Don’t dish out abuse then go crying to police... It’s embarrassing

IT’S not a summer calendar or cheaper tickets or Project Brave that Scottish football needs. It’s anger management. Strip it down and the national sport is a trivial pursuit. It’s entertainment, a piece of showbiz. But the Scottish game feels at times like the angriest-ever episode of Room 101. More Bernard Manning than Michael McIntyre, it’s best viewed after the watershed. Already this season we’ve witnessed Aberdeen fans exchange kicks and punches with stewards in Limassol. There was a banner celebrating terrorism at a Celtic Champions League qualifier. Now comes Rangers fans calling on Police Scotland to lift Neil Lennon. No one knows when it happened. But Scottish football fans have become desperately sensitive souls. None more so than the characters who dish out vicious, sustained abuse to managers and players... then run to the boys in blue in a fit of faux indignation when they get some back. To be clear, managers are paid good money to adhere to higher standards than the paying punter. When a man has received bullets through the post, like Lennon has in the past, that may be easier said than done. But when a player stands in front of fans, cups his ears and shouts in their direction, the referee has a quiet word. Why should a manager be any different? As Dundee United boss, Mixu Paatelainen shouted and gesticulated at Dundee fans in similar fashion during a Tayside derby. The Finn received a suspended two-match ban from the SFA. Pat Fenlon also got two games for reacting to Hearts fans during a Scottish Cup final. For Lennon, then, precedent suggests some charges are in the post. But that’s for the SFA to decide. Not the local constabulary. No sensible person should end up a foaming mess over a goal celebration. And no sensible Rangers fans did. To their credit, level-headed members of the Ibrox support criticised a statement from supporters group Club 1872 which accused the Hibs boss of inciting trouble. Hours after a 3-2 home defeat, many remained more irate at the performance of referee John Beaton than they were at the manager of Hibs. Everyone knows there’s no love lost between Rangers fans and Lennon. But delicate flowers who dish out abuse, then run to the police when the tables are turned should give it a rest. Leave it out, lads. It’s embarrassing.