"Neil Lennon (Celtic manager) said to me I might miss the adulation Celtic players get but I'm not so sure.

"My view is I need a break from it. I've had my experiences of Glasgow and I do need a change.

"There is always someone wanting to have a go at you. I got into a few fights in the past and wish I hadn't. I let my guard down a few times and it cost me.

"But some of the verbal abuse I had to take was really out of order. Because I'm a footballer, people think they are entitled to say what they like and get away with it.

"I'm talking about grown men here. They would shout, 'I hate you' or 'I'm gonna kill you, wee man'.

"There was also a lot worse but I'm not going to go into that."

McGeady claimed his decision to play for the Republic of Ireland rather than Scotland also made him a target for abuse from away supporters.

He told The Herald: "There are a lot of horrible places in Scotland for that type of thing: Tynecastle, Ibrox obviously is always going to be bad with the Celtic-Rangers rivalry, Motherwell, Falkirk.

"Some fans there hate everything Celtic stand for and everything I stand for as an Irish Catholic playing for Celtic.

"It begins in the warm-ups before games with all sorts of stuff being shouted at you, even from little kids."

Boy needs to toughen up. Said he is quitting scotland cos of the abuse or hatred he gets in daily life. What is that? Those russians won't make it any easy on him.