A single player can only goad the general public for so long before we begin to lose patience.
Alas Raheem Shaquille Sterling has long since proven that he has nothing but utter contempt for the Great British public. He may only be 21 years of age, but the Manchester City winger has already packed a litany of misdemeanors into his still-fledgling career.
The signs were there at the very beginning, when he dared to style his hair in a fashion that screamed self-confidence and ominous flamboyance. This was allied with his much-publicised womanising, which resulted in a shocking EIGHT children with THREE different women.
If that wasn’t bad enough, he purposely sought to make fools out of his detractors by only actually having one child with a solitary woman, thereby ruining a whole plethora of lazy jokes and overly moralistic think-pieces trading in convenient preconceptions and stereotypes.
All my 8 kids in one pic.. oh god do I love them all 😘😘 pic.twitter.com/amFvwmDDgF
— Raheem Sterling (@sterling7) August 6, 2014
Then came the shame of partaking in legal activities such as smoking a shisha pipe and allegedly inhaling nitrous oxide. This was particularly upsetting for delicate journalists, who never ever drink or smoke substances – legal or otherwise – to get them through the day.
If that wasn’t bad enough, Sterling had the temerity of do something unprecedented in the national game – he moved from one club to another and earned more money in the process. Football fans with no affinity to Liverpool booed him in brave and not-racist-at-all solidarity.
The boos quite rightly continue to this day, long after the Anfield faithful have moved on. This is partly due to the aforementioned non-racism, but also because Sterling was quite obviously the only England player not to have an amazing European Championships.
And now, just when you thought that the wayward forward had finally resolved to let his feet do the talking, he slaps every hard-working football fan, nurse, soldier and Olympian in the face with the erratic and wilful expenditure of his own income.
First we had to endure the player shamelessly flaunting his grotesque wealth in a private video meant only for family and friends. It of course featured a crystal-encrusted bathroom sink that he selfishly bought as a present for his mother.
And now, as if to mock us all for earning in a year what he manages in a single day, Sterling was spotted travelling back from a holiday break in southern Spain on an easyJet flight. That’s right – like the average person in the street. The absolute nerve.
It was almost as if the budget airline was the only service offering a direct flight to Manchester.
He earns £200,000-a-week and cost Manchester City £49m, but Raheem Sterling still catches £80 easyJet flights https://t.co/RGGfdoe84t pic.twitter.com/WgAkVg4b0K
— Mail Sport (@MailSport) October 24, 2016
If Sterling had any decency whatsoever, he’d check with Fleet Street’s finest before spending too much or too little of his own money. There could even be a carefully defined ‘Goldilocks’ system to adhere to – recklessly expensive, embarrassingly cheap, and just right.
But of course that won’t happen. Sterling will continue to blissfully live his life with scant regard for the opinions of those who know best – tabloid journalists. May they continue to bravely shine a light on his shocking behaviour with their stale coffee breath utterances and crumb-infested keyboards of truth.
You can catch up on the latest episode of JOE’s Football Friday Live right here…
