Tim, to his credit, played it down and said the whole thing was forgotten about as soon as they reached their respective dressing rooms … but does it really matter?
I know of many Newcastle players over the years who haven’t seen eye-to-eye, and there has been resentment to many – not just individually – but as a team. Some were frowned upon, and I can name many who had their moments – Marcelino, Luque, Maric, N’Zogbia, Bernard, Robert, and golden boy Michael Owen wasn’t exactly the angel he portrayed.
But no-one is asking them to be best mates; we just want them to be team-mates.
One of the great myths of the game is that footballers need to be friends. Not only do they not need to be, it is almost impossible for them to be. The fact is, they cannot all be friends when there are 22 squad players competing for 11 places.
You don’t need friendship – what you need is respect.
Shay Given and Steve Harper were portrayed as being “best of mates”, but Shay points out: “I wouldn’t go as far as to say we were best mates, but we had a good relationship, but rarely socialised together.
“It wasn’t as though we spent much time together away from the club. But you have to have a good friendship as goalkeepers, because you work together in training every day, doing things the other players don’t do.
“You have to get on, and we did try and help each other. Same as I did with Joe Hart at City, and now with Guzan and Marshall at Villa.”
Footballers know that some are going 200 RPM, and they all have moments of madness.
The national team is different. It is a liberation from the day-to-day activities at club level, but other aspects come to the fore. The Liverpool and Manchester United players traditionally don’t mix, or so we have been lead to believe, much the same as Barcelona and Real Madrid players in the Spanish camp. How much of that is true, only Gerrard, Rooney and Ferdinand can say … and they tend to wash it away.
So will Krul and Van Persie get on?
I’m sure if Holland win Euro 2012 they will be joined at the hip.