I have always maintained that if you give it you have to take it as well. Some of the players from generations back were genuinely 'hard men.' But in all fairness most of them knew they would be getting it back - with interest. Big Dave McKay, Ron Harris, Billy Bremner etc.
But it was the cowardly bastards like the Ginger Pig (Scholes) who was good at dishing out a few ankle-breakers, but didn't want to know when others wanted to retaliate. A real bastard coward, away from the protection of Gill, the Pisscan, the media and all the plastics that hero worshipped the dwarf, he was gutless.
The same as Ratboy: another snide coward with a lot say and do when surrounded by friends and colleagues, not so much when he's on his own.