PREMIER LEAGUE | ALYSON RUDD
Billy Gilmour: Chelsea must get Scot out of a club whose annoying fans have unfairly made him a scapegoat
Alyson Rudd
Sunday January 02 2022, 12.01am, The Sunday Times
If you are annoyed at a player out on the pitch representing your Premier League club, there is a limit to what you can chant in his direction. Individual players are booed but mostly it is regarded as a step too far to conjure a ditty aimed at belittling him. Unless that player is not really your player at all.
Last week Norwich City fans were heard singing “F*** off back to Chelsea” to express their dismay with the performances of Billy Gilmour, who is on loan, like so many others, from the west London club.
Norwich are proving highly annoying this season and this unpleasant chorus from some among the travelling supporters at Selhurst Park, where their team lost 3-0, is unlikely to endear them to anyone who already finds their present predicament baffling.
Last time they were in the Premier League, Norwich were entertaining enough for neutrals to yearn for them to evade relegation. We admired their attacking philosophy, were in thrall to the potency of Teemu Pukki and were captivated by the dazzling runs of Todd Cantwell. A club that had been fractured were solid and brimming with camaraderie. They had a plan, a purpose and a director of football in Stuart Webber to see it through. Their promotion in 2019 was a slight surprise and they could be forgiven for going straight back down. We assumed they would be back better-equipped, more experienced, cannier as to how to at least threaten to climb out of the bottom three. But no, they are a diluted version of the 2019/20 vintage. There is no philosophy, no evident camaraderie and no stand-out individuals.
Gilmour was the subject of abusive chants from Norwich fans
ACTION IMAGES VIA REUTERS
Dean Smith is a fine coach who rarely lets it show publicly when angered by his players but even he looks frustrated. The team have been allowed to coast, to accept their yo-yo status rather than fight to break the cycle. It really does not look like anyone sat down with footage to analyse the challenge of Premier League football even though they have stacks of stats showing exactly where they needed to improve.
Norwich are proud of their rural outlook, their separateness, their thriftiness. Access to a young player who has experience with Chelsea ought to be a source of satisfaction but no, the fans decided to make 20-year-old Gilmour the focal point for their frustration. It is not as if the Scotland midfielder is particularly dreadful, indeed the stats do not back up the notion he is among the worst of Norwich’s poor group, but by picking on Gilmour, the supporters presumably feel they remain loyal to the club. Gilmour is an outsider. Not one of their own.
Perhaps we owe the fans a debt of gratitude because their behaviour does highlight how difficult it must be for those on loan to win over everyone involved. Parent clubs send out players so that they gain game time and toughen up. Rather than risk a gaffe in one of their own games, managers would much rather their youngsters make one for someone else. This leaves the players in a tricky position. A lot is expected of them because they have arrived from a bigger club, but they are still learning the ropes.
The best way to win over the fans is to demonstrate commitment and generally improve the team and this is why no-one supporting Palace has chanted for Conor Gallagher to f*** off back to Chelsea. Patrick Vieira’s side, though, are an easier one in which to thrive than the one presently managed by Smith.
The fans ought to be asking questions of the insular model adopted by the club rather than picking on one midfielder who arrived genuinely hopeful that he could improve while offering the team something a bit different: intelligence in possession.
Thomas Tuchel, the Chelsea head coach, has spoken of Gilmour benefiting from tough times and how adversity can toughen his character, but scapegoating is not quite the same as coping with a mistimed tackle or being substituted. Chelsea have a duty of care and need to terminate the deal and find a place where their young player can thrive.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/topic/premier-league
