Weird how we never turned on Dickov when he did exactly the same while playing for Leicester and that we still make fun of Arsenal fans for angrily reacting to Adebayor's celebration. Smacks of bitterness and tribalistic double standards to get pissed off at Milner for celebrating a goal against us when we'd love it if a City player did the same to Liverpool. In fact we've all been begging for Sterling to score against Liverpool for years and when he finally did in the Community Shield we loved the fact that he celebrated.
Feel like this hatred of Milner has only come about because of a constantly repeating echo chamber. It's got to the point - especially on here - where 99% of posters hate him but can't pin down the specifics or a particular reason why. It just seems to be a mixture of "Oh he celebrated a goal against us" or "Oh he said mean things in the press", which are, as I've implied, pretty normal things for footballers to do when they join new clubs. All a bit childish and pathetic when you consider what Milner achieved with us.
It mostly irks me because I always thought Milner was a hugely limited player. For someone who had the skillset of a jack-of-all-trades midfielder, he only seemed capable of playing well in one position. He'd have one good game in five and the rest of the time he'd get by because he gave off the impression that he always put a shift in. Now after he's gone I find myself defending him because the hatred has clearly gone overboard to the point where some fans would angrily air their grievances at a bloody testimonial game.
He signed for five years, played for five years, and left for a new challenge. A new challenge that's seen him add a new trophy to his career haul. The only competition he's not won now that he could have done is the Europa League, and he played in the final of that competition in 2017. I'd hardly have him down as a legend but he came when things were on the up and helped us to two titles and a few cups before departing for something different. We football fans are an oddly precious and hypocritical breed at times.
