Neil Cameron: Scottish fans deserve the ultimate snub from Alfredo Morelos

[ian1964 10,724]

There is a wonderful sequence in the book, and subsequent film, Fight Club in which those who are members of the never-to-be-named association attempt to get into fights with ordinary and unbruised members of the public.

Turns out, that’s not so easy to do. The vast majority of folk have no interest in physical violence, even when hugely provoked. As the author Chuck Palahniuk explained many years after his book was published, while humans are capable of almost anything, it is our base nature to keep out of trouble.

This is why most of us have never been in a proper fight. How many times have you been physically threatened? How often is abuse screamed in your face? 
I have walked the streets of Glasgow after closing time, which some claim is as dangerous as popping out for a pint of milk in war-time Dresden, and perhaps once, at the most twice, did I come across trouble.

We know how to behave, you see. Well, most of the time. And then we get into a football ground and, well, anything that happened at Fir Park stays at Fir Park.

Except there were no secrets about what happened on Sunday. The television cameras clearly caught the hand signal, the sneering, and the lack of control. This, of course, was the Motherwell supporters, at least the section that houses their (really) young team.

They targeted Alfredo Morelos with personal abuse. This is fair(ish) enough. It’s football after all. Fans get to shout and swear. That’s the culture. Always has been. Except, these days, the shouty supporters can’t seem to take it when anything is said back to them.

Should Morelos have told the Motherwell support to “get it right up them” complete with rude gesture? No, but I didn’t have a problem with it and I’ll bet you said young team, who were to throw all manner of objects at the Rangers player, weren’t traumatised in the slightest.

And yet Morelos is the one punished for reacting to constant abuse.

This is a serial victim. He’s been racially abused, coins have hit off him and Aberdeen supporters even wrote a banner in Spanish about his mother. Oh, the Scottish banter.

If I were going about my business and a group of strangers shouted obscenities at me regarding my family and ethnicity, followed up by a bottle of Buckfast aimed at my head, I would react. 

If Palahniuk had wanted all of his characters to get into a fight, he should have sent them to a football match.

Morelos was shown a second red card because he did break the rules. He was sent off, and will now miss a big game against Hibernian, for being a human being. The Colombian didn’t hit an opponent, dive, spit or go in late on a defender. After scoring, he gave some back to those who had spent a lot of their Sunday afternoon acting like louts. 

Steven Gerrard said he didn’t disagree with the second caution. I simply don’t believe that. The Rangers manager was playing the PR game. He would be 100 per cent on the side of his player, as he should be.

I don’t see why it’s “acceptable” to shout all sorts of stuff at a football player but, when they react, out come the “he could have caused a riot” mob. If you look up the history of rioting, there aren’t any examples of people taking to the street because of a 50/50 penalty decision.

Same with Scott Brown after the Celtic Park Old Firm game towards the end of last season. Arms stretched in front of the Rangers fans with a broad smile on his face. 

I feel sorry for Morelos. He was brilliant at Motherwell. He’s been brilliant all season. If the votes were taken now I’d have him as my player of the year.

He’s cleaned up his act, scored goals for fun – apart from in one fixture – and his all-round play has been raised several levels. Plus, he’s got a personality that is hard to dislike. Morelos isn’t perfect, but nobody is.

I’m guessing that he gets it when he walks about Glasgow and he chooses not to respond, which is what happens in a book with the word “fight” in it. Could you put up with that on a daily basis?

If I were in charge of Scottish football, which sadly is not the case, I would rescind the red card and force those Motherwell supporters so brave with their actions at the weekend to face up to Morelos.

My guess is they wouldn’t fancy it and hide away like the weans they are. 

Morelos has 27 goals to his name this season. That’s impressive enough but, given he takes more flack on and off the pitch than anyone else in the Scottish game, his feats become all the more impressive.

I would be astonished if Rangers aren’t forced to fend off bids for their main man in January. Morelos, still only 23, would be cheap in relative terms. I’m not saying Liverpool would be after him but surely the scouts in England now realise that to dismiss talent north of the border is plain stupid.

It would be good if Morelos stayed at least until the end of the season. We need as many good players in the Premiership as we can get.

But I wouldn’t blame the lad if he once again turned to the Scottish public to
“get it right up us” and go somewhere else.

https://www.heraldscotland.com/sport/18108790.neil-cameron-scottish-fans-deserve-ultimate-snub-alfredo-morelos/

[cooponthewing 1,139]

Great article 

[ian1964 10,724]

1 minute ago, cooponthewing said:

Great article 

Which has me worried!!!!

[compo 7,049]

Well if he does go somewhere else at least  we would get a handsome fee 

[cooponthewing 1,139]

9 minutes ago, ian1964 said:

Which has me worried!!!!

Aye, because the penny is dropping with these idiots. The world is waking up as folk like Stevie G, Alfie, JD and co are telling the world what's going on. These hacks will all be out of jobs soon, and history will remember them for the Rangers Hating Bigots they are. Tick Tock......

[Bluedell 5,627]

Genuinely shocked by that article and like Ian, we have to wonder the reason for it.