WE NEVER LIKED HIM THAT MUCH EITHER

Since Jonathan Greening arrived at the Riverside Stadium from Manchester United a year ago the willingness of certain sections of the crowd to make him a scapegoat has become so noticeable that the Middlesbrough fanzine Fly Me To The Moon now runs a spoof column proving Greening's culpability for major global catastrophes - in the last issue his reluctance to "get his foot in" was blamed for the eruption of Krakatoa.

Those who work within football generally express amazement when supporters turn on their own players. I can't see why. For, while there are members of the opposition who are guaranteed to gall, there are none who, week in and week out, inflicts the sort of emotional damage on a supporter that his or her own team do.

Indeed, the fact that fans don't boo all of the layabouts, thugs and tattooed poseurs who wear their club's colours is, to my mind, a lasting testimony to their supreme good nature.

That is not to say, however, that the Boro crowd are right to single out Greening. He is an admirable young player, no matter how irritating his floppy hair may be.

It is difficult to fathom what Greening can do to alter such attitudes, but whatever it is I hope they do not discover it too soon. With Sir Alex Ferguson admitting he made a mistake, West Brom winning a game and a new book about the Charlton brothers revealing that Bobby can do a sidesplitting imitation of cross-eyed silent comedy star Ben Turpin, this has been a disorienting enough time for football fans without adding further uncertainty to it.