Joleon is a leader. Rangers will be getting a top pro
He is still a very capable defender. I don’t see too much fazing him
JOLEON LESCOTT turned up every week knowing his every move would be analysed to the Nth degree, his first mistake pounced upon as reason enough for a hail of invective-laden insults. Not the worst preparation for life in the Old Firm threshing machine.
Eric Black saw the veteran defender lambasted and abused by Aston Villa fans who needed someone to pick on — and marvelled at his ability to play through the maelstrom.
Suffering more than most as the team he had supported since childhood dropped out of the English Premier League, Lescott was hounded by supporters over a couple of Tweets — one entirely accidental, the other no more than ill-advised — but never once looked for an easy escape from the sound and fury.
And so, demotion to the Villa Under-23s by new boss Roberto di Matteo may well have forced the former England international to seek pastures new.
However, at a stage in his career when he might well have sought a quieter life, the 34-year-old is apparently extremely keen on the idea of turning out for Rangers in the Scottish Premiership. Not exactly the soft option, given the demands and pressures brought to bear on anyone pulling on the light blue jersey.
Former Celtic assistant manager Black, who was first-team coach and then caretaker manager at Villa last season, is adamant that Mark Warburton will have no regrets if he succeeds in his recruitment pitch to Lescott.
‘I think he will cope absolutely fine with life at Rangers,’ said Black, now No2 to Southampton boss Claude Puel.
‘That will be no problem for him at all. I’ve got to be honest, I don’t see too much fazing him.
‘He’s a level-headed individual and is so experienced. He’s played for a lot of big clubs, played in a lot of difficult games.
‘I’m sure the Rangers v Celtic game might be a bit of a surprise or an eye-opener, as it always is to everybody. I think he’ll cope very well. I’ve no doubt about that.
‘Rangers are going to get a top professional, a top individual who is a very experienced and very capable defender.
‘He’s a guy who trains every day, a player who approaches every session as if it’s his first. Joleon has such a brilliant appetite for the game. That will be obvious to anyone who works with him.
‘And he’s a good bloke. He’s a leader in the dressing room. I found him great to work with.’
Black’s admiration for Lescott was only enhanced by the ex-Wolves, Everton, Manchester City and West Brom defender’s reaction when he became a target for boos, jeers and — inevitably, in this age of unreasonable social media ‘outrage’ — some pretty vile online abuse.
His crime was to tweet a picture of a £120,000 Mercedes hours after a 6-0 defeat to Liverpool. Lescott claimed that the Tweet had been sent by accident while the phone was in his pocket — and insisted that he didn’t even own the car in question.
Explaining that it had been a photo sent to him by a young team-mate, who had been thinking of buying the car, the veteran said: ‘I told him it was a nice car but to be careful because the insurance might be high.’
He had been alerted to the furore by his brother while driving back from the Liverpool game, revealing: ‘There was no comment on the Tweet. Just a picture. I don’t see why people don’t believe it was a genuine mistake.
‘My brother said: “It’s been retweeted and the fans are going off. It doesn’t look good”.
‘I said I’d be home in an hour and address it then. By that time, because I hadn’t deleted it straight away or commented straight away, everyone had blown it out of all proportion.
‘It wasn’t great timing. For me to accidentally tweet a picture is not the worst crime that a footballer has ever committed. I understand the feeling of fans who feel let down.’
That wasn’t enough to quieten the raging mob who were further enraged when relegation was confirmed and Lescott described it as ‘a weight off the shoulders’.
Black, who was there for every day of the infighting and uproar of fans also at odds with the board, said of Lescott’s demeanour during the crisis: ‘It wasn’t straightforward for him at Villa. Far from it.
‘But I kept picking him simply because he handled it brilliantly. It was difficult for him because there was a lot of discord between the fans and the team at that time.
‘But he kept turning up, kept training, kept going out in front of them — and kept taking the ball, no matter the reaction. That showed the measure of him, the fact that he would do that.’
As a footballer, well, he’s been on Match of the Day or Super Sunday often enough for people to have a fair inkling of what they’re getting. The rest is down to opinions.
With 26 England caps, 10 Champions League appearances and 22 Europa League outings on his CV, no one can argue that he hasn’t played at the highest level.
‘As a player, he hasn’t changed much,’ said Black, busy plotting to spoil Jose Mourinho’s first home game as Manchester United boss when Saints head to Old Trafford on Friday night.
‘He’s a very experienced defender now, of course. He tries to read the game as quickly as he possibly can, he has always been good at using the ball, and he’s still strong, still very capable.
‘I found him a great individual, a tough character, especially under the circumstances.’