Danny Hall: Football fans have rightly backed Sheffield United's Oli McBurnie over Swansea/Cardiff controversy - football has far bigger problems

After his impressive display, and winning goal, in Sheffield United's victory over West Ham United on Friday evening, all the weekend headlines should have been about Oli McBurnie.
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And, as it transpired, they were. Just not for anything that happened at Bramall Lane on Friday evening.

Instead events 150 miles south-west, over the Welsh border in Cardiff, are now instead associated with McBurnie's name on social media or any popular search engine this morning.

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The former Swansea striker was in the away end for Sunday's derby clash at Cardiff, which ended in an uneventful 0-0 draw. What instead dominated the news agenda from that game was the sight of McBurnie, in his customary bucket hat and Stone Island clobber, supporting his old mates and aiming a few hand gestures in the direction of Cardiff supporters.

Predictably, it didn't take long for it to reach the news and, in fairness to my colleagues at those outlets, a Premier League footballer in with 'ordinary' supporters at a game will probably always do so. A former Blade, Aaron Ramsdale, did the same recently while Kyle Walker and Harry Maguire have both returned to Bramall Lane, and indeed Hillsborough, to cheer on the Blades in recent years.

The difference, it seems, is that while Ramsdale, Walker and Maguire all prefer to keep a low profile, McBurnie appears to have no intention of doing so. His bucket hat may have ensured some anonymity if it was not teemed with a gold-sleeved Stone Island jacket but as much as the social media police may not like it, it is no-one else's decision how McBurnie dresses.

What jars the most, though, is the hypocrisy on such occasions; the often-heard complaint that 'footballers are out of touch with supporters' and then when one sits alongside them and gets involved, the same outlets frame the story in a certain way.

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It isn't solely a Sky Sports tactic but it seemed to be their cameras that first picked out McBurnie in the away end, amongst thousands of fans, before running stories throughout their news service all weekend about possible fines and sanctions from the FA that he may receive.

Oliver McBurnie of Sheffield United scores against West Ham: James Wilson/SportimageOliver McBurnie of Sheffield United scores against West Ham: James Wilson/Sportimage
Oliver McBurnie of Sheffield United scores against West Ham: James Wilson/Sportimage

Talksport, never shy to seize upon the big talking points of the weekend and divide opinion amongst their studio guests to encourage debate/calls (at 13p a minute/50p + charges a text, by the way) raised the question this morning: "Is McBurnie disrespecting his current side by publicly showing his support for his former side?"

The replies, almost overwhelmingly, suggested that he was not, and a tweet with the question and a video of presenter Adam Smith was later deleted. What is most reassuring about the whole affair is that fans do not seem that bothered about it, despite the attempts to whip them into a frenzy.

Of course, there is a legitimate argument that McBurnie would be better served reigning in the hand signals at rival fans, considering he is now a £20m Premier League player and, consequently, big news.

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But really, for the easily-offended out there calling for sanctions... what harm has really been done?

Far bigger issues face our game at the minute and although perspective can often found wanting in football, perhaps some of it is required here.

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