In no way do I condone the behaviour of the City fans that threw the coin at Ferdinand and ran on the pitch respectively but I do believe there are mitigating circumstances. United had scored a last minute winner at the home of their biggest rivals, at which point Rio Ferdinand felt the need to celebrate provocatively in front of the City fans, this is the same Rio Ferdiand who took huge exception to Mario Balotelli celebrating in front of HIS OWN fans at Wembley. Too often, the emotion of the game isn't taken into consideration, that may be used in defence for Ferdinand but did that City fan walk through the turnstiles and plan to run on the pitch and attack a United player? Highly unlikely. Did Rio Ferdinand plan to celebrate a goal/win in front of the City fans? Likely given his previous it was the exact same at Stamford Bridge with Chelsea fans already feeling aggrieved at being down to 9 men in a game they had dominated bar the opening 20 minutes. Do people like Ollie Holt genuinely expect the Chelsea fans to just politely applaud? It's this kind of liberalism which has got this country nowhere. I'll bet people like Ollie Holt would have probably wanted Neville Chamberlain to hand Hitler the keys to 10 Downing Street as well and roll open the red carpet after the London bombings.
Journalists like Oliver Holt of the Mirror are now going a step further and as much as defending the behaviour of Rio Ferdinand and Phil Jones (who allegedly made provocative hand gestures towards the City fans). To them I ask this:
What would their reaction be if the roles were reversed and Mario Balotelli had celebrated provocatively in front of the Stretford End at Old Trafford? As a Chelsea fan I understand I'm not in much of a position to criticise the character of certain players given Ashley Cole and John Terry play for us but I'm close to certain that if John Terry or Ashley Cole had acted as Ferdinand did the media would be up in arms with journalists incandescent with rage calling for reprisal. Adebayor was castigated by the press for celebrating in front of the Arsenal fans at City a few years ago which most people bar Arsenal fans found slightly humorous but at the same time recognising that he was out of line and deserved the punishment he faced.
This isn't the first or last time an incident like this has occurred involving United and their players, just a few weeks ago Chelsea fans were condemned for throwing coins at Javier Hernandez as he celebrated wildly in front of the Matthew Harding Lower end of the ground (the most partisan area of Chelsea's home support). Gary Neville has previous for doing this as Liverpool fans would vouch for. Ronaldo and Rooney also doing the exact same thing in front of the North Bank at Highbury in a 4-2 win, Rooney again at Goodison Park upon his return. This kind of behaviour typifies United as a club:
1) Schadenfreude - As emphasised by the "Viva John Terry" and "Benitez is cracking up" chants. I don't know about most football fans but when we win something the first thing that comes to my mind isn't rubbing it in Arsenal/West Ham/Tottenham's faces, I'm just pleased for myself, friends and the club in general. The fact United fans took more pleasure in seeing Terry miss than they did Van Der Sar saving Anelka's kick thus winning them the Champions League sums them up. This drips down from top to bottom, a late winner against their rivals and the first thing that comes to mind is goading City fans. United fans are the type that won't even know who they are playing on a match day but never cease to remind fans of the local team that their side has lost be it Chelsea, Norwich, Wolves, Aston Villa or Southampton, it's a culture that is deeply ingrained in the club but I can't quite put my finger on where it began. Possibly due to Liverpool's success in the 70s and 80s and that feeling of always being inferior to them. Mystery to me anyway.
2) Untouchable Status - Which has been facilitated by the media and FA for the last 20 years or so. It has got to the stage where United fans and players alike believe that as long as they don that red shirt and club crest they can do what they like without reproach. Rooney was allowed to deliberately elbow James McCarthy and go unpunished, he had his 3 match ban reduced on FA appeal after assaulting another player. Rio Ferdinand could have been looking at a jail sentence or at least FA punishment for his tweets during the Terry court case. Evra falsely accused a Chelsea steward of racism and United didn't receive any criticism at all. To this day Roy Keane is still revered as a hero for ending Alfe Inge Haaland's career and likewise with Cantona for assaulting a fan. NO other club receives such little indignation from the press and that only makes matters worse and perpetuates their behaviour on and off the field. Any fan of Chelsea, Leeds United, Liverpool or Manchester City (not to mention a handful of others) will be able to confirm the kind of abhorrent chants United's away support continually aim at the deceased but there isn't any kind of acknowledgement from the club itself or the press which allows them to do as they please. Alex Ferguson the only manager that can attack a referee or organisation within football without any kind of reprisal from the FA. Behaviour is learnt based on reward/punishment premise, it's no wonder how they continue to get away with it.
The problem is 95% of football journalists aren't fans of the game before they become journalists, they have no idea about fandom and what the game is about so when a small minority of football fans do misbehave they jump on the bandwagon and sensationalise it to suit their agenda. Football fans always have and always will be character assassinated by the press because fundamentally it is a working class sport which is attended by mostly working class fans or "common folk", the complete opposite of the silver spoon Oxford grad lifestyle of which many of these "journalists" have come from. It's fine for a spectator to shout out during a match point of a grand slam final at Wimbledon but god forbid a football fan invades the pitch (which is just as disruptive) they are classed as "scum". There will come a time where people realise that football is no different to religion for the match going fan in particular. Try telling somebody that has invested 1/3 of their annual salary in their football club that "It's only a game".
To use Newton's third law of motion "for every action, there is a reaction". Football in general (in particular a derby game) is partisan, if I had walked into the Bill Nicholson pub after Chelsea beat Spurs 4-2 and celebrated wildly in front of Spurs fans I'd consider myself lucky to come out with just a cut below the eye. On the other hand if I jumped on a train to Fulham Broadway or pretty much anywhere South of the River which is Chelsea stronghold I'd probably get a free pint. In my eyes that is no different some would argue that isn't right but it's the reality, in any walk of life there are boundaries you respect and simply do not cross, and if you do you live with the consequences. Rio Ferdinand isn't the victim, he's an odious and obnoxious man that believes he is above the law. The real victims here are the City fans who undoubtedly got carried away with the emotion of the game and went too far, but prevention is better than cure. Had Rio Ferdinand celebrated in front of his own fans as opposed to City's is he getting a coin thrown at him or a fan coming on the pitch trying to attack him? I don't think so. Without wanting to completely shift blame from the City fans I'd argue it's a form of entrapment. When deliberately provoked and surrounded by thousands of fans in a partisan atmosphere I'd argue it's very hard to keep your cool. Unlike some I won't be a hypocrite. I said the same thing when Junior Stanislas celebrated in front of the Millwall fans in that famous cup tie 3 years ago. Keep kicking a dog and eventually it will bite you.
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