After The Spoiler’s visit to Stan’s talkSPORT studio, the gulf between blogs and former players is wider than ever.

Dear Stan,

Oh dear. That didn’t go too well, did it? Not radio’s finest half hour. Still, thanks for having me.

There seems to be some confusion over my comment that players can’t be fans, not least because it was so poorly articulated, so let’s clear that one up. You say that fans cannot have the same appreciation of the game that players have. “Have you ever been in a professional dressing room?” you asked. (Of course I haven’t - why would I?) And only an imbecile would attempt to argue that this doesn’t give you an exclusive perspective on the game. So I agree - as players you have direct, first hand knowledge of situations that spectators can only watch and speculate about.

My point was that by the same standard, players cannot have the same experience of the game that fans have. Yes you can have supported a team since childhood, yes you can still put your scarf on and go and watch them. But the fans’ experience is one of identifying with their team at one remove - we don’t score the goals ourselves, you do it on our behalf. We don’t save the penalties with your own hands, you do it for us. Fans spend years of their lives meditating on football and develop immensely sophisticated and emotional theories about the game, but we don’t know first hand what the pressures and personalities are that shape play - we can only guess. So you can either know what it’s like to play professional football or wonder what it’s like to play professional football, but not both. (And this is not to mention players being unable to physically participate in the fans’ experience of following the team, week in, week out or the contradiction of having to wear the colours of one team while supporting another.)

So when you set out your credentials as a fan - you mentioned the time when your drove to see England with your home made flag - I don’t doubt your passion for the occasion, but when you sit in the stands, you are Stan the ex-pro, not Stan the fan. People want to talk

The Portuguese man-o’-sex fails to slot it home

A big pat on the back for The Spoiler and its astute readers - yesterday we told you that Manchester United would not win in Spain and 60 per cent of you voted that Messi would have a better game than C-Ron. But if Ronaldo had got the game going by actually placing the ball within the huge netted area when he took his spot kick, things could have been oh so different.

Isn’t it strange how the Liverpool/ Chelsea match turned out to be the exciting one, despite having ‘DULL’ written all over it. It’s likes we’re in topsy-turvy land, where hot snow falls up and hamburgers eat people etc.