Royston Vasey Keane In Support of Ade Aid

Rag Week has begun and one of the arch villains of many a Manchester derby has spoken out against the hysteria surrounding the er, evil Emmanuel Adebayor...

The calls for liddle ciddy's on fire centre forward to be banned for 5 games started with senior hack Harry Harris and have now ballooned into season long bans or prison sentences on some foaming message boards.

Considering some of the appalling antics we've witnessed from numerous Sky Four/Big Four players along the loot ladened years of the Premier League, the campaign to ensure Adebayor is banned, find and publically bayonetted in the Tower of London or the Emirates Stadium are reaching fever pitch.

This level of attention continues to be wholly new territory for City fans and one we're continuing to slowly come to terms with since daring to threaten to emerge from some very long shadows.

Ipswich Town manager Roy Keane, himself reknowned for many demented challenges down the years and who ended the playing career of City's Alfie Haaland has called for calm:

'Fair play to the boy, I think he's apologised after the game. He probably knows he's done a bit wrong. The Arsenal fans were clearly frustrated with his behaviour, but players make mistakes. When he scored he got a bit carried away.

'We shouldn't go over board on him. I think we should go easy on the boy. He's apologised and from my point of view, if he was one of my players I'd hope everybody would leave it at that.'

Meanwhile, it's well known throughout football that the Premier League status quo is under threat from the likes of City and the bandwaggoning Football Association will find it far easier to sanction The Blues than the established heavily media supported Big Four. It's beyond certain that Adebayor will be banned. It's just a question of how soon and how long the ban will be.

The amount of controversies and appalling sportsmanship we have witnessed involving players from Big Four sides has been relentless. Robin Van Persie who was far from a role model himself against City has rarely been far away from incident. City fans can only hope that some sort of balance and comparison with what's been allowed to go before will be meted out in Adebayor's punishment.

So come on FA headquarters, pull your fingers out, get it over with and pull the trigger instead of allowing this angry mob led farce to continue.

We've got a hard working battling team on our hands at long last and sure, it'll be a great shame that we'll be facing the rags with reduced firepower and with much focus lost upon a very talented striker who in the heat of the moment lost the plot after copping for relentless abuse.

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