Footballers, grumblers abandoning hotel (7)

I believe the answer is:

wingers

'footballers' is the definition.
(I know this)

'grumblers abandoning hotel' is the wordplay.
'grumblers' becomes 'whingers' (I've seen this before).
'abandoning' suggests deleting specific letters.
'hotel' becomes 'h' (phonetic alphabet: alpha, bravo, charlie etc.).
'whingers' with 'h' taken away is 'WINGERS'.

(Another definition for wingers that I've seen is " Football players".)

I've seen this clue in The Times.

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