Manchester City are being forced to grovel in the wake of the fiasco that erupted after Emanuel Adebayor’s goal against his former club, Arsenal. The player has been made to send a signed shirt by his manager, to the steward that was injured as Arsenal fans tried to get onto the pitch after Adebayor’s taunts.

The shirt has also been sent with a not of apology but it is an instance that the club should never have allowed to happen in the first place. The player is also about to receive a three to four match ban for a stamp on Robin Van Persie’s face earlier on in the same match.

City boss, Mark Hughes, said: “Emmanuel strongly maintains that there was no malice intended in the challenge on Robin van Persie and apologised to him when he hugged him on leaving the field of play at the end of the game. The referee [Mark Clattenburg] had a great view of the challenge from Ade and the one that preceded it by Van Persie and deemed at the time that neither were worthy of either a yellow or red card.”

The Football Association is also now likely to call in the manager to explain comments he made after the game, comments similar to the ones above that condone the actions of the player contracted to his club. Hughes was criticised in the press recently by saying that Adebayor had every right to react how he did after he was subjected to a tremendous amount of ‘personal abuse’ during his time at Arsenal.

The point is that Mark Hughes is losing a lot of respect and the image of his club is going down the toilet. The reason the FA may decide to ask him to explain his comments is because they suite clearly contradict the evidence in place. Video footage shows that Adebayor’s stamp on Van Persie looked deliberate and although the player has said otherwise, it does not take an idiot to put two and two together and see exactly what was intended.

A police spokeswoman said of the match: “The player’s goal celebration caused the opposition fans to be aggravated and there was a crowd surge. One of the objects that were thrown caught a steward and knocked him out. It’s the decision of the club, the ground security and the FA now whether they want to take the incident any further, but it must have been quite horrific for all the stewards at the time.”