Glenn Roeder, riding a wave of violence. Hammered by West Ham.

by Garry Cook

You're the boss, your club's 2-0 up away from home and the fans start singing your name. It's a bit embarrassing, but you wave to acknowledge their praise.

Nowt wrong with that. Er, except if you are a bunch of seething West Ham animals who take exception to the gesture of Newcastle boss Glenn Roeder. A dozen or so even tried to get onto the pitch to attack the bloke.

And let me just reiterate the point: Roeder was waving to his own fans. Nothing to do with these Hammers lot. Waving? It's not even an unusual gesture, most managers have done it.

So why on earth did these crazy East Enders go monster raving loony?

From what I can see, Roeder's only crime was to manage West Ham up until 2003, where he was sacked while recovering from a brain tumour. The bastard.

How dare he! Sick leave? For a brain tumour! People have no backbone these days.

Was I the only person thinking that Roeder would get a round of applause from the home fans on his first appearance at Upton Park since his sacking?

Roeder could have died and should have been out of the game for good. Instead, he rebuilds his life bounces back and eventually finds himself in charge of a bigger club than West Ham. Are these Hammers fans jealous or simply stupid?

Yes, West Ham were relegated under Roeder and perhaps he just wasn't very good as their manager. But can he be totally to blame? The Hammers weren't in the best of health when Harry Redknapp left them and couldn't really continue with his, ahem, transfer policy.

On the numerous occasions I've witnessed a manager wave at his own fans, it has almost always been out of embarrassment. They are singing his name, he knows the only way to get them to stop is to acknowledge them. A little acknowledgement, a quick wave. Fuss over.

I just cannot understand the West Ham fans in this instance. Give the bloke a break.

Roeder got a lot of stick from Hammers fans when he was the club's boss. But so did Alan Pardew for a couple years before the fans had to finally admit they were wrong and that their current boss is actually quite good. So why can't they do the same with Roeder?

The only thing more stupid than giving him stick for a friendly wave was his post-match apology where he practically begged forgiveness from his former club. No need, no need.

He should have questioned what all the fuss was about, called the baying mob stupid, labelled those who tried to attack him prats and forgot about it.

Next you know one of the dickheads will be filing a complaint to police. 'Yes, officer, he stuck his hand in the air and waved - and there were children in the ground!'

Dear, oh, dear. As if football has not got enough to worry about with cheats, corruption and bungs.

They say players live in a bubble, that they are treated with too much respect and allowed to get away with murder. But get away with murder, too. They can call a player any name under the sun without fear of retribution. A player answers back to his tormentor and he's banned, fined, on the six o'clock news, the subject of a police investigation and forced to apologise.

Football is a game, fans should not take some of these essentially off-the-ball incidents too seriously. Come on Hammers fans - lighten up.