Their focus at the time was invariably on Dennis Wise, Stan Collymoreand Vinny Jones and there was almost a whiff of celebration of theirmisdemeanours on the pitch. They were "in-your-face" types and therebyrole models for the characters these magazines sought to cultivate astheir readership.
In the run-up to last Christmas there has been a spate of criticalcolumns in the newspapers about more recent bad-boy footballerbehaviour, both on and off the pitch. Highlights - if that is theappropriate term - were Manchester United's bonding party and AshleyCole's V-sign to the Arsenal fans who used to pay his wages.
But the purpose of this commentary was not simply to lay into thefoibles of the millionaires from the Premier League, nor even just totrot out the mantra that with privilege comes obligation. It was to drawattention to the steady erosion of standards that was now permeatingdown through all levels of football organisation.
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