We didn’t have to wait too long for the boo boys to resurface at Wembley on Saturday. Yes, Ashley Cole’s backpass was lazy and I doubt he’d ever do that in a Chelsea shirt, but to boo one of your own players when you’re winning a game?
A lot of people were surprised by how composed Kazakhstan were and England did struggle in the first half but once we were ahead we weren’t going to lose the game. Cole was careless but didn’t deserve to be abused during the match. The booing had more to do with dislike and jealousy than football.
Cole seems to embody what a lot of fans hate about modern day footballers. He may be badly advised and not the sharpest tool in the box, but he should never have made public his feelings about the amount of money Arsenal offered him. He earns more money in a week than the average man or woman in the street earns in four or five years and, especially in these times of financial crisis, people are jealous. He has shown disrespect to referees in the past and allegedly cheated on his wife a number of times. Cheryl Cole regularly tops lads mags’ sexiest women polls and is currently appearing on one of television’s most high profile shows, the X Factor. The public are firmly on her side over the alleged affairs (much more so than they were of Victoria Beckham when David was accused of straying) and Ashley has been firmly cast as a wrong’un.
If you then include the fact that a lot of Arsenal fans were at Wembley on Saturday, it makes sense that a section of the crowd would jump on Cole’s mistake and boo his every touch. And to be fair, most of those who were catcalling would admit they don’t like Ashley Cole as a person and that’s why they booed him. Fair enough, but don’t do it during a World Cup qualifier — when he has an England shirt on he’s on our side.
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