DAVID MARTINDALE has explained why he faced down angry Livingston supporters in the wake of the Lions’ latest result.
The boss and players came under fire during the 1-1 draw with Queen‘s Park on Saturday.
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And after the game Martindale was spotted in the stand calling out some negative comments he reckoned had ‘crossed a line’.
But he concedes it’s not just his own team’s supporters – it’s right across Scottish football and social media.
Former Hearts sporting director Joe Savage opened up on his own fan abuse hell at Tynecastle last week and Martindale says it has to stop.
He took it upon himself to state his case in response to the angry supporters who had slammed his team against the Spiders.
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Speaking to the West Lothian Courier he explained: “I genuinely wanted to speak to them to find out what they feel we should be doing, because we’ve lost one game, yet we get DOG’S ABUSE .
“There has been an element – an overhang from last season – who are constantly on the case of the players and myself.
“A group of fans that are waiting on a negative to jump on.
“It’s getting to a point where lines are being crossed on a weekly basis, on social media and in the stands.
“Something has to change in football, because I don’t buy into the narrative that ‘I pay my money, so I can abuse you’.
“I apologise to any fans if I’ve hurt their feelings, but I care for this club, and I think we can do more as a group – myself included – to help the players on the park.
“It’s not just Livingston, I think this is a problem in football. Social media is a cesspit, and it’s a minority that want to batter players.
“Why would you want to turn up to shout abuse at players and staff?”
Martindale also can’t understand the flak given his team is riding high in the Championship – second to high-flying Falkirk – and in prime position for a promotion push, either by winning the title or the play-offs, during the second half of the campaign.
He added: “We have no divine right to get anything from this league. We don’t have an entitlement to get back into the Premiership.
“This is a really tight league and this group of players have lost one game – you would think we were bottom of the league.”
His comments follow Hearts supremo Savage going public with his treatment by a section of Jambos supporters last week.
He said: “I had quite a few tough times. I suffered a lot of personal abuse, and I’m quite comfortable showing vulnerability. Getting called a fat c***, getting called a baldy b******, getting called an ugly b******, that’s not nice to hear, and I got that quite a lot, to be fair.
“So I’d say that was tough for me. I got a lot of abuse from the Hearts fans at times.”
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He almost confronted fans too – after passing a supporters bus when passengers volleyed insults at him following an away game in Dingwall.
He recalled: “We started walking out. Bang, bang, bang on the windows – ‘That’s f****** s****. F****** rubbish. Sack that manager.’
“I walk back to my car and I’m getting it. ‘Baldy b******’ this and that. I’m trying to ignore it.
“I get to my car door and I’m just about to get in. And there’s a wee Hearts minibus sitting and all I hear is, ‘Savage, you’re a f****** w*****!’
“So I’m like, am I, aye?
“I shut the door and then I was like, can I go on a bus? I open the door again. Then the other part of me goes, ‘no, I’m going on a bus’. So I shut the door again.
“And then I’m fighting with myself. I’m going, ‘I’m going on that busto say, ‘Who you talking to?’
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“But then I open the door again and get in the car.
“I was f****** raging.”
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