Tannadice stadium.

Aberdeen were dramatically pipped into fourth spot, the final European qualification place, by United due to the result — with the home side’s fans invading the pitch at the end of the match.

United’s fans were on the pitch near to the section of the stadium where the visiting Aberdeen fans were housed, with a plastic object being thrown from the stands onto the pitch and striking Mackenzie.

Aberdeen said on Saturday evening they were “dismayed and outraged” by the incident.

“We await further information, but what we know for sure, the chair was thrown from the stand in which the Aberdeen supporters were being housed,” the statement read.

“As such, we are calling on all fans who may have witnessed this event to contact the club to provide any information that may assist us in our investigations and wider discussions with the relevant authorities. When the perpetrator is identified, we will take the strongest possible action available to us.”

Aberdeen manager Jimmy Thelin told BBC Scotland after the match: “He’s okay but it’s quite a bad injury. It’s unacceptable it happened to a football player who is just playing football and gives so much for us. This is unacceptable and can’t happen.”

MacKenzie was struck in the head by a plastic seat at the end of the match (Paul Devlin/SNS Group via Getty Images)

Former Aberdeen manager Jim Goodwin, now at United, said of the incident to the BBC: “I deliberately took myself off the pitch as quickly as I could because we’ve had previous with the Aberdeen supporters.

“I’m really disappointed to hear young Jack has been hit by an object thrown by his own supporters. He’s inside having stitches now, it’s an absolute disgrace.

“It’s probably taken something as serious as this to happen for the authorities to finally step in and do something about it to identify these idiots who let down a really good club.”

A Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) spokesperson said the league were “enormously disappointed” by the “moronic behaviour” at the end of the game.

“We await the match delegate report but will work closely with both clubs and Police Scotland to help identify the perpetrator and fully expect that appropriately severe footballing and judicial sanctions will be imposed,” the league said.

Police Scotland launched an appeal for information on the incident.

“Part of a chair was thrown from the upper deck of the Fair Play stand striking an Aberdeen player,” the police force’s statement on Saturday read. “He received treatment at the scene and will require further medical assessment.

“Officers are appealing for anyone who saw what happened or has mobile phone footage of the incident to contact police.”

Match commander, superintendent Ray Birnie, said: “This was a mindless act which has seriously injured the player resulting in him needing medical treatment.

“This type of behaviour will not be tolerated and I’d appeal to all fans to help us trace the person responsible.

“If you were in the Fair Play stand and witnessed what happened, please do the right thing and come forward. I’d also urge anyone who has mobile phone footage to review it and bring anything of importance to our attention.”

(Top image: Paul Devlin/SNS Group via Getty Images)

This news was originally published on this post .

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