An unnamed source sent Vital Manchester City the following article:
It was interesting that Match of the Day showed footage of Robin van Persie apparently unable to look Adabeyor in the eye during the pre-match handshake on Saturday when Arsenal came to Eastlands.
It has been reported by a number of parties, and publicised on various websites, that the aforementioned Dutch star mouthed profanities at City supporters after scoring his goal. The extravagance of his sliding tackle on Adebayor was there for all to see. Had Manu not leaped like the proverbial salmon, he would have been scythed to the ground.
This is the context in which we look at VP’s web-sulk on the Arsenal site. I am impressed by his erudition, and the extent of his classical learning. If he wrote this himself Arsenal certainly are standing by their promise to educate players. ‘Sad and disappointed’, ‘mindless and malicious’ – it’s rhetoric that Obama would be proud of. Trial by media. Persie the prosecutor.
Humbug? Is it ok to cut a former colleague dead? To watch a vulnerable young man, with a weak grasp of English, harangued and abused by an angry crowd? To see his weakness – passion, the pain of rejection? To strike, then, as van Persie did, in a public place, with a scything tackle?
Which of us would not have reacted? We talk of these professional footballers, their vast wealth, their great responsibilities, the privileges they have. How many of us put ourselves in their shoes, and recognise the problems they face? Ade is not much older than my son.
If the Arsenal crowd, and former friends to whom he might have been expecting to turn for support, had treated him like this I could tell you how I would have felt about the incident. But I won’t. I’m sure you know. Let him who is without sin cast the first stone.
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