That's been the way for many a year - going back to the days of Charlie Cooke, Bobby Tambling*, "Osgood Is Good" chants and all that. Leeches like Simon Greenberg are that taken to the nth degree.
*The same Bobby Tambling who scored five against us - at Villa Park! - the season we went down. Kenneth Wolstenholme described him in that game as a "cheeky monkey". A bit too mild that...