The anti-celebration is becoming a major pain in the arse in modern football.
The idea is fair, and considerate. A player who has a history with a club he once played for doesn't want to upset the supporters who once sang his name. That's great, but there is a line.
When players are so determined to make everyone notice that they are not celebrating... It turns into a celebration in itself, and helps absolutely nobody. We'll have an example of this later on, but first, can we all just appreciate the views of Charlie Austin, who was ridiculously asked by the BBC why he celebrated against his former team Burnley at the weekend.
That is proper order.
He respects everyone at Burnley, gives a shout out to their manager, but he is employed by Southampton to score goals. He's a striker for crying out loud, he is programmed to be happy when he scores.
The idea that he should not be allowed to express his happiness due to possibly pissing off a few over sensitive fans is ridiculous. Now, obvious there is a line, and Emmanuel Adebayor is the most famous example of someone who crossed it for Man City against Arsenal, but this sort of stuff, from Chadli of West Brom, needs to be knocked on the head.
We're not singling out Nacer Chadli, he was just the most recent example as he did that on Saturday last. He looks genuinely upset to have scored the goal that put his team in front.
So many footballers do it, and how are the supporters of your current club supposed to feel? They're going nuts, the players surrounding you are going nuts, and you're stood there thinking 'Aw, shit.'
It makes absolutely no sense, and it appears to be done purely because other players have done it in the past. Nacer Chaldi is no Spurs legend. In and out of the team, he was never assured of his place and, granted, the supporters never turned on him, but he doesn't play for Tottenham anymore, he plays for West Brom. He scored a goal, he has been playing really well recently... Celebrate it!
Denis Law comes to mind when thinking of famous examples of non-celebrating. After relegating Manchester United with a goal for Manchester City (imagine if that happened now...) he looked genuinely sad, because he was. He had relegated the club where he became a legend.
However, Robin Van Persie not celebrating against Arsenal the first time he scored against them, after their fans had called him every name under the sun for leaving, was ridiculous. Van Persie realised this and soon started celebrating because of the fans' reaction.
The other one is Cristiano Ronaldo who scored on his return to Old Trafford. Like Chadli above, it's not a case of not celebrating, or muting the celebration out of respect, it's making sure everybody knows you didn't celebrate because you're such a good bloke. Look at me, I would never disrepect the fans. 1 like = 1 respect.
Fair play to you, Charlie Austin. More footballers need to know.
