(Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images)

As a Manchester City fan I am very well used to being called names, abused and generally thought of as a laughing stock because of my footballing affiliation.

Water, duck, back. 

It's been going on for as long as I can remember, in effect all of my football supporting life. It used to sting but lost it's impact many years ago.

That's the thing about being a City fan—if you were one, it is because of so many things not related to football success.

Of course we all know that the purity of any new City fans will be doubted from now on because City stand a very good chance of actually wining something sometime soon.

So when City are talked of as a cheap, classless club it shouldn't hurt. But it does.

The reason it hurts is because I really don't think it is true.

David Moyes has gone off the deep end over the Joleon Lescott transfer, suggesting that the player has had his head turned.

He considers the public bidding that City have entered into, is tantamount to tapping up!

Yet, it is acceptable for Everton to go public with the City bids on their own website?

It is very likely that Everton's inability to buy, or even to take a seat at the top table of transfers was going to demotivate their fan base and perhaps even their squad.

So they made a very public statement about not selling one of their better players, no matter how much they were offered. 

Now that's a cheap trick isn't it?

When the bids, speculation, and discontent continued, Moyes called foul.

Further, he has even pulled the good name of Manchester City through the mud.

He has attacked Mark Hughes for not having called him up—in order, we presume, to be told to sod off.

Mark Hughes made the simple point that he doesn't do that with any transfer, and he suggested that no serious club does business that way.

We know that Chelsea and Manchester United can't talk about this, as they have history of being less than squeaky clean in transfer dealings, but what of Everton?

Although not the most prolific in terms of transfers, with a club record of a respectable but relatively low of £15m, Everton should be in the clear.

The one time they have bought big in Fellaini, they managed to beat Manchester United, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Aston Villa and Spurs.

You don't beat those teams to a player by doing things by the book. No way, no how.

They turned the player with oodles of cash, making it known that they were after him.

Exactly the same tactics that City have been accused of by Moyes. Isn't that strange?

So how do David Moyes and Everton get themselves out of this mess and patch up relations with the only club likely to have a surfeit of players and a willingness to loan or sell them, certainly in the price bracket that Everton can afford?

It would be nice to think that an apology or two will be offered but is Moyes man enough?

Or will the people at the top at Everton make that happen at the same time as selling Lescott?

The next move is for Everton to make and I suggest that they look at themselves before they throw around allegations which are clearly false.

In short, its time for David Moyes and Everton to be professional.

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