My take on the McCarthy situation:
He is bringing the whole Old Firm/Celtic-Rangers-minded/tit-for-tat bigotted nonsense into a place where it has no business being: a Well-Accies match. We want to go along and support our team playing football against our local rivals for 90 minutes. It's a place where for 90 mins we should be able to escape from the Old Firm stupidity that pervades Scottish football. However, James McCarthy carries the Old Firm stupidity everywhere he goes, due to his highly-publicised decision to choose Ireland over Scotland. I don't know whether the high level of publicity surrounding it is his fault, but it is pretty much his number one defining characteristic in the eyes of most fans. I think that's the real reason why he is hated. Not because we are anti-Irish or any other kind of bigots, but because we hate the Old Firm, and to a certain extent he's bringing their unwelcome influence into our own local derby.
