Sports Letters: Crying foul

Sir: First I'd like to point out that banter and mind games between footballers is nothing new. It does not excuse a player giving a forearm smash around the back of another player's head while the ref isn't looking. If, as Richard Williams writes in his article on the front page of last Thursday's Review, Graeme Le Saux is as much of a culture vulture as we are led to believe, then surely this educated, informed lad can realise that Fowler was, although very crudely, simply winding him up. Anyone with any common sense could have realised this and for someone so educated to react in such a way is equally out of order.

Based on the report from a friend, Williams then goes on to further character assassinate Fowler, (this is the lad who was commended by Uefa for his honesty against Arsenal last season) leading the reader to believe that Fowler is nothing more than a money-grabber, having just signed a pounds 40,000 per week contact with Liverpool while Le Saux is an innocent bystander who has a fiery temper, fights with his own team-mates and is constantly getting booked and sent off for retaliation all for simply reading the Guardian.

On the other hand, you could say Fowler was crude in his method and needs reprimanding. But you could also say that Fowler has resisted the money- grabbing Bosman option and instead chosen to earn the living that any other top Premiership player can at the club that brought him up through the ranks, thus proving that clubs and players can still be loyal to each other.

BRIAN NICHOLAS

The Wirral