MARTIN SAMUEL: Manchester derby proved that players feel that they're the victims now

23 September 2009 11:44
What is absolutely plain in the fall-out from the Manchester derby is that the worm has turned. We traditionally think of the worm as the supporters, poor put-upon saps, bled dry by soaring ticket prices and costly merchandise, their wishes ignored by clubs increasingly out of touch with reality and the community. And, in many cases, this is true. In the present scenario, however, the players are the worm. Mad as hell and not going to take it any more, like the newscaster in the film Network. Craig Bellamy Flashpoint: City striker Craig Bellamy strikes a fan at the end of Sunday's Manchester derby Emmanuel Adebayor's celebration for Manchester City against Arsenal was the unlikely catalyst for a debate about the relationship and responsibilities of players and supporters, the conclusion in the dressing rooms being there is a limit to the abuse an athlete can reasonably expect to take. The line has increasingly been crossed in recent years. The Football Association would appear to agree. Gormless pitch invasions at the match between West Ham United and Millwall, the return of chants that border on racism, the unchecked hatred expelled whenever an opposition player goes to take a throw-in or corner. There is a tipping point, it has been reached and this is the result. Football's governors, and lazy law enforcers, have let it get this way and, as any bad behaviour that is not stopped is as good as encouraged, it won't be an easy road back. Gary Neville behaved like a fool after Manchester United's winner on Sunday, in taking his celebrations towards the Manchester City fans, who were largely too emotionally spent even to notice him. He is a senior figure, a club captain, and has already been punished once for incitement at Anfield. He was not playing on Sunday and had no reason to provoke, except history and plenty of it. Can you imagine how much he has put up with from City over the years? Graham Poll, the former referee, said he would imagine washing the abuse off in the shower after a game, but not everybody is capable of the philosophical approach. After what he has heard during his career, as the song goes, Neville probably does hate Scousers and City, in the same way Frank Lampard will hate West Ham and Sol Campbell will loathe Spurs. Given that relationship, anyone would. This does not make Neville's behaviour right (he was lucky not be punished), but there is context. No surprise that two footballers facing questions from police over inappropriate interaction with supporters at the weekend should be Craig Bellamy and El Hadji Diouf. When an idiot called Jake Joseph Clarke was apprehended invading the pitch after Michael Owen's winning goal for United, Bellamy told him to "F*** off" and received a response in kind. He then put a hand up to the man's face, pushing him away. It was wrong. He should not have got involved. Yet players are entitled to regard the pitch as home, and if police caught an intruder in your house and on the way out he swore aggressively, might you not react as Bellamy did? Never forget, too, that one of Bellamy's team-mates had been hit by a missile at half-time. The claim of City boss Mark Hughes that Bellamy acted in self- defence is laughable, but the game was hardly unfolding in an atmosphere of sweetness and light. Diouf, of Blackburn Rovers, is accused of calling an Everton ball boy a 'white boy', which is racial abuse, although the lad in question had just delivered the ball somewhere below the waistline at speed, so much will depend on whether the insult provoked the misplaced throw, or resulted from it. Trust has been lost. Players now think of every pitch invader as a potential assailant (the interloper at Old Trafford claimed he only wanted to hug his heroes, but how was anyone to know?) and are ready to rumble. Diouf did not consider the ball boy may have a lousy aim. Players presume aggression, because they see so much of it. Diouf also says Everton fans threw bananas, but there is no evidence as yet, and it may be a lame excuse. And where were the police when the fan got on the pitch at Old Trafford? Where were they at Upton Park after repeated pitch invasions? Goodison Park has a tradition of whinging about the behaviour of visiting players (remember when United were accused of over-zealously celebrating a late winner having thrown away a three-goal lead) but no great record of police catching those hurling missiles at the returning Wayne Rooney. It is easy to locate footballers, and the club will make sure they comply in a peaceful manner, but have police caught the fan who could have seriously injured City sub Javier Garrido with a coin? This is not to advocate or condone confrontation. Footballers have a duty to behave in a professional manner and certainly Neville and Bellamy did not do that. There is a wider issue here, though, which is that to every action there is a reaction and, after years of violent invective, this is what we are seeing now. The FA will attract accusations of weakness this morning, but the answer is more complex than disciplinary action. Taken against one side, it would only have increased the feelings of injustice among players. In short, everybody needs to wind their necks in; or as they say on Merseyside, calm down, calm down.

Source: Daily_Mail