I can also differentiate between the player and the person. Some can't, and they'll be the ones sending death threats to players.
Trent, Salah and VVD
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I met Owen, my lad played in a footy tournament in Helsby with his lad. He was sound, said he was happy have a chat after his lads game was over, he then invited my lad into his gazebo to sit and have his photo taken. Also met Osman a few times as his nephew played in the same league, he was ace. He reffed one of their games when the ref failed to show, posed for photos with the team, etc. Also met Skrtel buying cheap shin pads in Sports Direct 🤣
Yeah, Osman seems a decent sort when he does co-comms in the media. Boyhood Kopite if I'm not mistaken.
At least Skrtel was buying those shinpads rather than biting them. 😉 The only CB I ever saw who took Drogba on and bested him in an out-and-out physical battle.
At least Skrtel was buying those shinpads rather than biting them. 😉 The only CB I ever saw who took Drogba on and bested him in an out-and-out physical battle.
I can't. But also, I won't... (send anybody a death threat over football, that is)
He was buying them to take home to have for dinner with his chips !
Yeah, but I seem to remember Owen unable to negotiate a new contract for a year because his agent had taken a six month holiday or something - Owen might as well have been free for what Madrid paid us and Owen also had the chance to force a move back to us but didn’t want jeopardise playing for England.
Also - didn’t we try and sell MacManaman against his wishes?
Again though, we can’t complain too much - we’ve utilised free agency in the market when it’s suited us too - I remember us doing much the same over Harry Kewell where he turned down moves elsewhere that would have got Leeds a transfer fee to sign for us, so we can’t complain (we, of course we CAN) when it happens to us.
Not that so want to restart the whole Trent debate again, but I just think it’s a strange irony that our demand for loyalty effectively amounts to players committing themselves to long term contract for the sole reason of us selling them before that contract runs out and that anyone who actually honours their contract is seen as some sort of traitor. It’s just a weird thing that only exists in football.
I'd take this even further - though I know many don't agree on this - that humans should have to right to move wherever they want to (laws permitting) as this comes down to freedom of movement & labour. And if that is for a higher salary then so be it.
For obvious reasons clubs need to have employment contracts but they (clubs) have zero compunction on moving on players when it suits them - it seems when the shoe's on the other foot everyone is up in arms however.
It's simplistic of course to reduce this to players having the same rights as other people, if a better opportunity arises for someone working in an office or factory then of course they will more than likely give notice and move on.
And of course due to the huge investments involved clubs need to be protected as well and I wouldn't want an NFL style system, but I don't inherently see any issue with a player seeing out the contract he has agreed to and then deciding where he wants to go to next, he's fulfilled his obligation. What hurts in this situation is more the rejection we feel than the action in and of itself.
Skrtel uses shin pads??
£8 mill.wasn't what Owen was worth, but even in the inflated world of football it's better than 100% of naff all. It's true that there were rumblings about why he didn't force a return to us but there were also rumours that Rafa wasn't keen anyway.
We did offer McMoneyman to Barcelona. The board decided to cut its losses after seeing him become the ringleader of the whole Spice Boys bit and he had a hissy fit because, like some immature teenager, he thought he should be allowed to do what he liked when he liked because he was our best player. Against that background you cannot imagine the sheer immensity of the f'ck I do not give about "his wishes".
I had very mixed feelings about the Kewell business partly because of the above. Arguably, in the bearpit of top level football we shouldn't hobble ourselves by refusing to do the same as others do, but I would have to accept that two wrongs don't make a right.
For the 675th time, my beef with TAA was never that he wanted a move. My beef with him is the same as it was with McMoneyman, namely that he wanted a move BUT KIDDED THE CLUB INTO THINKING HE WAS GENUINE ABOUT CONSIDERING STAYING. Is there an argument for calling the club's reaction naïve? Yes. Does that justify using their possible naïvety against them? Like buggery it does.
Yeah, but can we really be sure that Yrent didn’t enter in to genuine negotiations while looking at his options before making a decision.
He’s still having a good season, despite one or two poor performances, so it’s not as if he’s been totally awful.
I also don’t think footballers are that machiavellian - most struggle to remember what day of the week it is, let alone plan for years to leave on a free while still at their peak.
No, it really isn't. Pl.see my reply to Stevie above, especially the last paragraph. Move on if you wish - if you don't want to be here, it's best for everyone. But BE UP FRONT ABOUT IT.
Yes, we can. Like McMoneyman is known to have done, he's widely reported to have entered into a pre-contract with Real while still "negotiating". McMoneyman for one is more than bright enough to have known exactly what he was doing, I suspect most footballers are plenty street smart when it comes to money and you can bet their agents are.
Well, a quick google will tell you he signed the pre-contract agreement and it was announced at the end of January - so there can’t have been much overlap between formal negotiations, given that couldn’t happen until the start of January.
Not so sure about the street smart with money - there’s a lot of them go broke or get fleeced by agents and/or “business partners”.
Again, I’m not McManaman, but keeping your options open until you actually get a deform proposal and make a decision doesn’t seem like a bad idea - I’m sure other clubs were interested - but to be fair, I do t remember that much about it and at the time I was living in Scotland and not paying as much attention to football (the internet wasn’t quite what it is today).
Well as Stevie said - we're not privy to the full discussion/negotiation so we're not really in a position to draw a conclusion, or at least one that excludes emotion.
Maybe there truly were 'on-going negotiations' but in the end the club didn't think he was worth his demands, maybe he told them that he was going but the club didn't want to give up the possibility that, over the course of a season, he may change his mind. If either of these potential situations were true then that would change the narrative.
TBH I want him out more than I want him to sign a new contract, I just think that his positive contributions to a Slot team (that will be under-going even more changes) is not going to out-weigh the negatives (2 weak defenders - with Mo. - on one side of the pitch, piss-poor energy, lack of defensive nouse etc.) and I would prefer Bradley who may or may not be as productive as Trent now (that is overall in both defence and attack, though I think he's very close already as the thread I started showed) but has room to grow more into the role than Trent.
That said I can't berate him for leaving.
Over the years, many of our top players have left in pursuit of trophies. I wasn’t happy about it, but deep down, I could understand their reasons.
What bothers me about Trent leaving isn’t just the way he’s been conducting himself, as @Judge Jules pointed out. It’s the fact that he’s choosing to leave a good team.
A team that many who left before him would have loved playing for.
What bothers me about Trent leaving isn’t just the way he’s been conducting himself, as @Judge Jules pointed out. It’s the fact that he’s choosing to leave a good team.
A team that many who left before him would have loved playing for.
But that's his choice, whatever his reason(s) is/are. I can't see why that in itself should be a reason to chastise him ! Call him an idiot by all means !
And it's my choice to paint over his mural.
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