Pity The Sadness

An addendum to the paper round up - one I missed, but which, in a lucky break, deserves a post of its own anyway.  It's James Lawton, who I often like to criticise, but today he talks a lot of sense on Hargreaves, I'll just select the best bit, long though it is, and leave it without comment:

First on a self-advertising YouTube slot, then out on the field, Hargreaves has offered a passable version of Lazarus picking up his bed and walking at a rather impressive clip.

So why is the chorus of celebration, at least in this quarter, a little muted? ...

No, there has never been a hint of a betrayal of such standards and the consistency of Hargreaves' commitment was visible enough when he emerged as a new hero of the new City.

So what was the knock – what was the charge against the hero of the hour? It was that for some he may have been guilty of a certain gratuitous regurgitation of what seemed, if you had any sense of how many old pros are currently limping through life unupholstered by fantasy contracts that guaranteed their futures even if they never kicked a ball again, well, a degree of self-pity.

Failing some damning evidence of malicious neglect, which has so far not been forthcoming, it is certainly hard to nail the modern United – as opposed to an older one steeped in romance and glory – as the creators of a football boneyard.

Roy Keane, arguably the most influential player of the Ferguson era, was nursed for more than a season without any sure-fire guarantees of recovery. Paul Scholes was allowed plenty of time to battle through injuries and draw out the last of his talent. At 37, Ryan Giggs is maybe England's ultimate example of a great player being nursed over a long course.

It didn't happen for Hargreaves in that way – and no doubt it was a source of great pain, physically and emotionally as the days and the months and the seasons passed, but did this quite justify the sourness of his reflections on his old club when he reannounced himself so impressively at the Etihad Stadium?

For the old guys – including Nobby Stiles, who left Old Trafford after 14 years with shattered knees and a blunt refusal to grant him the free transfer that might have given him the deposit on a modest house – Hargreaves' complaints were certainly coming from another world.

A world in which the value of Hargreaves' contract over four years – and on which he played just six minutes in the final 33 months – was estimated at £15m. One, also, which cost United £384,615 for each of his 39 appearances.