I disagree, and now that he's (hopefully) gone, I feel it's safe to say that I think he was an absolute joke of a footballer, the idea that a professional player on tens of thousands of pounds a week at one of the biggest clubs in the world, with as much talent as he has (or at least, had), for the fee that he cost, spends six years showing as much ambition as a leaf in Autumn, showing seemingly no intent to actually get fit, bulk up, improve, train, lose weight, practice, make it, whatever.
Yeah, he was a lovable chap, but who cares? As a footballer, he was a disgrace.
I'm glad he's (almost) gone.