David Beckham appeared on this week's edition of legendary Radio 4 programme Desert Island Discs, as part of the show's 75th-anniversary special. Among the many topics of discussion was Beckham's extraordinary hounding by the press after his sending-off against Argentina. Kirsty Young recalled with shock how the press went into meltdown, aghast at the level of criticism and how his grandparents and family were doorstepped by reporters.
It was a level of vitriol that only encouraged more, with Beckham sent bullets in the post and, at one stage, seeing effigies of himself burnt in public. That Beckham navigated such absurdity so well is a testament to Alex Ferguson - the first man to phone Beckham after the sending off - Manchester United, his family, and above all Beckham's resolve and strength of character.
Raheem Sterling appears to be cut from the same cloth. Ever since he had the audacity to burst on the scene at Liverpool, be England's best/least disappointing player at the 2014 World Cup force a move to Manchester City and be caught in England's Euro 2016 stasis, Sterling has been hounded by the English tabloids, with a bizarre amount of time given to writing exceptionally mundane stories about how he spends his money.
This has been less the press chucking the kitchen sink at a young man than finding fault with it, as The Sun ran a story after the Euros entitled "England flop Sterling enrages fans after Iceland humiliation by showing off blinging house and fleet of supercars". It consisted of a pixellated screengrab of Sterling's Snapchat story, which showed the diamond encrusted sink he has in his bathroom.
The hounding has continued, but Sterling has shown a Beckham-esque way of dealing with all of this shite.
He did some late-night reading, and took screengrabs of some of the stories that have been done about him of late, and added a small caption to point out how ridiculous the entire concept is. Here are screengrabs of the, er, screengrabs.
Raheem Sterling Deleted Instagram Posts
These Raheem Sterling deleteInstagramam posts have been replaced by one image which still adorns his profile, telling certain readers "Please don't make a story that I haven't had a trim in 2 weeks Goodnight peeps!!!".
Fair play to Sterling. He doesn't seem too arsed by the entire farce.
See Also: Gary Lineker Blames The FA For The BBC's Strange FA Cup Schedule
