Aiden McGeady: Scottish football's sectarian truth

Aiden McGeady has gone public on the level of sectarian hatred that he endured within Scottish football.

The very mention of his name seems to upset even the most mild mannered of supporters with the former Celtic player signalled out for abuse at virtually every ground throughout Scotland.

While the minions of the Scottish Executive and SFA travel the world patting themselves on the back for adopting various anti-racist policies McGeady’s lays bare the hatred that he encountered in six years as a Celtic player.

Most footballers take a degree of criticism, it comes with the territory, but choosing to play for Ireland made the teenage Celtic player a hate figure in most football grounds.

“There are a lot of horrible places in Scotland for that type of thing,” McGeady admitted in a Herald interview about the hostility and abuse he received in Scotland.

“Tynecastle, Ibrox obviously is always going to be bad with the Celtic-Rangers rivalry, Motherwell, Falkirk. Some fans there hate everything Celtic stand for and everything I stand for as an Irish Catholic playing for Celtic.”

Off the park things weren’t much better with McGeady regularly targeted by gobby hardmen delighted to see the person that they despised off duty.

He added: “I was getting fed up with Glasgow. I wanted to leave. Nothing against Celtic – it’s Glasgow.

“If you are not a footballer, it is a great city to live in. There are loads of things to do and the people are very friendly but as a footballer it can be a nightmare. When you are out everybody either wants to shake your hand and praise you or they want to have a go at you.

“If you have a bad result, then even going to the shops is difficult. You are hiding your face as you go past a group of people because they will shout at you. Moscow is bigger and maybe I can disappear into it a wee bit.”

Discussing the level of abuse that he took in Scotland McGeady added: “It begins in the warm-ups before games with all sorts of stuff being shouted at you, even from little kids.

“Fair enough, you can have a shout at somebody. Every footballer expects that, but some of the stuff you would not get away with it in any other walk of life but because you are a footballer you are expected to tolerate it.

“But if it happened in public, on a street, then nobody would be surprised if it developed into a fight. It is unbelievable what some people shout.”

The abuse never effected McGeady’s game- it had the opposite effect.

He admitted: “You enjoy going to those places because it makes it even better when you win.

“I am not afraid to make decisions. If I feel it is the right thing to do, then I will do it. It is that simple. And I will live with the consequences. I have lived with the Ireland thing for years. But I am happy with what I decided. Yes, it turned people against me. But I am not there to be anybody’s mate.”

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