We all have matchday routines and, for the past half a decade or so, an hour-long train journey to Manchester for City games has been part of mine.
Heading over for the Arsenal game in August, the first time I’d been to a match with a crowd since the FA Cup win at Sheffield Wednesday the previous March, really felt quite emotional. I’d really missed this, we all had and we didn’t want it to go away again.
Still, last week was no time to bask in little rituals as coronavirus cases soared. On Tuesday, December 14, there were 55,077 new COVID-19 cases in the UK - higher than at any point during the previous peak in January.
That evening's journey to City’s game against Leeds was a solitary one, alone in the car along the M62 - admittedly happier than most other people travelling back in the same direction later on - and it felt best to wear a mask throughout the game, through all seven goal celebrations.
I also felt compelled to stay as safe a distance as possible from others on entry and exit to the Etihad Stadium, something the turrets up to the third tier of the Colin Bell Stand handily allow for.
None of this was a hardship at all, just the sort of small and considerate tweaks to our behaviour we’ve all become accustomed to. We’ve all got Christmas plans we’d really rather keep, after all.
In this context, reports from The Times and The Telegraph that Jack Grealish and Phil Foden apparently went out to a nightclub after the same game and then turned up to Wednesday’s recovery session at the CFA in sub-standard condition jar a little.
To be clear, outside of any specific stipulations Pep Guardiola might set for his team or the individuals within it, Grealish and Foden have not broken any rules.
As is the tone set by those who govern us, we kind of get to decide what is and isn’t the sensible course of action depending upon how we feel at the time. Just when and under what restrictions is it appropriate to have colleagues round in the garden for cheese and wine, for example?
Also, of course, footballers are not robots. These past couple of years have been grim for everyone on some level. As Guardiola has pointed out, they were lucky enough to be able to keep working from Project Restart onwards, but bubble football and its relentless schedule in an antiseptic setting will have brought plenty of mental strain.
Grealish and Foden’s misdemeanour comes in the same week that the Premier League has revealed only 77% of players are classed as fully vaccinated against COVID-19 after receiving two doses, while 16% have not received their first dose - figures that track significantly below other top leagues in Europe.
But so often during the pandemic, footballers have stood as examples of the very best of us, leading the way when it comes to helping the most vulnerable and pushing for significant social change. Just look around the City dressing room and you’ll find men such as Raheem Sterling, Ilkay Gundogan, Zack Steffen, Guardiola and Grealish himself who have made an inspirational impact.
There are shades of grey in judging anyone’s behaviour in these strange times, but not so much for Grealish and Foden in their roles as Manchester City footballers.
Premier League games are being called off left, right and centre, while City remain in prime form and have established a gap at the top of the table. The strong squad taken to Newcastle suggests Foden and Grealish did not bring coronavirus into the City camp, but more by luck than judgement. Considering present circumstances, they’ve been boneheaded.
Those leaning towards the idea that 'Jack the Lad' is leading 'Our Phil' astray should remember the circumstances in which Foden was sent home from England duty in Iceland last year. They’re both grownups who should know better.
You’d expect Guardiola, who is entitled to view the whole episode as a huge slap in the face, will have told them as much.
“The club speaks with [the players] and they know they have to be careful, not attend gatherings and be at home as much as possible,” Pep said when discussing the threat of the Omicron variant at his press conference before the game against Wolves earlier this month.
“When you go out, be careful and social distance and masks and come back.
“At Christmas time there is a tendency for that - more parties, go out more often and you have to be careful. Why should the players be different from the rest of humanity, all the rest of society?
“The rest of the people like to go to restaurants and go out. We are not an exception.
“We are fortunate. We have a job, this is the reality. They have to accept that, still, we are in a dangerous situation.”
Guardiola has spoken throughout the coronavirus crisis with a respect for both scientific and medical expertise and the ongoing severity of the situation. He’s been the sort of sensible public voice that has sometimes seemed in short supply, with every answer he gives on the subject undercut by the sadness of his mother dying early in the pandemic.
He has also lavished praise on Foden, while bringing him meticulously through the ranks at City, and warded off all of Grealish’s many detractors since making him the most expensive player in British football history.
Foden and Grealish already owed their boss plenty before hitting the town last week. It’s time for both to knuckle down and start repaying him all over again.
