Dunne and Cook

A nasty little PR battle is simmering at the moment between Richard Dunne and Garry Cook and it's not progressing in a way that will please City chairman, Khaldoon Al Mubarak.

Richard Dunne's career with City probably came to an end on a blustery Sunday last November. City were entertaining Spurs and after an entertaining start in which Robinho had given us the lead, Dunne horribly misjudged the ball letting in Darren Bent to equalise. Bad marking by the captain allowed Bent to score again and the afternoon turned into nightmare when the inept Mike Dean produced his second red card of the proceedings to dismiss Dunne after he had once again tangled with his nemesis - Darren Bent. A bad day for City and a horrorshow for Dunne.

Garry Cook informs us that he reads fan-forums and has even named his particular favourite. It's probable that he had read that particular forum during the following days and he would have witnessed an outpouring of rage and bile usually reserved for the most odious of sex offenders. Other fansites contained similar outbursts of disgruntlement though probably in a more constrained manner. This was probably the moment that Garry Cook decided that Manchester City and Richard Dunne should part company. Any lingering doubts would have been cast aside on a passionate evening in April when Dunne was dismissed during the UEFA Cup quarter-final against Hamburg. The presence of Khaldoon that evening would have done nothing to help his cause.

Dunne's career with City has already been well documented, four times Player Of The Year that includes a season when Nicolas Anelka was on City's books. Red cards and own goals are often subjects, accompanied by inaccurate statistics, that are part of any discussion concerning the amiable Irishman but o.g's are open to conjecture. To me, the epitome of an own goal was Diaby's classic for United against Arsenal, not instances when the ball skims the shin of a lunging defender who is making a last ditch attempt to prevent a goal. Dunney's inglorious record is written in stone - a couple were pearlers but the others were mainly down to freakish misfortune and will be accredited to a player desperately trying to avert danger when his co-defenders were nowhere to be seen.

Red cards should be treated as statistics and nothing else in most cases. The inconsistency of refereeing means dreadful challenges can go unpunished whilst an innocuous trip can result in a player seeing red, instances involving Shaun Wright-Philips and Paul Scholes last season spring to mind. Vinny Jones and Roy Keane got a plethora of red cards in their time, usually for actions bordering on thuggery - Richard Dunne could never be accused of that.

As Dunnes move to Aston Villa was approaching the moment of consummation, the deal hit an unexpected impasse with rumours coming out of City that the captain was holding out for a huge loyalty payment. Initially, I was disgusted at the thought of a Premier League footballer demanding money he wasn't entitled to off a club that had resurrected his career and employed him for 9 years. Two days after the transfer, I am beginning to see things in a different light. The fact that Richard Dunne has spoken out rather than just issue statements has added credence to his cause. The Dubliner, by all accounts is a likeable person, his post match interviews - even after memorable victories have been unassuming and bordering on shy. So when he speaks to the media about the secret phone calls to other clubs and broken promises about testimonials I, for one, will take notice and listen.

Anyway Richard Dunne is now an Aston Villa player and I will always hold him in high esteem. Although his departure was more or less inevitable, I wish it had been done in a more honourable way. If Garry Cook does 'listen to the fans' there's a good possibility that Micah Richards will follow and that would be pure folly. By all means listen to the fans Garry but leave footballing decisions to football people.