Young Celtic fans certainly aren’t brought up hate like young Ibrox fans, that’s why the cycle will never be broken

The hatred you see pouring from the stands at Ibrox is generational hatred, passed down from father to son.

In a modern, more progressive society, you would expect it to dilute somewhat.

But when you place young Ibrox fans in the stands with their fathers, it’s very much a case of monkey see, monkey do.

It’s why the cycle of hatred will never be broken at Ibrox.

Young Celtic fans, on the other hand, are not taught to hate.

Well, in the majority of cases at Celtic, hatred is not the default position.

At Ibrox, they are angry at everyone, and anyone.

But at the moment, none more so than their own manager, Russell Martin.

The level of vitriol aimed at the current manager epitomises exactly the kind of institution the Ibrox club is.

No matter how bad things are in any footballing organisation, it is important to remember it is just a game at the end of the day.

It isn’t life and death.

Nor should it ever be a vehicle for white hot hatred.

Yet unfortunately, in many cases it is.

Ibrox, however, is special in this regard.

Because hatred, along with anger, is the default position of their fanbase.

They must always have someone, or something to vent their hatred on.

Eventually, the heat will be removed from Russell Martin.

Either when he starts to get things together, or when he leaves Ibrox.

One thing is for sure though, you have to admire this man’s resilience.

Whether it’s down to sheer pigheaded stubbornness to prove the Ibrox fanbase wrong, or an immense self belief, or both, it’s hard to know.

But one thing is for certain, Russell Martin does not deserve the level of hatred being aimed at him by the Ibrox fanbase at the moment.

Nobody in the game of football deserves it.

And there is no doubting that he’s feeling it.

If he wasn’t, he wouldn’t have vocalised it in his media conference before tonight’s Europa League game in Austria.

Even though he did, he was still very diplomatic in the way he spoke about.

I must admit, I admire that in Russell Martin, even though I do not admire the institution he works for.

Having said that, I cannot help but feel sorry for him when I see and hear what the Ibrox fans are subjecting him to.

As I said, nobody deserves that.

Here is some of what he had to say about the aftermath of their win at Livingston on Sunday at yesterday’s media conference as reported by BBC Scotland:

I want the players to enjoy it and people choose to turn their attention to me, Martin said. I just wish at that point they could enjoy their team winning and the lads could enjoy it rather than have that energy towards me.

The other thing I find sad is when I see kids standing next to their dads and stuff and sticking their fingers up at me and swearing at me. I don’t feel particularly sad about it for me I just feel like that for the cycle [of abuse] to go on.

Martin added social media “amplifies” the “ferocity” of criticism in football, and vowed to continue to try to turn things around. I’m here, we’ve made mistakes, he said.

There’s been some tough moments, but we’re giving everything we’ve got to improve the club, as is Kevin [Thelwell], as is Patrick [Stewart], as are the owners. And I think when you have so much change, I’ve said it before, it’s not an excuse, but I think it is pretty evident it might take some time. So the criticism aimed at me is fine.

I had a lot of fans come up to me in the city and around the place saying actually to ignore it, that they feel it’s gone quite some way over the normal criticism. I’ve appreciated that.

A few years ago, Celtic got off to a pretty poor start under Ange Postecoglou.

The media were very quick to write Postecoglou off, stating Celtic would be lucky to finish in the top five.

Who can forget Hugh Keevins’ “Absolutely Not Good Enough” article?

And what about Kris Boyd’s ridiculous criticism of the Australian manager?

Yet the Celtic fanbase, young and old, did not turn on Ange Postecoglou.

There was no hatred or vitriol directed at him because Celtic fans knew it was a process.

We knew it would take time.

The media tried to fuel the destruction of Ange Postecoglou, but the Celtic fans were wise to that, and did not fall for it.

The incessant campaign against Russell Martin by the SMSM at the moment is merciless.

And the target audience of the SMSM falls for it, hook, line, and sinker.

The media are as complicit in this as the Ibrox fanbase is.

With Barry Ferguson influencing all of his mates at the Record, Russell Martin never had a chance.

Anybody who believes Ferguson is totally innocent in all of this, is extremely naive.

The media has ramped up the hatred of Russell Martin.

Quite often they feign faux outrage at his treatment, while immediately contradicting themselves further on in the articles they write about him.

Even when things were at their worst at Celtic under Neil Lennon, Celtic fans did not vent the level of hatred Ibrox fans aim at Russell Martin.

No, the Celtic fans saved that for the board because they blamed them for hiring Lennon.

Hence the reason Neil Lennon is still welcome at Celtic Park.

I somehow doubt that when Russell Martin leaves his post at Ibrox, whether it’s a success or not, he’d want to return to Ibrox after the treatment he’s received at the hands of that fanbase.

It’s bad when the kids in the stands are shouting abuse at you and giving you the finger.

You see, there’s a reason the Celtic fans have managed to bring the board to the negotiating table at Celtic Park.

It’s because our protests were not based on hatred.

They were based on the need for change at our club.

We would never try to achieve that through a campaign of utter hatred.

Yet that is the way they try to force change at Ibrox.

The funny thing about it is that it might have worked in the past over there.

But things are different now.

The Americans are not going to bow to this pressure.

They are giving Russell Martin a chance.

Which is more than can be said for the hate merchants in the stands.

Young or old.