Pundits cause a stir by telling fans that booing during football matches isn’t acceptable

Pundits Peter Crouch, Joe Cole, and Ally McCoist cause a stir by telling fans that booing during football matches isn’t acceptable.

This was in reference to Tottenham goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario being booed by his own fans following his howler against Fulham at the weekend.

The former footballers said fans shouldn’t boo their own players while they’re on the pitch, adding they should save it for half time or full time instead.

They added that it can have a devastating mental impact on players, recalling from personal experience.

“When they’re wearing your shirt, and they’re trying to do the best they can, booing during the game is not acceptable.”

Crouch, Cole and Ally discuss the impact of being booed by fans after Vicario’s reception yesterday 💭

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Peter Crouch: “I’ve got a bit of a problem with it. think you boo them at the half time, you boo them at the end of a game.

“I think when they’re wearing your shirt and they’re trying to play and they’re trying to do their best, think booing them during the game is not acceptable. I agree with Thomas Frank.

“I’ve been there myself for England when I came on at game at Old Trafford and got burned. I’m just looking at the human element of it. I know his family’s in the crowd. I remember my mum and dad being there and, you know, it’s an embarrassing place to be. It’s horrific, I suppose it’s part of football.”

Ally McCoist: “I think you make a good question to, because depending on the mentality of the player, it could finish you, it could finish you.”

Lynsey Hipgrave: “As goalkeeper as well I imagine even more difficult in that position.”

Ally McCoist: “Yeah, either sink or swim. Either say, right, I’m going to show these boys what it’s all about. And not everybody’s got that mentality. It can affect people differently.”

Thomas Frank slams ‘unacceptable’ Tottenham fans for turning on Vicario after howler

Joe Cole added: “It’s a good point what Crouchy makes. said, football’s like in a bubble, isn’t it? Like everywhere you go in the world, you know, people go to work you need to be minding your P’s and Q’s, you don’t want to offend someone and you want to be kind and that’s wonderful.

“But it seems like as soon as you walk into a football stadium that all goes out of the window when it comes to the footballers, you know what mean?

“So that’s an interesting way to look at it but Crouchy’s right, the personal side of it, you know, sometimes you want to think that, well, football’s a passionate game and frustrations rise and people do silly things, we see it everywhere all over the country but you don’t like to see it.”

Pundits cause a stir by telling fans that booing during football matches isn’t acceptable…

@jwdrew1: I felt the booing was because Vic did his normal, ‘blame everyone but himself’ act after the goal. I feel, and I think a lot of fans agree, we can accept mistakes, we all make them. Just hold your hands up and say sorry. Don’t try and pass the buck 💁🏻‍♂️ COYS

@trig_the_yid: I’ve got a season ticket, costs me a fortune. was gonna take my kids last night would of cost me 128 quid for 2 tickets. pay that sort of money, on the wages I’m on compared to them, I’m entitled to expect some sort of style passion cohesion in their play. it’s a shambles.

@Jarmanmark79: The issue is that nearly the whole team are not doing there best. Did he watch the chelsea or arsenal game, nobody put the effort in? Vicario keeps making mistakes and is quick to blame/shout at others when they do. If he doesnt like it then he needs to step up and improve or go.

@Andy_Doods: I love Crouchy but I’d imagine he got booed at OT playing for England because of his Liverpool connections not because he’d screwed up previously. Spurs fans booed Vicario twice to let him know they expect better. After that it was all done.

@shai_lugassy: I pay for 2 expensive Season Tickets and expect a player that makes 100k a week to be more professional, and Yes take the criticism from us! I can boo if I feel I am being ripped off. The football at the club is horrible, I feel we are served Championship level of football.

@alexw2289: Paying the highest prices in the land to be 2-0 inside 6 minutes against a team without an away win all season and we’re out of order for booing? 😂😂😂

@SussexTottenham: They’ve been getting beat regularly at home now for three years. When the fans call them up on it they get stick

@Vinny86thfc: Not a single person in the football world gets to call fans unacceptable. These people live in a complete bubble to the real existence. They come out at certain points and start the next poxy societal crusade but if it impacts their wages, they give up. So they can fuck right off

@ProTottenham: Disagree @petercrouch. These are highly paid footballers! The average wage in the UK is £39,000 a year, and let’s make this abundantly clear, there are more people you will meet who are far below that £39k salary than there are those you meet who are over it. The average Premier League wage is £60,000 a week! A season ticket at Tottenham is in excess of over £1000, I think a fan has every single right to boo players and the team after witnessing consistent poor performances and seen your team win 3 Premier League home games in all of 2025. Its a disgrace

@Harri21263Steve: Sorry guys, the supporters at the ground are the paying customers. Booing poor performances is customer feedback and performance review rolled up in a simple vocal signal, the boo, that is as old as football itself.

@_adz85: Absolutely is acceptable. Turn up and do your job or fuck off and let someone else do it. Gone the day playing at these clubs was an honour. A privilege. A dream come true. Now the players think they’re bigger than the clubs. Games gone.

@bwhite789: Such an out of touch opinion this, when fans are paying thousands a year to watch that shite they have a right to boo if they want.

@yidoo90: So they shouldn’t be held accountable for not doing their jobs they get paid extortionate money to do. Leave off, fans pay a premium and are more than entitled to voice their opinion for below par endless shit

@GabStone9: Not that I condone booing, but let’s be clear: He didn’t get booed for making the mistake. He got booed for immediately shouting at his defence and trying to blame them for a mistake of his own. Shameful and embarrassing.

@SussexTottenham: This group of players have been getting beat regularly at home now for 3 years. Everyone rocks up to our stadium and beats us. The moment they have a bit of criticism they cry about it. Fulham have the worst away form in the leauge and was 2 up in 4 minutes. They deserve the boos