Goading the fans. Brings it on himself. Managers should be professional and not react to the mindless morons raining down sectarian, racist and downright horrible personal abuse from the stands. Just some of the crass and uneducated nonsense I came across this past week. I am of course referring to Neil Lennon being smacked in the face by a pound coin in the dying embers of what was a volatile but frankly turgid Edinburgh derby at Tynecastle.

Ever since Lennon arrived in Scotland back in 2000 he has been subjected to some appalling abuse and none of it whatsoever has been brought on by himself. Bullets being sent in the post, being battered in the street by two thugs, attacked in the dugout by some crazed Hearts fan, pelted with coins. And these are just the incidents we have seen and read about. I can only imagine some of the things he has endured that only Neil knows about. He doesn’t deserve this treatment and anyone who thinks he does is either a bigot or needs their head checked. How he manages to get on with his everyday life I honestly don’t know.

There has, of course, been a massive public discussion since Wednesday night. Plenty of people saying that the only reason Neil Lennon has been given this appalling treatment since the day he set foot in Scotland is because he is a high profile Catholic from Northern Ireland who played and went on to manage Celtic. I have to say I pretty much agree with that chain of thought. In this day and age to be targeted because of your religion is preposterous. It makes me so angry. It wouldn’t be accepted in any other country. It wouldn’t be accepted if you were of any other ethnic minority. But Neil has had to put up with all this rubbish for 18 years. It’s a joke.

Whilst I do agree in the main with Neil saying he has been targeted because of his religion I don’t think that every single incident and every person who disliked him as a player or now as a manager can be filed simply under sectarianism or bigotry. A bit of it I think stems from what Neil was like as a player. Neil was a winner at Celtic and would do anything and everything for his team to win. I know this all too well because he smashed me once off the ball at Easter Road in a Hibs v Celtic game. I can remember being absolutely raging at the time but looking back now it was a Hibs counter attack and him taking me out was done for the benefit of his team winning. Plain and simple. Fans hate that sort of thing though. They don’t forget. I will be honest I had a serious dislike for Neil Lennon as a player. I didn’t know him personally at the time but just by playing against him on the park and watching him play on the TV he really rubbed me up the wrong way. I was definitely not the only one who found him a divisive character but that clearly shouldn’t be grounds to hate someone and carry a grudge.

I think a lot of people see players on the pitch snarling, snapping into tackles and winding fans up and think they are the same off the pitch. Even myself as a player, judging by some of the things I was called in stadiums around the country over the years, wasn’t universally liked. I had some horrendous shouts hurled at me but I took it and, when I could, I gave it back. Guys like Scott Brown and Barry Ferguson are in the main hated by the opposite sides of Glasgow. Let’s not dress it up. They are. Why? Because they are winners. They would do anything and smash anyone and anything in their way to win a game. Lennon is in exactly the same mould. But I can assure you off the field all three are totally different from their on-field persona. Most players are. It’s night and day. I have been fortunate to be in their company off the field and they couldn’t be more different. All three have helped me massively in terms of charity events I have organised. They have given up their own time to help me. But fans don’t see that. They think they are the same person off the park as on it. If they did meet these guys I’m sure they would think twice about spewing the sickening bile they do in stadiums and on social media.

Players and managers are human beings. If someone came into your place of work and started screaming abuse at you about your religion or horrific taunts about your wife and kids would you remain professional and turn a blind eye to it? No you wouldn’t. So why should guys doing their job on the park be subjected to it? The worst thing is the people saying Lennon shouldn’t have goaded the fans. He turned around, smiled and told them to sit down. It was a bit of banter. But fans, it seems, can’t take it back. Neil doesn’t deserve any of this. Shame on you if you think he does.

And another thing.

Strict liability for football clubs has been firmly on the agenda this week. Maybe if clubs started to get docked points due to the actions of the idiotic minority then fans would think twice about chucking coins or singing sectarian songs and self police games. Something simply has to change.