Fickle Finger of Blame

Saturday Afternoon, Middle Eastlands Stadium in Manchester and Emmanuel Adebayor rises above a sparse Arsenal defence and nods in the clinching third goal of an enthralling back and forth encounter which adds substance to the blue half of Manchester's claim that they are Champions League bound....discuss!

Except that we're not discussing it are we, the pulsating match that took place, Adebayors own performance, City's display of pacy counter-attacking football and an electric atmosphere have all been over shadowed by Adebayors apparent revenge mission against Arsenal.

I feel sorry for Robin Van Persie, the Manchester City FC stewards (who deserve most if not all the credit here!), City fans and Mark Hughes who were all afftected directly by Adebayors pathetic attempts at retribution against, in his own mind at least, the Evil Empire of Arsenal.

Now please note here that i've not mentioned the Arsenal fans, as the question i'm now asking is who are the real culprits in this over-zealous game of one upmanships between fans and players?

Adebayor will undoubtedly be punished for his mindless, Usain Bolt like 90- yard dash to the Arsenal fans with the sole purpose of winding them up. The excuse that he was caught up in the moment loses credence when you consider the length of time that it actually took him to get down the other end, he knew exactly what he was doing......I think a better defence would be to say he was paying homage to Forrest Gump but didn't know where the Eastlands tunnel was in order to run down it!?

However lets take a small moment to imagine what was running through Adebayors head at the time, and it muddies the water of damnation just a little!

Even whilst he was playing for Arsenal, Adebayor was being booed by his own fans and abused by those who are supposed to be his supporters all because he had the sheer audacity to speak to another football team who had enquired about his services. I mean how dare he?? He's playing for Arsenal, why would he ever want to speak (with Arsenals permission) to the multiple time European Champions who have some of the worlds greatest players at their disposal, are one of the oldest and most respected on footbal clubs and who play in one of the Cathedrals of our beloved game?? He must be mad right??

So for this "indescretion" he his vilified by his own culminating in a move to Manchester City, which of course is proof that he was just after a big pay-day all along. But us fans are too dignified to move to another company that patys us more right.....WRONG!

Adebayor aside, players have to put up with the most ridiculous fan expectations, demands and sickening abuse that would result in arrest if it was done on the street. I've heard people say that Adebayor "shamed football" on Saturday, but what shamed me was the horrible chant labelling Adebayors family as slaves and prostitutes. So answer me this honestly, if someone came up to you in a pub on a Saturday night and said "here mate, your dads a no good car washer and your mums a dirty ass stripper" what would you do?? My bet would be a lot worse than Adebayor did!

It gauls me that after an entire match worth of goading and poking Adebayor with a stick, Arsenal fans then have the front to demand Adebayor be suspended for baiting them back! Now I do feel sorry, as I said, for the innocent Arsenal fans who don't get involved in the more sickening chants as they didn't deserved to get squashed by their cohorts but it doesn't excuse the level of abuse that now plagues our game.

In the last 4yrs of being a United season ticket holder, i've heard the following;

1) The Adebayor song that was sung by Arsenal fans on Saturday
2) Hissing noises being made by Uniteds fans, at the Tottenham fans.....and if anyone doesn't know the significance of this then believe me your better off not knowing!!
3) Stretford enders striking up a chorus of "Your wifes a Geordie ****" in the direction of Ashley Cole
4) The now infamous song relating a then crippled Eduardo, to the equally disliked figure of Heather Mills

Now you might say anyone taking this to heart needs to grow up a bit, and god knows that most of these players are paid enough that it more than makes up for the grief they get from opposition fans.....however I do feel that as football fans we need to take a long hard look at ourselves and admit that we have as much a part to play in on the pitch behaviour as the players have in off the field behaviour.

Think about the most annoying 10 customers you have at work, now imagine that those customers are allowed to sit next to you all day, once or twice a week, and sing derogatory songs about your lifestyle, your family, your performance etc etc etc.

Now imagine you do something such as flip the bird to that same group of annoying customers, and not only are you suspended for it but you have hacks from all the papers camped on your door step harrassing your family for the next few days because of it.....are you telling me you wouldn't feel the slightest bit agrieved by it all???

I know lifes not as simple as that, football is a passionate sport and we're all guilty of over stepping the mark here and there, what I'm saying is simply that if we're capable of over stepping that mark on the terraces then surely we cannot be so quick to condemn others for doing so on the pitch.