Rooney Revisionism Is Sadly Predictable

'He's a one-season wonder...he won't even get in the Manchester City team....Carlos Tevez was always the better player...Nani's the better player now...he's not as good as he thinks he is...his first touch has always been a liability...'

These are all views repeatedly expressed to Football365 via e-mail or story comments by Manchester United fans in the days since Sunday's first suggestions that all was not well between Wayne Rooney and the club he professed to love. It's as ridiculous as it is predictable and we've seen this reaction time and time again from fans of the Premier League's biggest clubs. It's become a standing joke that as soon as a footballer sees greener grass (or a better-looking cow) elsewhere, they are automatically rubbish in the eyes of the spurned supporters they leave behind.

The same fans who sang 'Fergie, Fergie, sign him up' were suddenly deriding Tevez as a poor man's Rooney, Arsenal supporters dismissed both Thierry Henry and Patrick Vieira as busted flushes when they fled north London, Javier Mascherano became a clogger as soon as he became a rat leaving Liverpool's sinking ship and Villa fans were describing Gareth Barry as 'overrated' from the moment it became clear he was eyeing riches and trophies elsewhere. They, at least, may have had a point.


It will happen again when Torres leaves Liverpool ('he's a perma-crock with an attitude problem'), Fabregas leaves Arsenal ('Jack Wilshere's better anyway') and Ashley Young ('we don't need that diving p***k') exits Villa. And yet it will not happen when Gary Cahill leaves Bolton, Jordan Henderson leaves Sunderland or Conor Wickham leaves Ipswich. It didn't happen when Andy Booth left Huddersfield for Sheffield Wednesday - we still thought he was a legend and waited patiently for his inevitable return.

So is this revisionism the preserve of big-club fans? And is that simply because these clubs have more vocal fans and thus a higher number of knuckle-draggers? Or is it the inevitable sense of entitlement that comes with success and a bloated sense of self-importance? Like the good-looking bloke who can't possibly understand that a woman would leave him for somebody else and immediately tells his friends that her previously-lauded breasts are actually like puppy dog's ears. Like fans of less fashionable clubs, the boys of F365 are generally just chuffed they briefly got to touch those breasts.

Sometimes it's a relief not to support one of English football's biggest clubs - to not be seeing bias at every turn, to not be faced with the crushing disappointment of being only the fifth or seventh best club in the country and to not be duty-bound to metaphorically p*** on your heroes' statues just because they have the temerity to see brighter futures elsewhere. That bitterness must leave a nasty taste.
source:http://www.football365.com