I have to say that something confuses me about football and that is this desire for players not to celebrate against former clubs when they score a goal.
We had this debate when we were out in Valencia this week talking about Shelvey scoring on Monday night against Liverpool and now Wayne Routledge has said that he will not celebrate if he scores against Crystal Palace on Sunday having started his career with the Eagles.
Now don't get me wrong when Adebayor scored against Arsenal and ran the length of the pitch to celebrate in front of the Arsenal fans that was probably a little excessive but to not celebrate against a former club is probably as insulting to your current employers as it is patronising against your former ones?
I do understand that players don't leave on bad terms but had Trundle come down here and scored for Bristol City then I would have had no problem had he celebrated his goal for them or if Danny Graham ever scored again and it was against us then I would have no issue at all to see him celebrate it properly.
Take the example of when Scott Sinclair scored against Chelsea in our first season in the Premier League. He put his arms up almost apologising that he dared score against a side who clearly decided he wasn't good enough. Now I get that he did his apprenticeship there but we were paying his wages and he had just put us deservedly a goal up against one of the top sides in the division. I just don't get why it has all of a sudden become the norm to do this or is it just by fading memory that says it used to be different?
One of the discussions we had around it on Thursday centred around if it was 1-1 with a minute to go and a player scored against his former club to win the game for his current club. As the fans go ballistic to celebrate the win then to look to the pitch and see a player almost apologetic just doesn't feel right and almost gives an impression that they would rather not have done it? Or is that just missing the point somewhat?
Palace taught me everything and I owe them more or less everything." says Routs
" I don't know where I would have been without them. When I left it wasn't on great terms but I did it for the right reasons, it is what it is and I am where I am now. Hopefully it will be a good game but, if I was to score, I would not celebrate.
"Normally I would, but not against Palace."
I guess in the grand scheme of things it is something that is particularly insignificant but it is one of those things that I don't think I will ever understand.
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