Wayne Rooney will run the gauntlet of abuse again at Goodison Park tonight when Manchester United face Everton in the early kick-off, and no doubt the volume and venom of the chants will be intensified by the claims surrounding the striker's private life.
At least Rooney will be buoyed by two impressive performances for England and a return to scoring form after the long drought that blighted his footballing summer. His early goal in the midweek win in Switzerland was his first from open play since March, having got back on the scoresheet for United before the international break when he netted from the penalty spot in the 3-0 win over West Ham.
Rooney was once revered by the Everton faithful, but now he is reviled and his fortunes at Goodison have been mixed since he swapped Everton blue for United red in the summer of 2004.
In six league and cup visits with United, Rooney has been on the winning side three times, with one draw and two defeats. United have had one other victory at Goodison in that period, without Rooney, so overall the results of recent meetings are tilted slightly in their favour. But Everton have had the better of the past two meetings, with a win and a draw.
Rooney has scored on two of his visits to Goodison and United won both times, emphasising again the importance of the mercurial striker's goals. United were heavily reliant on Rooney last season, when he notched his best-ever tally of 26 league goals. He scored in 18 individual matches and United won every time, whereas they won only nine when he didn't score.
It may be no coincidence that United's trophy challenge fell away when Rooney stopped scoring soon after their Carling Cup triumph and another telling factor in Rooney's record is that most of last season's goals (19 out of 26) were against bottom-half opposition, which suggests he needs to improve his scoring ratio against the better teams if United are to regain the title.