It is hard being a Cleveland Browns fan. The franchise is in complete disarray. The defence, which was meant to be the one of the best in the league this season, is awful.

A complete mess. The run game which was meant to help out the quarterback is non-existent. They may as well stop trying to run the ball. And their first round pick from last year, the man that was meant to save their franchise and lead the team to glory, cannot get out of his own way.

Johnny Manziel was named the starting quarterback for the rest of the season last week but before he was able to get his helmet on, has found himself demoted to third in the depth chart, his time as a Brown all but over. Why? Because he was pictured at a nightclub during his time off.

It has been a long and troubled road for the 2012 Heisman trophy winner since he entered Cleveland.

Manziel was a terrific prospect coming out of Texas A&M. The mobile QB had all the traits to be one of the better players in his position. However, he hasn’t seemed to grasp the basic concept of what it means to be a professional athlete.

In college, he was dubbed Johnny Football. His flair and ability to escape the pocket and make highlight plays was the reason many tipped him to be the first quarterback off the board in the 2014 draft and walk straight into any side that drafted him if they needed a QB.

But that wasn’t the case. The Browns drafted him 22nd in the first round and his rookie season was an absolute disaster.

He was nowhere near ready for the opening game and lost out to Brian Hoyer, a journeyman player who was a backup QB at best.

His poor performances in the pre-season was the second sign of trouble. The first was that Manziel was often found partying on weekends, instead of learning the team’s playbook.

Allegedly, the executives allowed him to spend the summer enjoying himself, as a way to get it out of his system before the season started. Plus it was good publicity for the team, their young playboy was always in the papers keeping the team relevant. He was their Joe Namath. But that’s where the similarities end between the two QBs.

While Namath went down as one of the best players to throw the ball, Manziel was looking like a total bust.

To be fair to Manziel, it is a challenging thing to go from a college system to a pro system and needs hundreds of hours of dedication to get to grips with it.

For example, in a recent interview with Arizona Cardinals quarterback Carson Palmer, the 35-year-old explained for an upcoming game against the Browns he had to make sure he knew the 171 plays that the offensive coach wanted to run. That’s just for one game.

An NFL playbook has on average upwards of 600 plays and the impression outside of Cleveland was that Manziel had no interest in learning their plays.

It seemed like he had decided that his natural ability would get him through his rookie season and that he would eventually be handed the starting role, ignoring the fact that it was something that had to be earned.

By time he eventually saw a meaningful snap on the field it was November 30, week 12.

And though he started off well, it went downhill from there to the point where they pulled him back out a few weeks later after he injured his hamstring.

Changes need to be made and Manziel made the wise decision to check himself into rehab during the off-season and sort his life out. It was rumoured that he had a really bad problem with substance abuse though this has never been confirmed.

After 10 weeks in a private facility, what emerged in the summer was a young man ready to play in the NFL.

Gone was the Johnny Football moniker. No more money sign celebration which had been symbolic of his time as a footballer. What made Manziel exciting was gone and a new, more mature Johnny was standing in his place.

Coaches and players were shocked at what they were seeing but pleased. They had sat him down and told him that for him to be the face of the franchise, he had to act like it. No more pictures of him drunk at college parties.

He had to clean up his act and prove that he was ready to start being an NFL player. And he was.

It may be a cliche but the former Texas A&M player was the first player to arrive at the training facility and last one to leave. He was finally getting to grips with the playbook and was behaving like a professional.

Though Hoyer had gone, Josh McCown had been signed to win matches for the Browns but also to help Manziel.

By time Hoyer had left the building, him and Manziel were not speaking to each other. There was no relationship between the pair and it was damaging the locker room.

McCown was a different person to Hoyer and took Manziel under his wing, tutored him and attempted to help him become the QB Cleveland needed. Both were from Texas and it was believed it would help the future franchise quarterback to be around someone he could relate to.

Manziel looked a lot better in pre-season and some NFL analysts even questioned whether McCown should start the season.

Manziel had shown that he could play in the NFL and with the Browns still some-way off being a SuperBowl contender, they could at least see what they had in the 22-year-old instead of rolling out a 35-year-old who you know how far he can take you.

It was what the fans wanted, who yearned to see someone exciting under centre. Manziel offered hope and gave supporters reasons to be optimistic for the future.

McCown did start the opening game against the New York Jets but was knocked out in the first half and Manziel was given his chance to shine.

Though they lost 31-10, Manziel looked decent. He turned the ball over three times and looked every bit like rookie QB but it was a lot better than his performances the year before.

With McCown ruled out for week two, everyone was able to see Manziel get his first start of the 2015 season.

And how he excelled. Throwing for two touchdowns and completing eight of 15 passes for 172 yards, Cleveland beat the Tennessee Titans 28-14. This was what the fans and Browns organisation had wanted. Progress.

Manziel looked like he could one day lead this team to glory. However, McCown was brought back in week three and the Browns once again lost.

McCown was playing well but there were bigger problems with the team and it needed something different than a pocket passer. It needed someone who could escape the pocket, make plays with their legs and bring pizzazz to a stuttering offence. It needed Manziel.

As the calls from outside the building grew, Manziel once again found himself in trouble off the field. He was pulled over by the police for an altercation with his girlfriend in his car and admitted that he had spent the day drinking.

Manziel was not over the limit but after vowing to clean up his act and spending the start of the year in rehab, this was terrible for the Brown player.

Head coach Mike Pettine was disappointed with his player but as he wasn’t the starter, brushed the issue under the carpet as he had bigger problems. His job was under threat.

It was rumoured that the owners wanted to see Manziel start but Pettine needed a quarterback who could win now, not in three years’ time. Plus he didn’t trust the younger QB to lead his offence.

However, the team lacked any identity on the field and the season was once again over before it really began.

Another injury to McCown in week eight meant Manziel was given another chance to show what he could produce on the field.

Though the Browns lost to the then-undefeated Cincinnati Bengals, Manziel was not the problem. He went through his progressions on the field and took another step forward when everything around him took 10 steps back.

Week nine was a drubbing at the hands of the Pittsburgh Steelers but Pettini said that Manziel “played his ass off” and while initially holding off giving the keys to the offence to Manziel, he felt he had no choice but to go with the youngster. He had shown enough in the previous two weeks that he deserved to start the rest of the season.

The Browns had a bye week which was perfect for them. The team could draw up a scheme suitable for Manziel to take on the abysmal Baltimore Ravens and make sure he was 100 per cent ready for the game.

Manziel promised not to “embarrass the organisation” during the team’s bye week and said that he would take the weekend to unwind and relax.

But unwinding to most players is completely different for Manziel.

While some would go back over tape of the opposition and get ahead, that isn’t Manziel. And it wasn’t surprising when video emerged of the quarterback out partying in Austin, Texas. Manziel was sipping champagne straight from the bottle and the media were quick to pounce.

Pettine had been let down by the player he reluctantly named the starter for the rest of the season. “I want to sit down and discuss it before I do a knee jerk and go off on a tangent,” he said. But really, everyone knew where this was going. Manziel would be benched and his career in Cleveland would be all but over.

McCown stuck up for his teammate, saying that it’s hard to comment on Manziel and what he does off the field, when he’s doing what he’s asked in the building.

But it’s not enough. When you are being moulded and prepared to be the face of the franchise, you have to behave. Manziel doesn’t seem to understand this.

And just a few days ago, it emerged that he had lied about when the video was taken. He had betrayed their trust once again.

Some have argued that if there was this kind of technology around the time of hall-of-famer Brett Favre, he would never have made it in the league.

And there is a point to that, better QBs in the past have behaved 10 times worse than Manziel has and got away with it. But they had the wins behind them and the talent which led to coaches ignoring their off-the-field indiscretions.

Manziel is yet to get there and after promising to stay out of trouble, did the exact opposite.

As Chris Tucker in the movie Friday asks: “How do you get fired on your day off?” For Manziel, it’s quite simple actually.