Glentoran manager Mick McDermott has revealed what he told Aaron McCarey in a frank telephone exchange following the goalkeeper's controversial red card back in October.
McCarey served a five match ban for lashing out at teammate Bobby Burns during a Premiership game against Coleraine back in October.
The 30-year-old also faced a public backlash, while the controversial incident was shared throughout social media with BBC Match of the Day presenter Gary Lineker tweeting about it.
Two of McCarey's banned games were for bringing the game into disrepute, while he faced disciplinary action within Glentoran.
Glens boss McDermott also came under fire for his handing of the incident, with much of the fallout dealt with in-house at the Oval and away from the public glare.
Speaking on Belfast Live's That's What I Call Football podcast, McDermott said: "Aaron took a lot of stick. I knew he would because I have been in those situations before a few times.
"I have been there when I worked overseas, where you think the world is collapsing around you. You feel you're in the swimming pool and your head keeps going under.
"You have to keep going and fighting.
"I knew what he would have been going through that night. I saw what happened and knew what happened, and I was criticised for the comments I made immediately after.
"People said I didn't show any concern for Bobby Buns, but I had seen Bobby in the dressing room and spoken to him."
McDermott also revealed he called McCarey in the hours following the match to reassure the goalkeeper.
He added: "To give you an idea, and I haven't told anyone this. I knew Aaron McCarey would be sitting in the dark back home, because you can imagine what he's going through.
"He had just driven home to Monaghan and he was probably getting missed calls from everyone.
"I called him late at night and said, "Big man, how are you?'. He said he wasn't doing great. And I said, 'Big man, you know what's happening to you? You're not getting sacked, I am telling you that now. End of story'.
"I told Aaron we would deal with this and move forward like men, and that's it.
"So all these calls for him to be sacked, and he was going to be hung out to dry and be crucified. Here, we've all made mistakes.
"And I didn't want a man sitting in the dark by himself, seeing ghosts all round him. That's the worst place to be, for any of us.
"So I thought it was important to reach out quickly, and he probably won't appreciate me telling you. But these are men, these are people. They aren't just footballers who make a living and get crucified on social media.
"You have to take care of the people first. Thankfully Aaron respected our decision. There were consequences to his actions that night, no doubt about it. And he paid a price for it.
"But he is a great player and great with the group. He doesn't mess around and he has shown some leadership in recent weeks that people haven't seen behind the scenes.
"And he has been superb."
