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Nacho Novo was taken to hospital on Saturday with chest pains.

Initial reports suggested he had suffered a heart attack, prompting football fans to tweet their best wishes on Twitter.

A small minority, however, took the opportunity to score a few retweets and some fleeting notoriety by tweeting jokes or abuse. Here’s a flavour:

“Hope you die in your sleep Nacho Novo”

“Light a candle and pray the b*stard doesn’t make it”

“A hope ye die”

You’re either the sort of person who would even consider typing out that kind of sentence or you’re not.

‘But he said something horrible first’ is an entirely legitimate argument, assuming you’re 4 and this is a dispute about sandcastles.

I’ve spent the last few years taking the p*ss out of footballers online, Novo included.

There’s not a single one, however, who I would wish illness on. I’ve written about my opposition to Malky Mackay’s involvement with the SFA on the basis of racist, sexist, homophobic and anti-semitic text messages. I wouldn’t wish illness on him either. Novo has a family. Mackay has a family. They all have families.

That’s not ‘virtue-signalling’ or whatever term internet widos are bandying about this week. That’s just the standard thought process of an actual adult.

(Image: SNS Group)

It’s why the likes of Chris Sutton and John Hartson, men who went toe-to-toe with Novo in fiery derby confrontations and no doubt exchanged numerous insults with him, tweeted genuine concern and well wishes upon hearing the news on Sunday. If genuine legends of your club can find it within themselves to put aside rivalry for a few seconds, what does that say about you and your half-witted insults?

‘Aye, but he’s a wee w**k and he called Celtic fans x, y, z’ is one excuse I’ve seen. No-one’s defending anything Nacho Novo’s said or done in his career. No-one’s asking you to like him. No-one’s even asking you to wish him well. Just try not to be a d**k. Seriously.

Some Celtic fans have got their dig in with the disclaimer that ‘They were singing about the Lisbon Lions the other week so they can’t complain’. If your automatic response to hearing that a footballer you dislike has had a heart attack is to say something cretinous then attempt to justify it by highlighting an example of your rivals saying something cretinous, you are a cast-iron cretin. Not misguided. Not slightly wide of the mark. A cretin. A simpleton.

Those Rangers ‘fans’ who sang “Lisbon Lions won’t see 10-in-a-row”? They’re scumbags. You’re entitled to be offended by that, to hate them for it, to pity them even. It’s not edgy banter. It’s utterly appalling. Your outrage isn’t ‘typical snowflakes offended by everything’. It’s an appropriate response to disgusting behaviour.

Be the bigger person though. People like that want you to respond with similarly abhorrent abuse. They want to drag you down into their cesspit of hatred and sadness. You immediately forfeit the moral high ground the minute you use their lack of moral fibre to excuse your own. Be better than that.

I’ve said time and again that the most tiresome aspect of Scottish football, and of Celtic and Rangers rivalry in particular, is ‘whataboutery’. The term refers to morons attempting to excuse moronic behaviour by pointing out other examples of moronic behaviour. In response to the bizarre efforts of some Falkirk fans last week to excuse fake eyes being thrown at a footballer with one eye, @Microchi brilliantly illustrated the ridiculousness of whataboutery:

Judge: “Did you kill that man?"

Criminal: “Ah yes, but have you heard about Hitler?"

Jury: "Good point, innocent of all charges"

For the avoidance of doubt:

Revelling in a rival footballer’s heart attack is pathetic.

Mocking the health of elderly former footballers is pathetic.

Racially abusing a Celtic player is pathetic.

Racially abusing a Rangers player is pathetic.

Joking about a disabled child is pathetic.

Throwing fake eyes at a footballer with one eye is pathetic.

Tweeting abusive messages to a footballer about his family is pathetic.

Singing a song in which you call a footballer a “f**king refugee” is pathetic.

I’m sure social media’s finest point-missers will be quick to highlight any examples I’ve missed out.

It comes down to this. If you indulge in d**kish behaviour, it’s not because someone else was a d**k before you. And your d**kishness is not excused by that person’s d**kery either. It’s because you’re a d**k.

Best wishes to Nacho Novo and his family.