Not in principle, no. I do disagree with the many who were saying he needs to improve his CL knock out record to get respect. From my recollection, he has barely had the opportunity. He hadn’t player in it before United, and he was only here two years, and off the top of my head I’m going to assume we were only in the CL for one of those. Inter didn’t make the CL knock-out either. They did make the EL final though, and he scored in every game up until and including the final. He also got a brace in Paris, a famous night in which I feel his contribution is massively overlooked. His lack of CL footy is, in his personal case, offset to an extent with the profile that comes with his international record. Scoring goals at that level has always held huge prestige, especially of it is for a glamour nation like his.
In any case, without wanting to have this conversation again in its entirety - my general point is that he doesn’t get his dues for what he HAS done. Not that he has done something that he hasn’t. What he has done as a centre forward in football deserves more respect than being universally seen as some sort of joke, reduced to memes of first-touches and the rest as if he is some random second-rate striker. I’ve always found it a bit distasteful personally, although while he was here there were times I’d lost my rag with him too admittedly.
I also couldn’t care less about the mitigation that many have provided to me about ‘it’s only because he was a dick when he left us’. To me, it’s like the Pogba hate in that I feel it is being clung to disproportionately to give legitimisation to a more irrational dislike that began way before Lukaku’s post-United comments, or in Pogba’s case - his agent’s. Now he’s said some shit we can come out freely and shit on him for 200 pages, at least we can claim justification. As I said earlier, I found the tone towards Lukaku before he left us to be rather distasteful, so long before this validation that has been presented. The night in Paris was a perfect example. I can’t say I felt Lukaku was particularly celebrated on here for his role, in the way another player would have been. Praise was muted, and generally, that connection has never seemed to be there between him and the fans - similarly to Pogba and many of our fans. Certain comments, in both cases, came later and allowed an opportunity to say that ‘it’s all because of x’.
I appreciate that this is England, and Harry Kane is English, but I recall a period in their career while he was at Everton where they had very comparable achievements and records. I just think he’s always been a little under celebrated and a little villanised. Few people are openly honest enough to just admit ‘meanness’ to another, so there will always be a validation that they cling to to justify their behaviour, but for me, I just compare really, and I don’t think the attitudes applied to Lukaku would be applied to others in similar circumstances. I feel similarly about Pogba, but it is ultimately just a view.
This is something that is a futile conversation anyway, as I’d never expect agreement with it. Even if I am right, I don’t think many are honest or aware enough of themselves to notice or admit it, so they would say, and believe, that it is not the case. And perhaps they are right. For my part, I feel I have somewhat heightened sensitivity to such nuances and it sticks out to me quickly when I see what I believe to be different attitudes/treatment amongst certain players. I do feel some are held to higher standards in order to earn 'affection’ so to speak. I mentioned Andy Cole as another example earlier in this thread. He’s another very under-celebrated player in PL history, despite quietly having sat in the top 3, (mostly top 2) PL goal scorers of all time. Some may see it as normal or harmless, but I’ve had a million conversations in my life that makes me quickly identify these situations and I know that it isn’t lost on Mr Cole either as I’ve heard him say as much himself.
Trust me, I was hesitant to even mention the racial angle. Naturally, everyone dismissed it, as I expected, and it is not easy to prove given the absence of racial language. But the underlying ‘son, remember you have to do twice as much’ that gets told to all of us as kids is to me, quickly identified as applicable in Lukaku’s case. As I said, he’ll likely retire with over 400 top flight career goals and then quietly drift away from relevance and would have spent most of his career being laughed at and made jokes on, when he himself, would rightly think he was a top class striker and have the record to support it.
Apologies for essay.