Should players celebrate against former clubs? My view 5th April 2021

 

Should players celebrate against former clubs? My view

I have seen criticism directed at Danny Ings on social media in the last 24 hours and it has got me thinking, what’s my view?

Well, looking at it from both sides of the coin I can see how it might rub some people up the wrong way, but can we really say that we wouldn’t do the same in his shoes?

Football fans, myself included in this, label players as ‘robots’ at times but yet when they do something perfectly natural like celebrating after scoring a goal against their former team we blast them for it.

The feeling of scoring a goal at the highest-level crowd or no crowd is an emotion we can only begin to imagine.

How can someone in that situation be expected to shrug off their onrushing teammates and go “No lads I played for this team once let’s show some respect and walk back to our own half.”

It doesn’t work like that, we might want it to, but the reality is it doesn’t.

It is highly unlikely that as Ings rounded James Tarkowski and prodded the ball through Nick Pope’s legs to equalise that he was thinking “Yes I have scored against Burnley!”

Glyn Kirk-Pool gettyimages

What might have been running through his head is, “Brilliant I have got back on the scoresheet after getting past another injury”.

An injury that forced him to sit on the treatment table for a month as his current team were struggling for points.

The 28-year-old isn’t the only player to get on the nerves of opposition supporters, let’s look at some other examples where this has occurred in the past:

Jamie Vardy

Amidst the well-publicised feud between Rebekah Vardy and Coleen Rooney who as I am sure you are already aware are the wives of Vardy and former England captain Wayne Rooney. The travelling Burnley fans sang songs about Mrs Vardy on our visit to the King Power Stadium last season.

True to form Vardy scored against us and proceeded to implore the away end to sing some more. You know what I say? Fair play to him. It was funny. Even though we went on to lose that game.

Stephen Pond gettyimages

Charlie Austin

I have to admit the sight of Austin running towards the Turf Moor advertising hoardings cupping his ears after converting a penalty against us for QPR the club who we sold him to infuriated me as a 15-year-old.

And along with my cousin I ran, or should I say drove as fast as I could at the time to those nearby hoardings to let him know what I thought.

That involved plenty of shouting on my behalf and a few V signs at close range from my enthusiastic relative.

But looking back why did we do this? Charlie was simply expressing his delight at scoring a vital goal for his team and why shouldn’t he?

If you listen to the forward speak on talkSPORT and his Studs Up podcast you will know that he is a man who speaks with honesty and passion when talking about his career in the game. As fans, we are often deprived of such openness and I believe more players should follow suit.

Matthew Ashton- AMA /Corbis gettyimages

Jay Rodriguez

Say if Jay had scored a 90th-minute equaliser yesterday would it have crossed our minds if he celebrated against his former employees? Rodriguez spent five seasons at Saint Mary’s in a period where he made his England debut.

So I would expect he has nothing but fond memories of his time on the South Coast. Would he have celebrated if he had scored? Who knows as that is down to individual preference at the time, but I would have been right behind him if he did!

Thankfully, most Burnley fans don’t seem to mind the fact that Ings celebrated. But other people seem to have forgotten that this is a man who set up the Disability Sports Project at Burnley FC in the Community in 2014.

A project which I work on and get to see the benefits that sport provides to disabled people on a weekly basis. Does this scream a man who doesn’t care about Burnley and its people? Not for me.

Look, I realise I may be coming across as slightly bias here. As some of you may be aware, I know Danny personally after he gave me his boots when I was 13 and a friendship grew from that.

We don’t speak as often as previously with him now being based down south, but I have continued to follow his journey since he left Burnley and couldn’t be more pleased with the progress of a true gent.

Forget football he is a brilliant human being and I think that should be remembered.

Lancashire Telegraph- Me with Danny as we celebrate promotion to the Premier League in 2014. A year after he gave me his boots!

What are your opinions on this subject? Are you all for celebrating against former clubs, totally against it or not particularly bothered? Either way, I would be interested to find out!