Who doesn’t like James Milner, right?
He’s like a weird national icon at this point, simultaneously known for being boring and funny.
And he’s the classic type of English footballer that goes down well over here – hard working, can do a bit of everything, and isn’t too flashy.
So again, who doesn’t like Milner?
Manchester City fans, that’s who.
That may sound strange to the uninitiated, given that Milner played for City and won two Premier League titles, an FA Cup and the League Cup.
But a lot of the animosity comes from the way Milner left City back in 2015.
For one thing, he ran down his contract there in order to secure a bigger deal with Liverpool.
And as we know, if there’s one thing City fans can’t stand it’s money earned unethically.
But Milner also said some things that fans didn’t like – for instance, he said that he’d be supporting Manchester United in the derby last season.
City fans really didn’t like Milner admitting that he’d actively want them to lose and, apparently, the fact that he needed them to drop points so he could win the title with Liverpool wasn’t a good enough excuse.
What a snake. I’m glad we kicked him out of the club
— ☄️ دحومي الحلطومي (@iD7Mi1) April 22, 2019
And so fans were understandably angry when City announced that Milner would be playing in Vincent Kompany’s testimonial next week.
You can check out some of the reaction below:
I swear if I see Milner in a City shirt somebody is catching these hands
— Tact (@Mescudy) September 4, 2019
tell Milner hes not welcome
— e (@isaiahrahsad) September 4, 2019
Not Milner. That… pic.twitter.com/jquFvtzEmg
— Mohamed Abdulkadir (@mohamedamiin2) September 4, 2019
#MilnersNotWelcome@ManCity remove @JamesMilner from the @VincentKompany testimonial. A Judas who deliberately ran his contract down so he could receive a huge signing on bonus from Liverpool after leaving on a free.#MilnersNotWelcome
— YourMCFC (@YourMCFC) September 4, 2019
It remains to be seen if the #MilnersNotWelcome campaign will catch fire and force City to do something about all this.
As things stand, though, Milner will feature in a side of Kompany’s former teammates next week, where they’ll face a team of Premier League legends.