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18th December 2005

So-called fans who abuse players are a curse on the game

Scottish fans are great ambassadors for the country when they follow the national team across the globe - so why is it a different story when they turn up to support their clubs?

The Tartan Army are welcomed all over Europe and causing trouble is the last thing that crosses their mind - it's simply not in their make-up. A piss up maybe but nothing more offensive than that.

But the supporters who follow club sides every week often have a different agenda.

Once an alcoholic always an alcoholic but no matter where McLaren plays the abuse from the punters comes thick and fast.

Apparently, he snapped last weekend and reacted angrily to Ayr fans who were trying to make him feel two feet tall during a Scottish Cup tie at Somerset Park.

McLaren has enough on his plate without having to deal with the mindless minority who rile him on a weekly basis.

Unlike others who are battling alcoholism Andy has to deal with it in public.

Sadly, there's a queue of fans who'd love nothing better than to see him give up his fight.

Every ground seems to be blighted by abusive punters.

What are we to make of the people who gathered outside Tynecastle to give Graham Rix abuse before he'd taken charge of their team?

As far as I can tell, the Jambos head coach made a highly publicised mistake seven years ago and paid the penalty. However, judging from the reception he got, his own fans won't let him forget.

Thankfully, the anticipated barrage of jeers that was feared at away grounds has been non-existent.

The most sickening abuse Rix has been forced to endure has come from clowns decked in maroon and white.

The former Portsmouth boss hasn't been helped by a poor run of form since taking over from George Burley.

The draw against Caley Thistle at home last week was his third in four games and the faithful weren't happy as that slump and yesterday's Ibrox defeat gives Celts the chance to move six points clear today.

The Jambos had played eight previous home games in the SPL and won them all.

One slip up against a good Inverness side and the reaction from the Gorgie fans was to boo their team off the pitch. Why?

The players won't respond to that sort of backing. Far from it - at times like this they'll be looking for more support than ever.

Jambos will hate me for saying it but I just don't think Rix's side will win the league.

Hearts don't have a natural goalscorer and you can't rely on the sparkling form of Paul Hartley or Rudi Skacel every week to get you out of a hole.

However, they could easily finish second.

Hibs and Rangers won't give up hope of catching them but there's a lot of ground to make up. If Hearts have the bottle to hold on they'll have a crack at the Champions League via a qualifier. But the only way the supporters can help their heroes achieve this is by sticking with them.

There's too much bile raining down from the stands in the SPL and sectarian abuse is heard all too often at Celtic Park and Ibrox.

But it also happened at Motherwell recently when fans shouted bigoted abuse at one of their players in the 2-0 defeat by Inverness?

Supersub Shaun Fagan is making a name for himself at Fir Park but apparently didn't have one of his best games against Caley Thistle.

The punters responded by firing sectarian abuse at him and Fagan let rip with a two-fingered salute to the morons. Yet he's the one forced to apologise?

Few players turn on the style every week - especially the younger ones - and the idiots in claret and amber should appreciate the efforts of their squad.

Motherwell have been punching above their weight for a couple of seasons and have a CIS Cup semi-final against Celtic to look forward to in February.

The Fir Park side went all the way to Hampden in the last CIS campaign so what more do the fans want? ? They should be grateful that Terry Butcher's men are not involved in a relegation dogfight.

Footballers need to develop a thick skin but Fagan didn't deserve a reaction like that from his own fans.

Sectarian abuse is only meant to be found at Celtic Park and Ibrox, isn't it?

No. It's alive and well at plenty of grounds.

Love him or loathe him, Neil Lennon has to put up with some vicious catcalls at practically every away ground in Scotland.

Then there's the scuffles off the park with loonies who challenge him in the street or daub obscene remarks on the road outside his house.

The Celtic captain is no angel but when he responded in a similar fashion to Fagan with a rude gesture at Dens Park in 2003 the home fans were so affronted they complained to the police.

These brainless punters happily abuse players for 90 minutes then have the balls to complain to the authorities about a lack of morals or decency when the target of their scorn hits back.

It's laughable and pathetic. Scottish football fans have a tremendous reputation but there's an unforgiving minority who pick on guys like Fagan, Lennon or McLaren in the hope they will react.

And it's not such a small minority.

According to Roddy McNulty, Scottish co-ordinator of the Show Racism the Red Card campaign, there's one racist incident every week in amateur football and one every fortnight in the professional game.

We can't allow this to continue - something must be done to rid Scottish football of this cancer AND ANOTHER THING ...

CELTIC fans think it's a joke that the SPL offices won't open up on New Years Day to accommodate new signing Roy Keane.

If they were open, Keane could make his debut against Hearts at Tynecastle.

They're right, it's a piece of nonsense. But let's not forget, the SPL are the clubs themselves and so Celtic are involved in all of the decision making that affects not just them but every other club.

They obviously approve of the way the league go about their business.

Source: The Sunday Mail