Rooney is an excellent example. He seems to thrive on the hostile atmosphere at the likes of Goodison and Anfield. Of the players mentioned in the article, Mo Johnston was certainly one who enjoyed the spotlight.

I agree that people within the game get too worked up, about all sorts of issues. Having said that, I have no problem with fans feeling upset or angry if they feel let down by a player who moves on, that’s their right. It’s how these feelings are expressed that often causes problems.

I agree also with Steve A in that it’s only a game. When you stop and think about it, it’s quite irrational for fans to get quite so worked up about it all!

Geoff, you make a very good point regarding the different perspectives of players and fans, for me that’s part of the problem. For all sorts of reasons, the relationship between the two groups is becoming more distant, and the ordinary fan finds it increasingly difficult to relate to the players they turn up to support every week. When a player leaves a club where they are considered a hero, and moves to their biggest rivals, it’s little wonder.

With regards to Campbell, I doubt he would have been thinking about racist or homophobic fans had he moved to another club, as the level of hatred would not have been the same. As I said in the article, it was the right move in terms of his career. However, no matter how mentally strong he is,there must have been occasions when he wondered whether it was worth it, particularly when the stick was every bit as bad after leaving Arsenal.

I disagree that the move to Arsenal would have been an easy decision for Campbell. He had publicly stated that he would not move to Arsenal, but ultimately did. Either he performed a major u-turn, or he knew along where he was headed and was stringing the Spurs fans along. Either way, Campbell didn’t emerge from that deal with a lot of credit.

In that case he was well within his rights to move, looked like he was on his way out anyway, Barca hadn’t offered him a new contract. Perhaps his destination didn’t sit well with their fans but you can hardly blame the guy, biggest team in the world comes calling when he is seemingly being forced out. To be honest, there are players I find difficult to like, but that is more to do with personality rather than club allegiances – it is just a game after all.

Do all those medals compensate for all the hatred he has received? I would say yes, without a doubt. If he went somewhere other than Arsenal and didn’t achieve anything do you think he’d be thinking “oh well, at least I didn’t upset those racist and homophobic idiots”?

For me it’s the direct moves that do the damage such as Campbell from Spurs to Arsenal. That move was on a free as well so Tottenham didn’t get any money at all – obviously in a bid to raise his wages.

I think some of the hate is lost if a player goes other clubs in between stepping across the divide as lots of things can happen at the clubs in the meantime such as a new manager, even a new kind of culture. Since Owen left Liverpool they’ve actually seen more success in the Champions League and probably associate Steven Gerrard with all of this. In saying that Owen will be boo’ed at the weekend but I don’t think the hate will be over-the-top, afterall Liverpool had chance (obviously not the fans choice, maybe not even Benitez’s) to sign him in the summer.