David Martindale wants an end to ‘entitled’ fans being abusive at football games

Livingston manager David Martindale believes some football supporters have become so “entitled” that they believe they can behave any way they want inside a stadium after his club were at the centre of the latest flashpoint to hit Scottish football on Thursday night.

Less than a week after Aberdeen player Jack MacKenzie was hit by a seat thrown by a supporter following last weekend’s match at Dundee United, a Livi fan was accused of spitting on Ross County assistant boss Carl Tremarco at the end of the 1-1 draw between the sides in the first leg of the Premiership play-off final.

Police Scotland are investigating the incident, and Martindale feels the unruly behaviour in the stands stems from a culture that allows verbal abuse to be aimed at those on the pitch or in the technical areas without recriminations.

“I have been feeling football has been getting out of hand the last two or three years,” said the Lions boss. “This old analogy, ‘I’ll pay my money and I can shout what I want’, I feel there’s an entitlement with certain parts of fanbases that they feel they can come and shout abuse.

“This (spitting incident) is just probably a build-up of that kind of attitude. ‘I can come to a football game, I pay my money and I can do what I want’. I don’t agree with it. I think it’s the only sport in the world that you can come and abuse players.”

Martindale believes that until there is a genuine effort to push back on vitriol from supporters, there will always be some who feel empowered to push the boundaries even further.

“In the relegation year we went through, my wife and daughter couldn’t even go and sit in the stand,” he said, referring to abuse from supporters. “Yes, we were going through a tough time but does that give people the right to come and abuse you at games of football?

“I think that’s the start of it. If you’re abusing people at games of football, shouting abuse at them, I think then it lays the foundations for other things to happen, bottles to be thrown, fans confronting players.

“I just feel it’s grown because I don’t think we’re dealing with the problem in the stand. Is it really okay to pay money and come and shout abuse at people? I genuinely don’t get it.

“Let’s be honest, 70, 80, 90 per cent of the fans generally behave themselves, so it’s a minority element that push the boundaries. But it all comes from us accepting fans coming in and abusing people.

“And whether that abuse is verbal, physical, emotional, it doesn’t really matter, does it? It shouldn’t be allowed anywhere near football in any form.

“It’s not alright to just sit and abuse people. Society’s not okay with that. We’ve got to start setting the line in the sand about what’s acceptable and what’s not. And, for me, that comes straight away from abuse because that’s where it all starts from. You get away with abusing somebody and then you take it a step further.”

A Police Scotland spokesperson said: “We are aware of an incident at the Livingston vs Ross County fixture on Thursday. Enquiries are ongoing to establish the full circumstances and we are liaising with both clubs.”