It’s always amazed me how the world of football is like a weird dystopia paradox where grown adults act like kids who have had a bag of sweets taken off them.
The advent of social media has only added to the nonsense with anonymous accounts able to direct vitriol at players with almost complete immunity.
John Souttar is going to be in for a tough ride the next time he pulls on a maroon shirt, he’s done nothing wrong, broken no rules and yet, for some reason, Hearts fans seem to think he has betrayed them.
Just because Hearts treated him when he was injured – they didn’t stand by him, he hadn’t done anything wrong – it doesn’t mean that he owes them anything, far from it, three times he grafted to get through rehabilitation following major surgery to get back into the first-team.
He isn’t a snake or a rat.
Lazy comparisons to the treatment that Steven Gerrard got from Rangers fans isn’t relevant either, the former manager was very vocal about how happy he was at the club just a fortnight before he left, Souttar has never made such claims, Gerrard also left with his entire entourage just days before a cup semi-final.
If Souttar downs tools over the next few months then I could understand if he got pelters, however, if he continues at his current levels until the end of the season then he should be given the respect and send off that he deserves, not the one he is currently getting.