Ryan Stevenson in furious James Hill blast as Hearts star told 'pull on your big boy pants' after fan spat

Hearts fans have followed their side the length and breadth of Europe this season and sold out away ends across Scotland.

Again on Saturday 1800 Jambos took every ticket going to travel up to Pittodrie despite a dip in form that culminated in them being dumped out the Scottish Cup by Celtic a week earlier. So for any player to have the temerity to go and argue with those diehards after another shocker of a display and 3-0 defeat is horrendous. Just completely wrong.

James Hill will hopefully look back at his actions on Saturday and learn a valuable lesson. I’m sure some of the experienced heads in the dressing room would have got a hold of him and told him in no uncertain terms. After losing a 3-0, where it’s game over before half an hour has even gone and when you’ve been culpable for a goal yourself then you have no option.

You have to pull on your big boy pants, take your medicine and go and clap the fans NOT have a go at them. It’s a message I tell my young players at Glenafton when they get a bit from our fans - take it, suck it up and go and show them next week. That’s in the sixth tier of the game. At Hearts’ level it’s an absolute non-negotiable.

They want to close the gap on the Old Firm, they want to be in Europe every year and winning domestic cups. There are absolutely no excuses for a performance like that. Listen, players will be frustrated. I’ve been there many a time. And there can be times when fans overstep the line.

But if you’re 3-0 down after 28 minutes to one of your main rivals then you cannot go over to your fans and say they are in the wrong. Hill is on loan from Bournemouth. Maybe he thinks he’ll just go back down the road in a couple of months and doesn’t particularly care - I certainly hope