With watchable preseason matches in the coming days and kickoff to the regular season just around the corner, it seems as good a time as any to float this reminder
No doubt as the games play out there will be times when fingers are pointed, play and commitment questioned, names singled out for criticism, for mistakes. It's natural, it's healthy. That's the entangled dance of professional sport and fandom.
It is, however, worthwhile to recall that underneath that red jersey, there is a person, somebody subject to the same pressures and frailties each endures.
An unforeseen advantage of being able to attend training is that one gets to see these guys away from the intensity, the heightened emotion, of the matchday.