We all love a villain secretly, don’t we?
Deep down, we love it when Mark Cooper is in the opposition dugout, or Jodi Jones runs and celebrates a goal in front of our stand. It hurts when they get the last laugh as Jones did, but there’s nothing more satisfying than seeing Cooper drag himself off the Sincil Bank pitch after five defeats in five matches against us.
Not Steve Evans though, he’s literally a villain. Allegedly.
It this emotion that makes football the sport we love. The unpredictable nature of it is slowly being taken away, or not if Neil Hair is in charge of your games, but the one constant is hate. It’s a strong word, but we love to hate players and this weekend, we got a new one to despise.
When Kevin Van Veen equalised for Northampton his first thought was to wheel away and celebrate in front of our fans. It must be nice for him to find a stand full of people to celebrate in front of, even if they were all filled with anger and vitriol. He slid on his knees, smug as a dog on a sofa, delighted to have got his side back into the game.
Of course, social media was packed with angry comments about him, even after we bagged the winner he seemed to dominate some of the discussion. Players shouldn’t do that, blah blah blah. Of course they should, don’t get me wrong I was angry too, but at what? His celebration? Hardly. I was angry we’d conceded a goal, but his celebration didn’t bother me.
If you were bothered by that, you’ll love his comments about our fluke goal that won the game. Yeah, you read it right. Fluke.
“When we did make it 2-2, it was very frustrating that they had a fluke,” he told the Northampton Chronicle. “It was a lucky shot that got deflected and at that moment it looked like we were the team that was going to win the game.”
“All credit to Lincoln, I wish them the best in the FA Cup but I think they’ve got lucky.”
I can feel your blood rising now, but just bear this in mind. We have the one player who makes Van Veen look softer and more friendly than a kitten. When Matt Rhead scored in our National League season he usually found the hundred or so travelling fans to celebrate in front of. I’ll never forget him doing it against Dagenham on the telly, standing in front of their angry fans flexing his muscles. Did we cry out in disgust?
Of course not. Football is all a show and without the villains it is nothing. therefore, please welcome the latest villain to the gallery, the deluded Kevin Van Veen.
Don’t hate the players, love the game.
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