CELTIC are expected to use the SFA's inability to charge Dundee United's Calum Butcher with any offence as a major plank in the appeal against Virgil van Dijk's two-game ban.

 

The Dutchman will appear in front of a tribunal at Hampden tomorrow in an attempt to have rescinded the red card shown to him at Tannadice on Sunday.

The tribunal will also hear an appeal by United's Paul Paton against his dismissal in the same incident.

The clear case of mistaken identity by assistant referee Graham Chambers is acknowledged by the SFA.

However, under their current rules, Butcher, the man involved in the skirmish with van Dijk, can not be the subject of a Notice of Complaint.

The reason for this is the match officials saw the incident and dealt with it by means of a red card - even though it was shown to the wrong man.

It is a loophole which, having been exposed in such a high-profile match, is expected to be closed at the earliest opportunity.

Celtic would support such a move, but, in a statement, made it clear they are very unhappy at the non-action of the Compliance Officer, Tony McGlennan, with regard to Butcher.

It read: "It seems completely illogical and fundamentally unfair that, in an incident where mistaken identity has been claimed, the Dundee United player now identified clearly as being involved in the incident appears to have no case to answer - and would be available to play in the League Cup final and the Scottish Cup replay between the two teams - while Celtic's player may potentially miss both of those matches.

"Celtic and Virgil van Dijk maintain their position that no red card offence was committed by Virgil.

"Virgil will appear at Hampden to put his case on Thursday, and we will fully support him in this appeal."

Nadir Ciftci has been cited by for violent conduct after TV footage showed him kicking Scott Brown in the head at the start of the incident.

The United striker has been offered a two-game ban, and has until 3pm today to respond.

If Ciftci contests the punishment, his case will also be heard tomorrow, though he is already banned from Sunday's League Cup final after collecting two bookings in earlier rounds.