Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
GORDON: IDIOTS & NOT RACISTS BEHIND ATTACKS
GORDON STRACHAN last night waded into the row over the tossers who are shaming Scottish football and warned old pal Neil Lennon not to confuse bigoted behaviour with brainlessness. The former Celtic and Scotland manager spoke out after a string of ugly, high-profile incidents which have seen Hibs boss Lennon floored by a coin at Tynecastle, linesman Calum Spence bloodied at Livingston and Rangers striker Alfredo Morelos pelted with a 50p coin in Paisley. Lennon (left) believes the latest attack on him is an example of the anti-irish racism to which he has been subjected to since signing for Celtic 18 years ago and yesterday the Irish players’ union called for the SFA to investigate his claims.
But while Strachan witnessed much of the sickening sectarian abuse directed at Lennon from close quarters during their time together at Parkhead, he insists it’s a mistake to rush to assumptions about the motives behind the Edinburgh derby attack.
He said: “Neil’s one of my best friends but the incident we saw recently, I don’t think it’s the same.
“Coin throwing didn’t just happen to him at Tynecastle, it happened to others at Livi and St Mirren. No one specifically is being targeted. “You cannot put the coin throwing down to sectarianism, you put it down to morons. “Neil is a lovely man, a right good laugh. But we change, sometimes into people we don’t like, at games.
“My tongue used to be my weapon because I was too small to kick anyone – I used to say things and go, ‘Oh dear’ and have to go and apologise after the game.” Strachan (left) has called for the thug fans to be named and shamed in order to buck the recent trend of mindless violence in the stands.
He said: “Put them in the papers and on the screen, make people think twice before they act like idiots – because they know their family or boss might see them. That would scare them.”
GORDON STRACHAN was speaking exclusively to Paddy Power News. To read more, visit news.paddypower. com.