Delaney asks the real question on future of Irish game

There has been a trend developing in football, or soccer, or whatever you call it yourself, whereby multi-million pound players leaving big clubs for other big clubs tweet or Instagram or communicate in some other new-fangled way their gratitude to the fans and the institution they are leaving behind.

Some of them say sorry that things didn’t work out — like Angel Di Maria on leaving Manchester United for Paris Saint-Germain — but, you know, that’s life and nothing ventured, nothing gained and all the rest of it. Others, like Edin Dzeko, seek to solidify some sort of positive legacy by claiming “I will continue to be a big fan of Manchester City”. Sure you will, pal.

It’s already become a bit passé, truth be told, and the whole thing was parodied brilliantly, if unintentionally, last month when it was claimed that the farewell Samuel Eto’o had penned for Sampdoria supporters was all but identical to the one he had used when departing Everton back at the start of the year.