Footballers don’t get a great press. They’re condemned as overpaid, cheating prima donnas. So it was wonderful to read this story in The Guardian today, in which Manchester United player Alan Smith dismisses all talk of ill feeling towards Liverpool fans for ugly incidents that followed his serious injury during the FA Cup tie between the clubs last February.

Smith broke his leg during that game, and his ambulance was attacked outside the stadium. But he dismisses the incidents as the actions of a few people out of a million. The Guardian reports that he plans to visit Liverpool’s dressing room to thank the club’s medics for their help.

This is exactly the kind of sportsmanship that defuses tensions between fans. What a contrast with Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho’s behaviour after goalkeeper Petr Cech was injured in last week’s Reading v Chelsea game. Mourinho said Cech had to wait 30 minutes for an ambulance, a claim rebutted by Reading and the regional ambulance service. Mourinho is fast gaining a reputation as a man obsessed by gamesmanship. He could – and should – learn from Alan Smith’s maturity and sensitivity.