Barry Ferguson: Rangers ace Todd Cantwell correct ‘not to bite back’ after incident
Todd Cantwell was correct for “not taking the bait” when a Celtic fan heckled him for Rangers’ Old Firm loss at Glasgow Airport, according to Barry Ferguson.
Writing for the Daily Record (8 September), Ferguson slammed “fans of all clubs” who think it acceptable to follow players and families to “noise them up”, in reference to Cantwell’s incident.
The former Rangers man referred to an incident at Glasgow Airport, where Cantwell was mocked by a Hoops fan, who, as reported by The Sun (5 September), asked: “Did you enjoy that game yesterday?”
Ferguson said: “Talking of fans, and I mean fans of all clubs, I can’t get my head around why some think it’s okay to follow players and their families around, trying to noise them up, then posting on social media.
“It happened to Todd Cantwell at the airport this week. It happened to Jota last year and it has happened to me plenty of times in the past. It’s not right and it is so difficult not to bite back, but fair play to Cantwell for not taking the bait the other day, because it would have only made matters worse.
“I can’t say I always managed to turn the other cheek but it’s sad that people think it’s okay to behave like that to get a few ‘likes’ on Twitter. I don’t mind admitting I’m pretty old school in that I don’t do social media, but if players of this generation want to get involved, that’s fine.”
Fan reaction
Often, it can feel like there’s a barrier between the football player and the football fan. From the terraces, they’re not people in the same way as the people to your left and right.
In reality, of course, that’s nonsense, but fans can be so emotionally invested in the team they support and the hate of the opposition, that fundamental empathy can go out the window.
Most fans can separate the football from the footballer and let their initial anger after a loss or poor performance slowly dwindle into acceptance and, eventually, forget about it altogether.
While the Celtic fan who bothered Cantwell wasn’t posing a physical threat and was mostly trying to point-score against the Rangers man after the team’s poor Old Firm performance, it is still not something the 25-year-old should have to deal with.
The fans in question do not expect a reaction from the player because, as Ferguson makes clear, “it would have only made matters worse.”
Unfortunately for football players, this is part and parcel of the job, but the onus is on fans to see the error of their ways.
In other Rangers news, Ben Foster was correct in his assessment of this new Gers signing.