My wife phoned me in great distress yesterday. Our land line had a text message on it which simply said "F******* Disgraceful". She assumed that it was someone leaving a nasty message as a result of events earlier in the week at Hendon Town hall. I said "Don't worry about these gutless people who don't leave their number, they are cowardly creeps". She said "Oh, they left their number on the message". I asked her for it. I'm not prepared to have people leaving threatening messages which my kids could hear and if they are stupid enough to leave there number, sanctions can be taken. When she gave it to me, I realised I recognised the number. I did a quick scan (a very quick scan) at my mobile contacts. The very first entry matched. My friend Aaron. The penny dropped, he's an Arsenal fan. I'm a Manchester City fan. I knew we'd just beaten them 4-2, but I wasn't aware of what the fuss was. I was at work and couldn't check. Later on I saw the highlights on match of the day. Adeybayor scored a great goal and was man of the match. He played a terrific game of football. That was the good. Then there was the bad. When he scored, he sprinted the length of the pitch to celebrate in front of the Arsenal fans. he got booked. It was stupid, but I do understand the concept of the rush of blood to the head. A yellow card seemed to me to be enough. Then there was the ugly. Adeybayor raked Van Persie's face with his studs.
I can't excuse that, even though Van Persie had tried to break his leg in the tackle. I think both of them should have been sent off. I was also rather disgusted by Van Persie's comments on his website. He made no reference to the lunge he'd made at Adeybayor. Their is clearly bad blood, but neither player covered themselves with glory. If Adeybayor gets a ban, he deserves it.
My friend Aaron later rang up and apologised. He'd meant to text my mobile and was rather upset that my wife got the message. We all make mistakes. I just hope that Adeybayor learns from his and improves his behaviour. The most expensive of players is no use if he's banned. Let your skill do the talking.
Unfortunately, football is just a business these days and the conduct of many players leaves a lot to be desired. The more successful their team, the greater their value in the transfer market, which leads to ever increasing “dirty tricks” to unsettle the opposition.
ReplyDeleteI went to my first game at Highbury in 1970 - a 4-0 win against Everton - and have been a season ticket holder since 1980. My first season ticket cost just under £100. This year it was £2,000, which is a serious amount of money. It was worth it to see players like Thierry Henry and Dennis Bergkamp grace the pitch, but there are far too many prima donnas in the game these days who think nothing of diving, pulling shirts and basically cheating.
Adebayor’s behaviour was disgraceful, but so was Eduardo’s against Celtic a couple of weeks ago. It does seem that there is a general decline in ethical behaviour in all walks of life these days.