TRUTH or myth, there’s a great story about George Best which sums up the public’s odd way of sympathising with sportsmen.

Towards the end of his career when his powers were well into the waning period he was in a high-class hotel room with a former Miss World.

Answering his call a hotel worker entered the room with a few bottles of Champagne, recognised the former Manchester United footballer and asked him where it had all gone wrong.

Being a handsome, still fairly young athlete about to settle down for a pleasant evening with one of the most beautiful women on the planet and as much champers as you can shake a stick would be the first request many men would make if a fairy godmother landed in front of them with the make-three-wishes routine.

But when it comes to sport we have a peculiar perspective on where we put our sympathy.

Basically it comes down to whether we like the person or not. And that is down to how they behave in the sporting glare.

Like Best, Joe Hart is universally liked, so when he was shown the door at Manchester City a few weeks ago there was a wave of sympathy.

But why? He got another ridiculously well-remunerated job straightaway no doubt living in wonderful surroundings with the added attraction of learning a new culture and language in Italy.

Poor Joe!

Nevertheless, the reaction to his excellent performance for England on Tuesday night was almost tearful.

It was the same when David Beckham fell foul of Alex Ferguson at Manchester United and had to go, and when Gary Lineker’s international career was ended just one goal short of the England scoring record.

The country rallied round them even though they hardly needed it – Beckham going on to live and play in Madrid, Milan and Los Angeles and Lineker to become the darling of the nation all over again as a television presenter and part-time underwear model.

In the real scheme of things neither of these two deserved one iota sympathy, unlike Tyson Fury who this week gave up his boxing world heavyweight titles to battle depression.

His case is similar to that of Paul Gascoigne who went off the rails time and again, but these two – both great sportsmen who are easily the match of Beckham and Lineker – don’t get the same kind of sympathy because of their behaviour outside the sporting arena which has turned the public against them.

Having the England manager’s job taken away from them after just one match is also the kind of shattered dream no one would wish on anyone.

But Sam Allardyce got no sympathy when it happened to him because of the reasons behind it happening.

As the saying goes nice guys might come second in many walks of life, but in sport they will always come first when the public is doling out sympathy.