I realised something today. I seem to be going through heroes much more quickly than I used to. In fact, I’m finding it increasingly difficult to remember who my current hero is. Allow me to explain.

Heroes are very important for little boys. They’re someone to look up to, someone to admire. Someone to respect for the things that they do and say. Someone who’s up there doing the things that you wish you could do, and doing them with class and style. A role model. Most young boys find their heroes in the world of football, and I was no different. When I was a kid I only had one hero, and that was Glenn Hoddle. Throughout my childhood in the seventies and eighties, just one man – Glenn Hoddle.

I’m a grown man now, but grown men can have heroes too. Again, they’re usually found in the beautiful game, and there lies the problem. Football heroes seem to have a shorter shelf life than they used to. There’s a reason for this, and you don’t need Mulder and Scully to help you figure it out. The game has changed so much in the past ten years that it scarcely resembles the game I fell in love with as a kid, thanks to mercenary players and soulless, slimy agents.

Players these days are systematically distancing themselves from the grass roots of the clubs – the fans – like some snobbish relative denying his working class roots. In the 1960’s, Tottenham’s players used to drink in the Bell & Hare or the White Hart, amongst their fans. Can you imagine players of the modern era socialising with the fans? No, most of them wouldn’t urinate on you if you were ablaze - unless of course they thought that you had some money in your wallet. How many of our players these days live in Tottenham? Or London even? I doubt any of them do, as they all seem to live in Hertfordshire. In contrast, Bill Nicholson still famously lives in Tottenham, a stone’s throw from the Lane. Make what you will of that.

The latest manifestation of the players’ separation from the fanbase is the phenomenon of the player’s web site. Most top players have one, but what is it used for? Is it a fun and interesting place for a player’s fans to visit? Don’t be stupid. It’s a place for them to issue statements to the world, without the need to contact a friendly journalist. Ask yourself, how many times have you seen whining statements of dissatisfaction posted on these sites? If a player is in a strop about something, you’ll hear about it on his web site. These sites do have another purpose though - flogging over-priced “souvenirs” like signed photographs to their loyal fans. Just another moneymaking exercise.

But back to my hero problem. In common with most Tottenham fans, my hero in recent times was Sol Campbell – Tottenham through and through and a real “Spurs Man”. Or so he would have us believe. We all know the truth now though, after his defection to the Dark Side earlier this week. A couple of years ago, when Campbell first started procrastinating over signing a new deal, my admiration for him began to pale. How could he be as devoted to Tottenham as he claimed, if he wouldn’t even sit down with the club and discuss a new contract? Sub-consciously at first, I started looking around the club for a new hero. Someone deserving of my respect.

Then with perfect timing, out of the mist strode Stephen Carr, a quiet, modest young man from Ireland. He’d been in the first team for some time, and his committed displays had earned him the respect of the fans. His hero status was cemented on the day he ran the length of the pitch and fired in a 35-yard screamer to seal a victory over Manchester United at the Lane.

But now, just days after the departure of Campbell, Carr has started making noises on – yes, you guessed it – his web site. He had this to say on Icons.com:

"I know there has been a lot of speculation in the press recently about my future at Tottenham and I've read stories linking me with a move to Barcelona,

"Of course you never know how much truth there is in those kind of rumours, but I have to admit it is incredibly flattering when your name is connected to such a prestigious club. It is a huge compliment.

"I have always said that my ambition in the game is to win medals and I would be an idiot if I turned around and said no out of hand if a club like Barcelona came in with a firm offer for me.

"I think any player would have to consider it and I am no different."

He went on to say:

"If the chance came to play abroad, to experience a different football culture and a whole different way of life, then I would think very seriously about it indeed."

At the very least, these comments are extremely naïve, coming as they do at a time when the Tottenham fans are still ferociously angry about Campbell’s treachery. I have always liked young Carr, and I would hate to misinterpret what he's saying. But I cannot see his comments as anything other than a “come-and-get-me” plea. Carr, it should be remembered, only recently signed a new long-term contract with Tottenham. I wonder why he even bothered, if his comments on his web site are anything to go by. Contracts these days aren’t worth the paper they’re written on anyway. But is it too much to ask that a player who has just signed a new long-term deal should be focusing his attention on N17 rather than a lucrative move to one of Europe’s super-teams?

I have the feeling that the practice of putting your hero’s name on the back of your shirt will soon die out. I imagine people will be reluctant to shell out the money to have the printing done, knowing that the shirt could be obsolete within days if the player in question decides on a whim to go elsewhere. The clubs recognise this fact of course. It’s in the small print – you are not entitled to a refund if a player whose name you had printed on your shirt leaves the club.

If you take my advice, don’t bother hero-worshipping these blokes, because they don’t care about you. They’ll tell you that they do of course. They’ll tell you that they love the club, love the fans. The truth is, they don't love the club - it's a job to them, nothing more. It’s just Playertalk. Playertalk is a very special language – unique in fact. It’s the only language whose primary purpose is not communication. Playertalk is designed to help the player separate the mug punters from as much of their cash as possible, until such time as they get a better offer. Playertalk will then rear its head again, as the player uses it to tell us all that he’d be mad to turn down a bigger club. Translation: “I’d be mad to turn down more money.” By the way, Gary Mabbutt doesn’t speak Playertalk, as his repeated spurning of better offers from Manchester United and Liverpool proved.

So don’t go looking for heroes in the modern game – there aren’t any. If you want a hero, you’re better off picking one from the past. Players who genuinely loved the club. Players who have never let you down. Take your pick – you know the names, and there are plenty to choose from. Hoddle, Perryman, Greaves, Mabbutt, Ardiles, Mackay, Blanchflower, Jones, and many more like them. All are worthy of your respect. Granted, you can’t go and see them running out at the Lane any more. But you can guarantee that they won’t repay your loyalty and support with a dagger between your shoulder blades or a tool in your belly.

I find myself reluctant to pick a new hero from the Tottenham playing staff, as I fear that he will only let me down in time. So I think I’ll play it safe from now on. I’ll stick with a man who hasn’t pulled on a Tottenham shirt in anger for over 45 years. A man who has given a lifetime of service to Tottenham, never once putting a foot wrong: William Edward Nicholson – loyalty personified. He won’t let me down.

This may seem like a bitter, acerbic rant against avaricious players and their odious agents. It probably is. But I’ve had enough. I’m sick and tired of players taking my support and admiration (not to mention my money) and then throwing it back in my face when the prospect of earning more money elsewhere comes their way. Players these days seem intent on eradicating words like “loyalty”, “honesty” and “contract” from the football vernacular, and replacing them with “greed”, “apathy” and “contempt”. I look at the football world lately and I’m reminded of something Bob Hoskins said in The Long Good Friday: “Is there no decency in this disgusting world?”

Disillusioned? You bet I am.