In his novel, The Human Stain, Philip Roth tells the story of an elderly college professor whose career and reputation are tarnished for ever by an unwarranted allegation of racism. Two unfamiliar black students enter his lecture theatre and he wonders aloud whether they are “spooks”. He is talking about ghosts, so mysterious is their presence to him, but his students accuse him of racism. Before he knows it, his career is over and, newly widowed, he spends the rest of his days trying to reconstruct a life that has unravelled at an alarming speed.

In other words, the race card is not to be played lightly, certainly not as lightly and as recklessly as it has been in recent days by John Obi Mikel and those who speak for him. You would be forgiven for having missed this story, such was the speed with which their complaint was dismissed out of hand by the FA, but Mikel’s representatives claimed that Peter Crouch had been guilty of racism – sorry, “potential racism” – in claiming that John Terry and Frank Lampard would not have reacted as the Nigerian did to the (admittedly X-rated) challenge that led to the Liverpool forward being sent off in last week’s Carling Cup quarter-final against Chelsea.

All very dangerous, all very uncivil. Mud sticks and reputations are tainted. That is why Mikel’s “people” were unhappy with Crouch’s initial slur about their client. So how do you respond to a smear? With a worse one, of course. Crouch criticised a Nigerian’s conduct on the football pitch, ergo he is racist, forced to play Jade Goody to Mikel’s Shilpa Shetty. It is preposterous, calling to mind the occasion when a manager accused a journalist of racism for suggesting that a certain black player was not performing and should make way for another, who happened to be white. Eventually, the manager apologised, sensing that his was by far the greater smear.

Mikel’s representatives claim that Crouch’s comments were “potentially racist to all foreign players, not just black or African ones” and furthermore that they would be taking the matter to the Equality and Human Rights Commission. Human rights? Sol Campbell, what have you started? We all admired the eloquence with which you spoke on BBC Radio Four’s Today programme last week, but by claiming that verbal abuse infringes your human rights, you appear to have given every Tom, Dirk and John Obi another grievance to cling to. It seems that defending your human rights – freedom from criticism, the right to simulate, freedom to self-worship – is to become a Premier League footballer’s new catch-all phrase in times of trouble, or at least confusion.

It is unfortunate because Campbell made some very pertinent points, particularly about terrace abuse, whether racist, homophobic or “merely” distasteful. To put this into the context of the past week, what kind of abuse will Jonny Evans, the young Manchester United defender, be subjected to when he plays at an away ground for the first time since his arrest in connection with an alleged rape at the club’s Christmas party? He will fight to clear his name, but for all those who might have been unfamiliar with his name until last week, it is now synonymous with that terrible allegation.

Football lends itself to innuendo, hearsay and lazy, convenient, slanderous labels. We have all heard the rumours – manager A takes bungs, manager B likes young boys, player A is a cocaine addict, players B and C are having an affair behind their wives’ backs – and they are lapped up by opposition supporters. So when there is the genuine whiff of a scandal, which is not always the same as the whiff of genuine scandal, it is followed mercilessly and it leaves a stain on a character. And sometimes these footballers, handsomely rewarded though they may be, do not deserve that.

Burton project déjà vu

Nobody can accuse those bright sparks on the FA board of lacking dynamism. Last week a statement from Soho Square revealed that they had voted unanimously to “approve the concept of a National Football Centre”. Brian Barwick, the chief executive, spoke excitedly about the “general agreement” that this was probably quite a good thing actually. Inspiring stuff, particularly since this was the same general agreement it reached in 1999, prompting it to buy a 250-acre site in Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, and to sit back and allow the project to go precisely nowhere as costs spiralled from £30 million to more than £80 million. Give yourselves an almighty pat on the back, guys.

From the heart and Sol

In his articulate address on the subject of terrace abuse, Sol Campbell made the point that “if this happened on the street, you would be arrested”. Very true, but the rules of modern football do not apply easily to the real world. Emmanuel Eboué, one presumes, does not “grass up” fellow motorists for parking illegally, let alone for doing so legally; John Terry does not follow policemen around the High Street, telling them how to enforce the law; Cristiano Ronaldo does not dangle a leg and tumble to the floor in the hope of getting a fellow shopper arrested; not even El-Hadji Diouf spits at a passer-by in the street, at least not unless they have looked at him the wrong way.

Bright lights of the City

The announcement that Nery Castillo, the Mexico forward, has stumped up a “substantial portion” of the loan fee for his move to Manchester City from Shakhtar Donetsk, the Ukraine club, gives just some idea of what an attractive proposition his new club have become in recent months. But it also begged another question: just how grim must Donetsk be?

Predictions for 2008

Sir David Beckham’s 100th England cap to be his last; Arsène Wenger to claim a hollow moral victory on Arsenal’s behalf as Sir Alex Ferguson leads Manchester United to their tenth Premier League title in 16 seasons; Cristiano Ronaldo to have his head turned by Real Madrid again; Rafael BenÍtez to be dumped by Liverpool unless the club’s American owners bale out first; Everton and Tottenham Hotspur to win a trophy apiece; England players to preface every comment about Fabio Capello with “no disrespect to Steve McClaren, but . . .”; McClaren eventually to return to management at club level and, having ditched the umbrella, to do a very decent job.

thegame@thetimes.co.uk

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