Striker Kyle Lafferty has apologised to Kilmarnock fans and his family after being handed a ten game ban over a social media clip of him making a sectarian comment.
The 35-year-old was sent home from Northern Ireland duty after a clip appeared online of the veteran forward uttering the slur with Kilmarnock disciplining him internally. The former Rangers and Hearts front man has now received his punishment from the SFA with a whopping 10 game suspension leaving the the Rugby Park side without their star player until after the World Cup.
The ban now comes into place ahead of the crucial clash with Ross County on Saturday, as Derek McInnes l ooks to pull his team away from the foot of the Scottish Premiership table. The striker will also miss clashes with St Johnstone, Livingston, Dundee Utd, Hibernian, Hearts, Motherwell, Aberdeen, St Mirren and Celtic before being available for selection at Hampden for the Premier Sports Cup semi-final with the Hoops.
Following the ban, Lafferty admitted he was "embarrassed" by the incident. Both the forward and the club have accepted the ruling dished out from Hampden.
Lafferty said: “I want to deeply apologise to the club, supporters and my family for the distress caused over the past month. I totally acknowledge that my reaction to the incident was completely out of order.
"There is no excuse, it’s something that I immediately regretted and have been embarrassed about ever since. I absolutely accept that I should not have responded to provocation in that manner.
“I placed myself in a position that has been very difficult to deal with, so I’m now determined to work with Nil By Mouth to ensure that others, particularly the youngsters at the club, learn from my mistake and avoid putting themselves in any type of similar situation in the future.”
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