CalumHH
Well-known member
From the DR;
The scenes at Tynecastle on Wednesday night were shameful and hugely damaging to the Scottish game.
But let’s knock one thing on the head right away.
To suggest Neil Lennon brings these incidents on himself is absolutely preposterous.
I know the cesspool of social media isn’t exactly the best way to gauge public opinion but I can’t quite believe some of the responses to my old team-mate being struck on the face by a coin.
People are actually trying to justify these actions. It’s mind blowing.
Throwing a missile at a manager is unacceptable in any circumstances. There are folk saying Lennon winds up the supporters and he makes himself a target.
What utter nonsense. Some of the abuse he gets on the touchline is appalling, yet the second he engages with those cretins who are bombarding him with sickening slurs he becomes fair game?
I’m not having it. What did Lennon do the other night? He turned around to the Hearts fans, smiled and told them to pipe down.
It was pantomine stuff. If that is the kind of thing that evokes a violent response then the problem is not with the guy doing the goading, it’s the guy who reacts by throwing a missile who has the slate missing.
If that’s justification for what followed then I don’t know where we are going in terms of football or society.
Even more worrying is comments saying Lennon brings it on himself from the likes of Gary Caldwell.
I couldn’t believe he came away with that stuff. It was outrageous. Caldwell is not just an ex-player or even a former team-mate. Crucially, he is a fellow manager.
If that’s the mindset of someone who is actually in the game then we really are in bother.
Fair play, he came out and apologised once he saw the reaction to his comments on the radio but the horse had already bolted.
Caldwell only ligitimised this ridiculous notion Lennon is somehow to blame for these repeated incidents and that’s not on.
He is the manager of Partick Thistle, so what happens if his team score a last-minute winner way from home. Does he gets caught up in the moment and celebrates in front of home fans and gets a coin in the face for his troubles?
Will he simply hold his hands up and say he was asking for it?
Do me a favour. Caldwell should be embarrassed by his comments and with the swift apology I suspect he is.
There is no justification for the scenes the other night. It wasn’t just the Lennon flashpoint either.
A Hibs fan aimed a punch at Hearts goalkeeper Zdenek Zlamal and the officials were targeted. It was disgusting.
There’s a lot to love about Scottish football right now. There’s Brendan Rodgers getting Celtic back on track again, there’s the interesting development of Steven Gerrard at Rangers, Hearts and Hibs are packing out their grounds and flying in the league. Aberdeen are getting their act together.
The game up here is box office right now but you turn on the news and it’s all about fans misbehaving.
It’s incredibly frustrating. I love Tynecastle as a stadium. The atmosphere is right up there and it’s because the fans are so close to the action.
We should be talking about a pulsating fixture but instead the idiots have wrecked it. There will be the usual statements. Hearts will be mortified and Ann Budge will condemn those responsible. Hibs will be furious and rightly so. It would be the exact same if it was Craig Levein on the end of it at Easter Road.
But what really will be done about this? Players, managers and officials are being put in danger in their working environment. It’s not on.
The police need to come down on offenders with full force and give these people jail time, but is that even enough?
If this happened in Europe UEFA would be come down on clubs like a ton of bricks. It’s fines, sections of stadiums closed, points deductions.
That might make these clowns think twice. At some point these people have to take responsibility for their own actions.
These kind of incidents are creeping back in to to game and we are in real danger of returning to the dark old days in British football when trouble was rife in the terraces.
I thought we’d left all this garbage behind but we are in danger of the game lurching in to chaos if people are going to explode in violence at the sight of someone celebrating.
Neil brings a lot to Scottish football. He produces good, attacking sides and he always talks the game up in this country.
I know he’s divisive character and it’s OK not to like him.
But no matter how much he rubs folk up the wrong way at times, the way he is treated is complete unacceptable and needs to be stamped out before we are dealing with an incident even more shocking.
The scenes at Tynecastle on Wednesday night were shameful and hugely damaging to the Scottish game.
But let’s knock one thing on the head right away.
To suggest Neil Lennon brings these incidents on himself is absolutely preposterous.
I know the cesspool of social media isn’t exactly the best way to gauge public opinion but I can’t quite believe some of the responses to my old team-mate being struck on the face by a coin.
People are actually trying to justify these actions. It’s mind blowing.
Throwing a missile at a manager is unacceptable in any circumstances. There are folk saying Lennon winds up the supporters and he makes himself a target.
What utter nonsense. Some of the abuse he gets on the touchline is appalling, yet the second he engages with those cretins who are bombarding him with sickening slurs he becomes fair game?
I’m not having it. What did Lennon do the other night? He turned around to the Hearts fans, smiled and told them to pipe down.
It was pantomine stuff. If that is the kind of thing that evokes a violent response then the problem is not with the guy doing the goading, it’s the guy who reacts by throwing a missile who has the slate missing.
If that’s justification for what followed then I don’t know where we are going in terms of football or society.
Even more worrying is comments saying Lennon brings it on himself from the likes of Gary Caldwell.
I couldn’t believe he came away with that stuff. It was outrageous. Caldwell is not just an ex-player or even a former team-mate. Crucially, he is a fellow manager.
If that’s the mindset of someone who is actually in the game then we really are in bother.
Fair play, he came out and apologised once he saw the reaction to his comments on the radio but the horse had already bolted.
Caldwell only ligitimised this ridiculous notion Lennon is somehow to blame for these repeated incidents and that’s not on.
He is the manager of Partick Thistle, so what happens if his team score a last-minute winner way from home. Does he gets caught up in the moment and celebrates in front of home fans and gets a coin in the face for his troubles?
Will he simply hold his hands up and say he was asking for it?
Do me a favour. Caldwell should be embarrassed by his comments and with the swift apology I suspect he is.
There is no justification for the scenes the other night. It wasn’t just the Lennon flashpoint either.
A Hibs fan aimed a punch at Hearts goalkeeper Zdenek Zlamal and the officials were targeted. It was disgusting.
There’s a lot to love about Scottish football right now. There’s Brendan Rodgers getting Celtic back on track again, there’s the interesting development of Steven Gerrard at Rangers, Hearts and Hibs are packing out their grounds and flying in the league. Aberdeen are getting their act together.
The game up here is box office right now but you turn on the news and it’s all about fans misbehaving.
It’s incredibly frustrating. I love Tynecastle as a stadium. The atmosphere is right up there and it’s because the fans are so close to the action.
We should be talking about a pulsating fixture but instead the idiots have wrecked it. There will be the usual statements. Hearts will be mortified and Ann Budge will condemn those responsible. Hibs will be furious and rightly so. It would be the exact same if it was Craig Levein on the end of it at Easter Road.
But what really will be done about this? Players, managers and officials are being put in danger in their working environment. It’s not on.
The police need to come down on offenders with full force and give these people jail time, but is that even enough?
If this happened in Europe UEFA would be come down on clubs like a ton of bricks. It’s fines, sections of stadiums closed, points deductions.
That might make these clowns think twice. At some point these people have to take responsibility for their own actions.
These kind of incidents are creeping back in to to game and we are in real danger of returning to the dark old days in British football when trouble was rife in the terraces.
I thought we’d left all this garbage behind but we are in danger of the game lurching in to chaos if people are going to explode in violence at the sight of someone celebrating.
Neil brings a lot to Scottish football. He produces good, attacking sides and he always talks the game up in this country.
I know he’s divisive character and it’s OK not to like him.
But no matter how much he rubs folk up the wrong way at times, the way he is treated is complete unacceptable and needs to be stamped out before we are dealing with an incident even more shocking.
