For most clubs, booing is just fans getting frustrated, and in small sections they are relatively harmless. Unfortunately if you happen to be sitting next to one or a few, it can be pretty frustrating.

My main concern with this type of booing or verbal abuse is that it is non-productive and if you happen to shout abuse back, they more often than not shut up.

Booing is almost always aimed at certain players, but managers and chairman have their days, too. On certain occasions it brings on confrontations with fans ‘supporting the team’, and those who feel they should be getting better value for money, be better entertained or just be grumpy because they only have a few hours away from the wife. We all want the best for the club, so why not voice your support positively?

'I still get emotional and passionate - but enough about the love life'


When larger sections start booing, it becomes a major problem, particularly after your team leak a goal. It is an unwritten rule that supporters rise to the challenge and cheer on the team to get a goal back or on top of the game, especially away from home.

I find booing concerning, as at 1-0 down a team are never out of it, at 2-0 down and looking lost, it’s giving the opposing team a massive boost, and if a certain player is being given stick then the manager may be forced into taking him off. Once a club reaches this stage, tension will always be bubbling under the surface.

If a team go on a poor run without a win, it will usually results in demonstrations, walk-outs, sackings, or my pet hate - public slanging matches between clubs and supporters.

I’ve seen comics and singers heckled and they’ve politely heckled back and told them where to go. A player, manager or chairman can’t do this. Gordon Strachan shouted back back at a steward at Pittodrie who was shouting abuse at him and was removed by police.

After reading Andy McLaren’s book Tormented, I sadly read of his son bearing witness to abuse aimed at his father. Steven Pressley's son also suffered abuse when his father moved to Celtic from Hearts.

My boo-boy career ended when I heard a fellow supporter shout abuse at a 16-year-old lad who was drafted into the team. That was in 1992, and I swore I’d never lower myself to that standard ever. I still get emotional and passionate -  but enough about the love life.