Neville Dalton is a journalist and a Portsmouth fan of more than 40 years

Ben Thatcher, Joey Barton, Emmanuel Adebayor, Craig Bellamy… They do like their cult heroes at Manchester City, don't they?

No sooner has the club offloaded thug number one and trouble-maker of the decade - and take in a bob or two from their flash Arab owner - than they land another contender or two for football's Public Enemy Number One.

And neither of the latest additions has taken long to thrust himself back into the bad-boy spotlight in which they've spent no little parts of their careers to date.

First, Ade - with the aid of a good old bit of Fleet Street pressure-cranking - sets the tone, outlining how Arsenal fans' "hatred" of him had scarred him for life.

Then he sets foot on the pitch against his old team-mates (mates??) and sets one of his feet a little too close to his old mucker Robin van Persie for comfort.

After the inevitable goal, he zooms up to his former fans (fans??) to generously share his celebrations with them. An 80-yard dash. How thoughtful of him.

Leaving aside the wisdom of sharing his pre-match thoughts on the Arsenal supporters with a nationwide audience on the day of the big return, there won't be many in the game offering the slightest sympathy with him after his kick at van Persie.

There will be plenty who won't be racing to the Dutchman's defence, given his previous behaviour in the English game and the pretty appalling challenge that provoked Adebayor's attack.

But there can be no excuse for Adebayor's violence, for which he has been rightly punished.

Similarly, his goal celebration, in which he virtually shrugged aside the attempts of his team-mates to congratulate him on yet another cracker in order to head for his former followers, won't win him many fans, either.

It certainly won't win him any brainbox-of-the-year award.

But where I do take issue is with those commentators who should know better, who spouted off as if Adebayor was singularly responsible for World War III, global warming and Gordon Brown.

How dare he upset those poor little Gooners, they simpered. Running upfield with a smile on his face - and then sliding along the pitch in front of them! How dare he?

Incitement, they called it.

Stupidity and lack of class, I call it. But that's as far as it goes. We Pompey supporters know too well what it's like for a former player we didn't particularly like to score against us - or worse still, one of those damned Scummers. And there have been a few.

Who can forget Wayne Bridge (now who does he play for now?) setting the precedent for pitch-length dashes to the opposition end to celebrate a goal long before Adebayor was even in this country?

Bridge's actions, while at Chelsea, upset many Pompey fans present. But there were many more who rightly questioned why he should be criticised - or, as some suggested, punished - for giving a little back after Pompey's fans had taunted him mercilessly for the whole game (not to mention every previous and subsequent time our paths crossed).

For the truth is we fans dish it out by the spadeful, and while professional footballers are expected to turn the other cheek, that's a pretty big challenge for most members of the human race, let alone athletes, psyched up in the white-hot atmosphere of a match for the physical challenge they are facing, where the line between glory and failure can be so fine.

It's certainly a challenge beyond most of the Neanderthals offering their pitchside advice to these players, especially those who hurled more than just abuse at the goalscorer.

And let's face it, while many were apoplectic that Adebayor should have the temerity to do a slide (a slide!) in front of the Arsenal fans, most of them were also offering his actions as a virtual excuse for any consequent over-reaction by the darling Gooners. As I said, incitement, they called it.

Just ask yourself which really is worse? Unwise, over-enthusiastic, but somewhat understandable goal celebrations, where the player stays on the pitch and hurls nothing worse than a provocative smile (oh yes, and a slide)…

Or a bunch of foul-mouthed replica-shirt wearers treating someone who was once one of their own in a manner similar to the way Spurs fans treat one of theirs (and I think we all know who I'm talking about), spouting vitriol, threatening gestures and in some cases missiles?

As for Mr Bellamy… he's another of those players fans love to hate. A sort of Robbie Savage - with talent.

I despise the way he winds up opponents and fans, and if reports are to be believed, even his own colleagues sometimes.

But I tell you what, I'd have him in Pompey's team tomorrow (if only). Yes, I'd be concerned about the potential unrest he might cause among the squad, but Bellamy is a winner… and we could do with a few of them at the moment, even if it does shake the pot a little.

Bellamy is a fast, direct, intelligent (in a footballing sense!) footballer, who in my view is underrated to the extent that I would prefer him in my team to any of City's other signings.

He has pace, skill and a finisher's instinct that has ensured him goals wherever he has gone. Now, alongside top-quality colleagues, he could begin to enjoy the success that should already have accompanied his undoubted talent.

But what was he doing on Sunday, walking up to a pitch-invading Manchester United supporter (another bright spark doing the reputation of fans throughout the country the world of good!), who was already being restrained, and giving him a bit of a slap?

Now, even if our Craig wasn't our Craig, it's not a good time to wander up to a highly competitive player who has just scored two great goals against his team's fiercest rivals, only to lose out to a 97^th-minute winner, is it?

So when it comes to provocation and understandable reactions, there's a little sympathy. But why, oh why, didn't he just leave it at a Bellamy glare (surely enough for many people) and let the due process of law deal with Mr Moron?

Still on that match… a couple of observations about the managers.

It's no surprise that so many fans despise Sir Alex Ferguson. He's hardly the most likeable - or humble - of men.

But worst of all, he's incredibly successful. He gets his teams playing high-quality, attractive football and unlike so many before him or since, he gets them to win while doing it.

It's no wonder fans of other clubs are so jealous of him.

So I wasn't surprised at the mocking of his touchline celebrations after Michael Owen's late, late winner in said game.

After all, it's only right that we should expect a higher quality of dance performance from him. It's not as if his job is to create a successful football team, is it?

And yet contrast with the almost blinkered awe in which Martin O'Neill is held. Negligible success anywhere except in the two-horse race that is the Scottish Premier League, his teams play reasonable - but not especially wonderful (see Leicester) - football.

He is pretty outspoken, often curt - and have you seen his touchline shenanigans whenever one of his players scores?

Bloody criminal, if you ask me. Yet are we all demanding a touchline ban for Martin O?

Double standards!

And what about Mark Hughes? You have to sympathise with him over all that time added on at the end of the game, don't you?

I mean, nearly seven minutes. Seven minutes in which United had the chance to score another goal.

No wonder they did.

Seven minutes. I mean, it wouldn't have been so bad if the rules said City could score during that time, too, would it?