Motherwell chief executive Alan Burrows believes harsher punishments are needed for supporters rather than clubs after trouble at matches.

The spotlight has fallen on the conduct of supporters this season after a spate of incidents which have shamed the game in Scotland.

Among the incidents, bottles and coins have been thrown, and Rangers captain James Tavernier was confronted on the pitch by a Hibs fan.

A number of managers have also been subjected to sectarian abuse and targeted by fans.

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Some calls have been made for the introduction of strict liability in Scottish football, where clubs are held responsible for trouble inside their stadia.

But speaking ahead of an SPFL board meeting on Monday, Burrows told STV Sport it’s time to get tough on troublesome fans.

He said: “I think what we’ve got to do as an industry is look at ways in which we can take those individuals and make sure they are punished if they step out of line.

“Football clubs already do a lot to try and prevent these sort of things. We have full-time safety officers, we have constant dialogue with the policing authorities and the leagues.

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“We do the best we can within the parameters we have.”

Some clubs want more power to punish individual supporters, and Burrows is keen to hold talks with the Scottish Government in a bid to find solutions.

He said: “Some clubs would like the ability to try and make sure that the people who step out of line don’t step out of line in future games.

“I want to work with the Scottish Government, I want to work with the authorities to make sure if people do step out of line they are punished severely.

“There’s been a lot of talk about strict liability for clubs, but I’m really interested in strict liability for people who step out of line.

“If you take the incidents over the last few weeks, there are crowds of almost 20,000 and one or two people step out of line.

“As a percentage, that’s not a high amount of people to step out of line. But if the punishment to that individual isn’t severe enough, then that’s not the biggest deterrent.

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“It’s not about punishing the clubs or punishing the people who are involved at the clubs it’s about punishing people who actually do it… the only way to properly stop it is to go after the individuals strongly.

“Make sure that anybody who plans to step out of line in future knows that the punishments for it are severe.

“I think the only way we can do that is with our partners here at Hampden, but also with the Scottish Government, local authorities and police services. That’s going to by my viewpoint going into this [SPFL board] meeting today.”

The SPFL and SFA have been in discussions with the police and politicians in recent weeks over how best to tackle unacceptable supporter behaviour.

It’s understood representatives from the SFA are due to meet SPFL officials on Monday to discuss the football authorities’ next move.

When pressed on how severe the punishments should be, the Motherwell chief said: “The only way to stop them is make the punishments severe. If that’s prison sentences – if the crime is severe enough – if it’s long-term bans. Banning orders?

“They are in place currently – there are some clubs who have them. The issue we have is the regularity in which they are handed out when people so step out of line. I sometimes think football banning orders are handed out as punishments for something that isn’t so severe.”

Strict liability is used by European football’s governing body, UEFA, to hold clubs responsible for the unacceptable conduct of supporters.

“If you look at UEFA in terms of the tournaments, does anyone see a reduction in unacceptable conduct in UEFA games? I don’t. I don’t see a reduction. In fact, if anything, I see more of it in European competitions.”