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The booing of Joleon Lescott at Wembley on Saturday shows ordinary fans have had enough of hypocritical footballers
Given that England's friendly on Saturday was so dull most of us, in retrospect, would have (tactically) submitted to shopping with the missus rather than watch it, you could be forgiven for thinking nothing of import occurred.
Yet there was a moment, 65 minutes and 27 seconds into the contest, that those of us still conscious and still actually bothered could have interpreted as one of real significance in the nebulous development of modern day football.
Ok, ok. I might be guilty here of injecting a little too much drama into a something so lifeless a necrophiliac would have had trouble finding pleasure from it, because what actually happened was a thoroughly bored crowd perked up sufficiently - when Matthew Upson was replaced by Joleon Lescott - to roundly boo Manchester City's latest signing.
Yet it was an interesting moment. The crowd at Wembley was largely a family audience, parents taking the rare opportunity of freely available Saturday afternoon tickets to let their kids see the cream of English football in a relatively civilised environment. In other words, not as many meat-heads as usual.
Yet they booed Lescott. Loudly. Violently even, which suggests that the fans, the normal, decent fans who make up the bulk of the football-watching community in this country, are beginning to tire of the antics of over-paid prima donnas who flounce around in their increasingly hysterical pursuit of even more money.
These weren't, on the whole, Everton fans remember, which makes the reaction interesting. There was certainly an anti-Manchester City element to the protest, quite clearly. Fans are worried about City's methods, and what it means for football.
They know, that by throwing money at their project, and at the same time using dubious, strong-arm tactics to try and acquire players by any means, it could destabilise football dangerously.
Now this isn't a rant about money in football, and City - like Chelsea before them, and just like Real Madrid, Manchester United, Liverpool and to a lesser extent even Arsenal - have the right to use their financial status to pursue trophies.
Indeed, the fact that another club is ready to challenge the hegemony at the summit of English football is quite refreshing in a way, because it adds an element of risk - and therefore edge - to the race to be in the top four.
City's tactics though, have been awful. Morally, the manner in which they waited until the end of the summer to pursue Lescott, and then blatantly tried to destabilise Everton - a direct rival at this stage - was murky to say the least.
What was worse though, was the charade they encouraged the player to act out, to ensure that he eventually got his move. And that, I believe, was the real reason for the fascinating reaction of the fans at Wembley on Saturday.
Had Lescott come out straight away and said he had great respect for Everton and their fans, but simply couldn't resist an offer that effectively tripled his wages, while giving him the chance to line up alongside world class players and potentially challenge for the highest honours, then only the most reactionary could have condemned him.
Instead, he said nothing, and pretended he knew nothing about City's interest. Then, when Everton - as was their right - refused to even listen to the offer for a player under contract, he sulked and pouted, before putting in a transfer request.
When that didn't work, the defender took the appalling step of effectively destroying his reputation with the fans at Goodison, and the wider football community, by refusing to train properly, or apply himself in the cause of his club or his team-mates.
Worse, he even offered the appearance in competitive games, despite being paid around £2million A YEAR by the Merseyside club, of not trying. His performance in the 6-0 defeat by Arsenal on the opening day of the season was nothing short of embarrassing, and will never be forgiven by the Gwladys Street faithful.
Everton fans, of course, have every right to ridicule a player who shows such a lack of respect for their club, and the point is, so do supporters everywhere, because the actions of Lescott have highlighted just how far away from the fans that clubs like City and players like him are taking the sport.
It is not just Lescott. In many ways, the actions of Carlos Tevez were even worse. At least the former Everton man could genuinely point to the fact that City's money could well catapult them into the top four and the Champions' League, which will always be a tall order at Goodison (although of course he didn't!).
Tevez had no such excuse, making his decision even more about the money. And yet he had the gall to try and make out that he left Manchester United because he somehow wasn't treated with respect, that despite the massive wages he was paid at Old Trafford in recompense for his often erratic services, he deserved something more.
It is nonsense of course, sheer hypocrisy on the grandest scale, and that is why the fans booed so loudly on Saturday. They are tired of pretty ordinary footballers like Tevez, Lescott and John Terry winning the lottery every week for simply kicking a ball around. And they are tired of those footballers exploiting ruthlessly their positions to add even more noughts to bank balances already inflated beyond the average man's comprehension.
But it is the hypocrisy that they are most tired of. The hypocrisy of players offering ridiculous, feeble excuses to hide what is, let's face it, a pretty natural desire for money. They are tired of the hypocrisy of a system that bans 'illegal' approaches to players, and yet freely allows it to happen openly and very publicly.
There will always be people who hate City and hate the likes of Lescott purely because of the money, as narrow-minded and unimaginative as that position is. Yet I'd like to think that there will also be plenty of people - including the Wembley crowd on Saturday - that have a distaste for what happened for wider reasons.
In particular, I suspect Lescott was booed, partly because of the dignity shown by Everton, their manager David Moyes and their chairman Bill Kenwright, throughout the unsavory proceedings. Football supporters, the decent, normal ones that are still very much out there, will have appreciated the Goodison stance.
All along, Moyes said that Lescott had a price, but until that was met, no amount of sulking, bullying or flouncing would make them falter. All along, he was supported completely by Kenwright, even though the temptation to a chairman under financial pressure to take the money on offer and run must have been massive.
In the end, at least Everton got their money, and Kenwright and Moyes came out of the affair with their dignity and reputation intact, enhanced even....which is more than can be said of Manchester City and Joleon Lescott.
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