JAMES McFadden, the Motherwell assistant manager, has branded Aberdeen supporters’ treatment of Mark McGhee as a “disgrace” following abuse dished out to him on Wednesday night.
McFadden blasted the fans who berated the former Dons icon as he was sent to the stand during Motherwell’s 7-2 Pittodrie thrashing.
Throughout the game the Motherwell manager was subjected to shouts from the crowd, before confronting a supporter who filmed his dismissal on a camera phone midway through the second half.
Many Aberdeen fans clearly still feel aggrieved at the 59-year-old’s poor spell in charge of the club. However, his No 2 at Motherwell, McFadden, was taken aback by the vitriol which spewed towards McGhee, who is still the north-east club’s ninth-top all-time goalscorer.
“He should absolutely demand more respect from the fans up there,” said McFadden. “What people have seen is the aftermath of a decision, one which we couldn’t understand why it was made.
“As a result, the manager was, quite rightly, upset. Their fans had been on his case the whole game and, when you consider how much he did for them as a player, it’s a disgrace that he’s treated the way he is by them.
“He’ll go down as one of the best ever to have played for them and part of the greatest team they ever had.
“To hear the abuse from them during the game was bad enough but what ensued after his sending-off was ridiculous.
“I’d known that his relationship with the supporters wasn’t as good as it had been after his time as manager up there but we have players from the 1991 Scottish Cup-winning team who are treated as heroes when they come back [to Motherwell]. That’s the way it should be, because they’ve done a great service to this club – our fans still worship the ground they walk on.
“You always hear about the glory days of Aberdeen but it seems to me that their fans have forgotten exactly what he did for them.
“I would love to have been part of a team that had won titles and cups and a European trophy – as it is, I had a season-and-a-half in the first team and our fans were excellent any time I came back. So I can’t believe the way the Aberdeen support treated him and I think the sheer extent of [the abuse] left the manager in a state of disbelief as well. If you didn’t know that he had played for them you would assume that he had played for their biggest rivals – that’s how far I would go.
“You would not have known he is one of the top scorers in their history and played for their best team ever.”
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