Ryan McLeod

Bring on the backlash "He just gets it ya knaa!" And he did. Some of them go through the motions, mention the city, mention the region, mention the fans and the stadium. Heard it all before mate, just perform on the weekend and then we'll see. He did that as well. Arrived in the relegation zone, hardly a word of the language, no exit clause if the worst happened. Left with a trophy tattooed on his leg. And his gleaming, emotional face tattooed on plenty of others. Happy to fight, happy to play, happy to shed a tear, but most of all, happy. Happy to represent the club that took him to their heart. Happy to leave? Yeah, probably. But that's football. Players come and players go. When we bring a replacement in we won't give two shites about the club and the fans he leaves behind. That's football. That's the game. Players with a price on their heads. They have a price. Everything has a price. But what about the value? It's singing the songs they really asked you not to sing on the stage on the Town Moor, either drunk on something consumed or just the sheer energy of that day and what it meant to all of us, or possibly both. It's putting others ahead of you at the moment the trophy was there to be lifted, and then pushing the manager towards the crowd for his moment too. Football fans aren't daft. They can see through people when there's no substance, or simply just empty words or gestures. Fuck knows we've seen it plenty of times before and no doubt will again. But he did get it, ya knaa. And maybe that's why it hurts. And so the backlash. The scar tissue of Gascoigne, Beardsley, Waddle, Cole and all the others who wanted to leave for more money or trophies or the lifestyle or whatever the fuck they or anyone else could think to say to make it not hurt. More recently it's been Carroll, Cabaye, Gordon, Tonali and of course Isak. Seeing the greener grass of pastures new. Or of currency. All leaving in their own way. Playing when it suited them, when the stage was right. Or for some, not playing at all. Does it make it easier to see him in the colour of another club? Fighting against us? Of course not. Perspective and philosophical thinking has never been, and hopefully never will be, at the forefront of a football fan's thinking. It's tribalism. It's kill or be killed. It's with us or against us. It's like the last song at the school disco and that lass who said all the right things and laughed at all the daft jokes is off with that smooth-talking posh cunt. So then. The name calling. The retrospective "glad he's gone actually". And no doubt the ever so popular booing. But nothing is owed here. No debt to pay back. It's all been left out there on the grass. So go on bonny lad, go make your move for whatever fucking reason you want to do it for. There'll always be those memories. Those goals, those chases back, those fouls and those screams to the crowd. There'll always be the 16th March 2025, and that shiny cup with the black and white ribbons on it. He got that. And so did we. And the backlash? Aye, it'll come. If that helps ease the pain then fine. But I know, and you know, it's not real. It's just a smokescreen for the sadness of knowing something was amazing and the realisation that it's now gone. #nufc