Former Aberdeen fullback Shay Logan has revealed that he never wanted Aleksandar Tonev to lose his career after the Bulgarian was found guilty of racially abusing him back in September 2014.
‘Don’t touch me you black c***’ was the racial insult that Logan has always claimed was hurled at him from Tonev.
It took an SFA Judicial Panel Disciplinary Tribunal and one Appellate Tribunal – the latter chaired by an extremely senior legal figure – and three months to reach a verdict on Tonev’s guilt.
The lengthy ‘Written Reasons’ which were released on the recommendation of the appeal body covered every angle of the incident in microscopic detail, with Logan’s testimony held as credible.
The fall-out from the incident, however, meant that Logan was always subject to jeers whenever Aberdeen subsequently played Celtic.
“It’s just the fact that they didn’t know what happened,” said Logan of the Celtic support who opted to view the incident through a tribal prism of team colours rather than from a distance.
“They’re supporting their team. On the flip side of that, I understood it, and I didn’t really care.
“Anybody who knows me knows it never affected me. It should never have happened, but they only saw what was in the newspapers and on the news. They didn’t see what happened in court or know the actual facts of the case.
“I’ve actually never spoken about it publicly until now.
This is the first interview I’ve done. People have asked me so many times, and I’ve just not really bothered about it. I didn’t want to bring it back up, but it is what it is.
“If anyone asks me, I’ll talk about it. I’ve spoken about it to a lot of people, including Celtic fans I’ve worked with. They’ve asked me what happened, and when I tell them, they’re like, “Wow.” You know what I mean? Because they didn’t know how it went down.”
“What is the proper action? At the end of the day, I think the player got banned for seven games. For me, I don’t care if you ban him, fine him, or sack him. It’s irrelevant to me. At the end of the day, if somebody wants to make that sort of remark, they have to be held accountable. But what does “held accountable” mean?
“How many games is good enough? Is it seven games? Is it ten? Is it three? Is it a whole season? Who knows how many games it should be? I think the panel just comes to a decision. At the end of the day, he got banned for seven games.
“I was happy with whatever happened. You know what I mean? But I’ve got a side to me as well, where I don’t want someone to lose their career over something they said to me. It didn’t affect me.
“I would feel bad if they lost their career because of a spur-of-the-moment thing that they said. So I don’t know. It’s something I don’t think will ever be resolved in terms of what the actual punishment should be.
“Racism is racism. If someone says something to one person or says it to 20 people, do you give them less of a ban or more of a ban? It’s a difficult thing. I’m glad I don’t have to deal with that.
“You can apologise, and yeah, I’ll take it. I never held a grudge against him. I never came across him again, but you can apologise. At the end of the day, you said what you said at the time, and it’s like, “Right, you’ve had your say. Let’s move on.”
Celtic defended Tonev – and issued a public denial that the player had racially abused Logan.
Scott Brown also publicly said that the Celtic dressing room were firmly behind Tonev. Yet Logan has revealed that privately he received an apology from the Parkhead side.
“I got an apology from Celtic as a club,” he said. “But at the end of the day, it happened. It is what it is. You can’t do much now.
“It’ll happen again to somebody else. It’ll happen this season, I can guarantee that. It’s just that the person saying it has a choice, and it’s their choice to say what they want at that particular moment.
“The damning thing is, as a Black player or a player of ethnicity, when someone’s angry at you, the first thing they think about is to say something about your colour. I just don’t get it.
I never look at anybody, regardless of their colour, and think, “I’m going to say this to you.” I always think if I’m going to insult someone, it doesn’t have to be about their skin colour.
“But some people are quick like that—boom—and it’s the first thing that comes out of their mouth. Whether they’re racist or grew up like that, at that particular time, they’ve just become a racist.
“It’s a choice people make, and they have to deal with it. Hopefully, the player learned from it and never went on to say anything else like that. At the end of the day, I don’t hate him. I’ve never hated anybody. I just hope he learned from the experience.”
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