I honestly had a mate of mine, a former pro footballer, messaging me tonight wondering

why all the fuss. He was essentially saying that Carragher, as a former professional footballer, should be entitled to gob at people because footballers take so much provocation from fans. And also suggested that he will "probably be labelled a sexist too because it was in the direction of women".

I kind of pointed out to him that 1) he's no longer a professional footballer, 2) he is no longer a 17 year old so should be able to control himself a little by now whether being provoked or not , 3) the "woman" was a 14 year old child and 4) I would possibly think he should be treated leniently if the people in question had raped his wife or murdered his children.

He is not the first former professional footballer I've known who seems to think that once you have that title you should be given special treatment for the rest of your life. I've known a fair few former professional sports people and the only sport which seems to harbour this opinion is football (and no, not all former footballers think this way).

Mind you, this bloke never made it past the U-23s / reserves of a major club in a minor league. I get the feeling he got a lot of s**t from fans during his short career.

Posted By: Steve in Holland, Mar 12, 18:55:53