Oh, naughty naughty Cesc Fabregas. Look at him being rude to the referee. And there he is waving an imaginary card at a player. Such a bad, bad boy. And what about Nigel De Jong, with his violence on the pitch and career threatening tackles. Let’s not forget Didier Drogba, pretending he’s Ronaldo and flinging himself to the floor like a ballerina. These awful foreigners. Bringing our English league into disrepute. Blah, blah, blah!

Now do this. For Cesc see Rio Ferdinand. For De Jong replace with Karl Henry and for Drogba and Ronaldo, just look at Steven Gerrard.

The way today’s media talk you would think some English players are whiter than snow. As if they never do anything wrong on the pitch. Let’s be honest, we all know they do. We’ve seen it with our own eyes. Rio Ferdinand, John Terry, Wayne Rooney et al chasing after the referee or swearing at him because they disagree with his decision. Just the other month, Gary Neville made a tackle that would have had the media salivating for weeks if said offender was foreign.

So is there a reason why international players are being chastised while English stars appear to just get a slap on the wrist for a similar offence? Or am just following the Arsenal party line and being paranoid?

I don’t think I am because it’s not just my beloved Londoners who have been on the sharp side of the fountain pen recently. Look at the furore surrounding the Fernando Torres/Andy Carroll transfers. Both players toed the party line, said they loved their previous clubs, how they respected the fans etc. Yet a week later Torres is still being referred to as a Judas while Carroll is the innocent party and being heralded as the second son of Christ. Poor lamb, Carroll was pushed out of his boyhood club – oh, boohoo. The way Liverpool fans are reacting you would think Torres had just killed Kenny.

Look at the Theo Walcott: ‘I dived’ fiasco. Did we really just let him off because he admitted it? That is ludicrous! I love Theo, I mean I absolutely adore him, even when he had those awful sideburns. But was he wrong to dive? Damn right he was, regardless of whether he admitted it or not shouldn’t make any difference. Supposedly him admitting it and apologising made it okay. Not really mate! My point is look at the grief Cesc got for his apparent dive against Ipswich. The continual abuse Ronaldo suffered for his ‘supposed’ dives. Double standards? Just a bit.

Then we have ex-England star Paul Scholes’ attempt to score against Wolverhampton Wanderers on Saturday – with his hand. Not with his head which lets be honest is big enough, but with his hand. Admittedly he didn’t get away with it but surely the action alone is a crime in itself. But where were all the outraged fans? Where is appalled and upset from Canvey Island filling the blogs with his comments on such an shocking act of blatant cheating by a world class footballer. No where, that’s where. Lucky for ol’ Paul, he isn’t a Frenchman who shares my name otherwise he would’ve been strung up to a lamppost quicker than a Becks effigy in 1998!

What do you think? Do you agree foreign stars get the sharp end of the stick? Or can you think of any other examples of double standards?

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