Zlamal says he likes Scot fans – punches aside
Bobby Zlamal has defended supporters in Scotland – despite being punched by a Hibs fan.
The Hearts keeper was left in a heap during the powderkeg derby at Tynecastle, and later branded his assailants “losers”.
He said: “What happened was I went for the ball and bent down to get it beside the Hibs fans, and I got punched on the nose. It was a shock because I didn’t expect it.
“Football in Scotland is a completely different world from the Czech Republic because of the fans and the brilliant atmosphere they create.
“Apart from that incident, the fans in Scotland are great.
“Attacks like that are very, very rare. “Because it was a derby and there is huge rivalry between Hearts and Hibs, it was such an important match for the fans.
“The closest you could compare it to back home would be Sparta Prague v Slavia Prague. But it’s much, much more heated. “But what happened happened and it’s over. It doesn’t take away for me what has been a great start to the season for me and the club.”
Australia boss Graham Arnold has backed stricken Celtic kid Daniel Arzani to bounce back from his horror knee injury.
The on-loan Manchester City talent was stretchered off during his Hoops debut in their midweek romp against Dundee.
It means he will out for the season and won’t be available for the Socceroos’ defence of the Asian Cup in January. But Aussie boss Arnold is convinced Arzani will make a full recovery.
He said: “We have great confidence in the staff at Celtic to manage Daniel’s injury appropriately.
“Our performance team will continue to liaise closely with Celtic and Daniel to provide him with whatever assistance he requires.”
Arzani’s surgery will be performed by celebrated Spanish orthopedic surgeon, Ramon Cugat, after City boss Pep Guardiola insisted on him looking after the youngster.
The Etihad Stadium boss has previously described the Barcelona-based medic as “the best doctor in the world”.
And Arzani will join a long list of players including City stars Vincent Kompany, Sergio Aguero and Gabriel Jesus, who have gone under the knife of Cugat. SCOTT SINCLAIR BACKS EDOUARD TO KEEP SCORING
I don’t go out and physically threaten anybody so I’m not going to take it from anyone else
The shocking events at Tynecastle on Wednesday night occupied dispiritingly familiar territory for former Scotland keeper, Rab Douglas.
Like Hearts No. 1, Bobby Zlamal, he has been assaulted on the pitch. In his case, not once, but twice – the second a notorious incident which led to two men being jailed. And unlike the majority of the country’s football fans, Douglas has witnessed at first-hand the level of abuse Neil Lennon has to deal with, including an incident where his Celtic team-mate of the time was taunted about the death of his grandmother.
“The first time I got attacked was in 1998, in the 100th Dundee derby,” Douglas recalled.
“The second was in 2015, in a League One match between Forfar and Airdrie.
“So that tells you both that things haven’t changed much, and that this is an issue at all levels of the game.
“What happened with Zlamal and Lenny were just the latest examples of professional football people getting hammered while trying to do their job.
“Keepers are always in the firing line because they are the players nearest to the fans.
“In the lower leagues especially, that means if they want to bend your ear for 90 minutes, they are able to do so.
“I have had all sorts – abuse about the team, personal abuse, sectarian abuse, you name it.
“It is not pleasant and, in some instances, it can be downright vile. “Professional footballers understand that people have paid their money at the gate, and that they like to let off steam.
“So you get folk – who maybe wouldn’t say boo to a goose in the normal run of life – happy to speak to opposition players in a way they wouldn’t dream of speaking to someone they met at their local timber yard or butchers.
“Over the years, I have enjoyed banter with Morton, Dunfermline, Brechin, Raith Rovers and Dundee United fans.
“It is the same off the pitch. You can find yourself having a great football conversation with someone who supports Rangers or United.
“Equally, there have been Celtic and Dundee fans who take exception to something I said because it doesn’t fit in with their views.
“It happens, but as long it doesn’t go too far, it is OK.
“There has to be a line, though. I don’t go out and physically threaten anybody, so I am not going to take it from anyone else.
“I 100% believe you are entitled to defend yourself. If someone comes to try to punch me, I am going to punch them first.
“The one in the derby, I was able to restrain the guy who came on.
“But in the Airdrie case, at Station Park, I had to fight them off.
“Generally, I think it is folk getting carried away or egged on by their pals.
“At Tannadice, it was the 100th derby and it was a sore one for United, who had a goal disallowed.
“So it was quite tense at the end, but I had no idea the boy was coming on. I was walking off carrying my water bottle and my towel.
“At Station Park, it was even worse. I was walking towards the tunnel at full-time and, if I hadn’t got a shout from team-mate, Iain Campbell, they’d have got me down on the deck and then you don’t how much damage gets done.
“As it was, I was able to fight them off and other players and stewards came in and got involved.
“It was completely unacceptable. I was just a football player trying to do his job, to earn money to feed his family.
“To be attacked in that way was shocking.
“I was also disappointed that I didn’t get an apology from Airdrie for what happened. That was pretty poor.”
Neil Lennon’s experience, Douglas argues, is tougher.
“I have had probably only had to deal with a fraction of the stuff Lenny has had to put up with,” he said. “There was the parcel bomb and the beating he took in Glasgow’s Ashton Lane just for starters. Two guys got jailed for that one.
“I was actually in Neil’s company the night of Ashton Lane – myself and a couple of Dundee players.
“I wish we’d still been with him later because I don’t believe anything would have happened if we were.
“Even then, having a big guy, in the company doesn’t always stop people
“I was with Neil not long after an Old Firm game, and we were heading up to a PFA Awards dinner, when a group of Rangers fans spotted us and it got pretty ugly. “There were bottles thrown and he got stuff shouted at him about his gran, who had just died. It had been in the paper and they must have picked up on it.
“That’s the kind of stuff he gets. People hear him talk about it, but I am not sure they realise quite how bad it can be.
“He’s not the type who looks to hide away from confrontation.
“As a player, that was part of his biggest strength. It helped him have a great career for club and country. “He was a warrior of the type every good team needs – always up for the battle and prepared to dig in and fight even harder when things don’t go well.
“Having been so successful with that attitude on the pitch, he has brought a lot of those qualities into his life off it.
“Neil is not afraid to speak his mind about anybody – his players, his board, supporters, officials, media.
“If he is annoyed, then he will speak his mind, and he will do so in a way that is forceful, but also very articulate.
“He is a very intelligent man. People don’t give him enough credit for that. Everything he says has been thought through.
“And, after being struck by the coin on Wednesday he was entitled to have his say.
“That could have taken his eye out.”