Chris Dunlavy
A FRESH TAKE ON FOOTBALL
CHRIS Wilder was right. Any Sheffield United fan who abused the players after last weekend’s 1-0defeat at Oxford United needs to have a strong word with themselves.
The Blades have performed with incredible consistency all season and did not deserve any criticism when their standards finally dropped.
“It’s just the world we live in now I suppose,” grumbled the 57-year-old.
“Everyone wants us to win every game.”
But before we write off anyone at Bramall Lane as entitled or deluded, it’s best to remember that the world we live in works both ways.
When footballers were normal blokes on normal wages, who drank in the same pubs and lived on the same streets as supporters, they’d have been forgiven for one bad day at the office.
They were one of us -a human with flaws, foibles and feelings.
Today, even in the Championship, wealth and privilege has largely severed that human connection.
The metaphorical distance between pitch and terrace naturally makes it more difficult to empathise with footballers as people, whilst the salaries they pocket simultaneously raise expectations.
That’s nobody’s fault.
It’s the economics of the game, and the price any elite-level footballer must be prepared to pay for the life of luxury he enjoys.
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