Every time Jordan Pickford touched the ball on Saturday, he was met by a chorus of boos by Toon fans.
The jeers were justified. Pickford is a former Sunderland player, and was the pantomime villain last time Everton were at St James’ Park.
There’s a chance of more boos at St James’ Park when Leicester show up, but former Magpie Ayoze Perez doesn’t deserve the reception that Pickford got.
Perez left this summer for the Foxes. Despite some brilliant years in black and white, football fans have short memories. It’s inevitable that there’ll at least be a smattering of boos when Perez gets on the ball. But he doesn’t deserve constant grief from the supporters he once called his own.
The Spaniard has already been back at St James’ Park once this season in the EFL Cup, but there’ll be loads more supporters in the ground this time.
Pickford deserved the boos he got. He let the crowd get to him last season so it was only right that Newcastle fans did it again to try and give the team an advantage. But Perez doesn’t deserve to be booed or heckled.
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