'Poor' - Tam McManus slams Rangers fans for treatment of 'Excellent' ace

Rangers fans abuse of Vaclav Cerny which led the winger to deactivate his Instagram account is “poor”, says Tam McManus.

Speaking on PLZ Soccer on 7 October the former Hibs forward criticised Light Blues supporters for going over the line against the Wolfsburg loanee after a pair of bad misses in the Europa League.

But he admitted Cerny hasn’t played well of late, following a good-looking start for the club, until his match-winning double in the 2-0 victory over St. Johnstone on Sunday (6 October).

McManus said (28m 10s): “He’s had a tough week, I think he already deactivated his Instagram as well, so he’s obviously been getting abuse from supporters, some of his own supporters as well which is poor.

“But that’s the culture and the world we live in today that any athletes are fair game, you can get to them, you can tag them in things and people read stuff, so it’s hard to get away from it unless you come off it altogether, and a lot of players want to be on there for themselves.

“The two goals were excellent. At the start of the season I thought he looked a real player for Rangers. I think he’s been poor the last few weeks, culminating in missing two great opportunities, one against Malmo away from home and the one the other night.

“So for him to come in and score two goals will give him a lot of confidence. He looks like a confidence player, that’s going to give him a massive lift.”

Rangers loanee bounces back from Malmo and Lyon misses

Criticism of performances is part and parcel of being a footballer but targeted or personal abuse is very different.

Cerny’s recent performances on the pitch have been a long way short of what he suggested he was capable of after his arrival from Wolfsburg, and his place looked like it had to be under threat when he followed up an “horrific” miss in the 2-0 Malmo win [CBS Sports, 26 September] to fire over an open goal in the 4-1 loss to Lyon.

But Philippe Clement has shown loyalty to a fault with some of his players despite a lack of return on the pitch, as James Tavernier has started every match this season despite being targeted himself, and the Belgian was repaid by Cerny with two vital goals back in the Scottish Premiership, with the opener of particularly high quality.

The 26-year-old spoke to the media after the game on 7 October and demonstrated he knew as well as anyone that his recent performances were an issue in a strikingly honest press conference in which he admitted it had been “tough” on social media.

Taking an admirable amount of responsibility for the situation he showed a reminder that players have lives outside the game to worry about too which fans will react well to.

He shouldn’t have to do that to avoid criticism going over the line, even where frustrations are inevitable, but the on-pitch response vs St. Johnstone was an ideal step in the right direction all round.

In other Rangers news, Clement has been praised for his reaction to the “indefensible” at Ibrox.

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