Seems to me like a lot of Albion fans are very keen to play down the importance of Peter Odemwingie to us, why this is I don't know.
I don't think I'm breaking any rules by saying this, if I am then it will get removed and I'll take my punishment from Phil (
) ... no doubt people will laugh this off but it's just something I've noticed. Peter wouldn't be the first black / mixed race striker we've had at the club that a number of fans just don't like. Now I'm not saying Albion fans in general are racist, but it's something I've noticed especially from the older generation - the younger generation seem a lot more accepting of Pete in my opinion. It seems to me that unless a black / mixed race player runs around like a headless chicken (Mulumbu for example), he is pigeon holed as the "lazy black lad".
Just think about how many players of this description have, at some point or another, been labeled this way. Odemwingie, Jerome Thomas, Nathan Ellington, Luke Moore, Somen Tchoyi, Ishmael Miller, Jason Roberts, Diomansy Kamara, to name a few. Even Fabien de Freitas still gets mentioned, out of all the dross we had in the 90's why him? Now some of these players may deserve to be labeled lazy, but as I said it's just something I've noticed. Whether this is intentional, unintentional or just that these players fail to live up to the high standards set by the Three Degrees decades ago, I really don't know.
And before anyone bangs the "PC gone mad" drum, I am far from being the kind of person who is offended by everything in the world so let's not go down that road. It's just an observation and I'm entitled to express it.
How many of those players though could you explain away fans frustrations with another reason?
Peter Odemwingie and Diomansy Kamara have both been very good on the pitch but both seem to carry a lot of extra off the pitch with constant news stories of wanting to leave. That will inevitably make some fans moan.
Nathan Ellington and Luke Moore always looked fed up when playing, maybe because neither player actually loved playing football from what I can see and both off the pitch appear the quite type (Ellington certainly seemed too nice for the game after he converted to Islam). Ishmael Miller was the nice lad who would do stupid things, like when he had a tantrum in the box for missing - as the ball fell to his feet in space. The amount of times he would have is head in his hands even tough the play was still going on didnt help.
Jason Roberts you can put squarely at the feet of Megson - he said he had a bad attitude and not lazy, although that appears to be maybe a little wide of the mark with how the rest of his career ha panned out (seemingly the model pro).
I dont think too many call Thomas any lazier than Dorrans and Tchoyi was always known more for "not knowing what he was about to do" rather than being lazy - something it was hard to disagree with, and was part of hi charm.
Im not saying your point doesnt have some merit, maybe there is an element there of a stereotype more prevalent in a bygone era, but I think it maybe has more to do with footballs fans lazy analysis of the reason a player acts/plays like he does. The fact we have only named attacking players is probably very telling as well - attacking positions where players are usually more creative often get more criticism for not putting enough in and thus being called lazy.
