It's struck again.
The illness thats eroding all that was once good about professional football has reared its ugly head once more.
If ever you needed evidence that capitalist American values have replaced that English desire to test yourself and strive to overcome your rivals has reached the roots of English football, this is it.
James Milner can and has been described in a lot of ways. A talented footballer who can play a number of positions. A model professional, always willing to meet and greet after games, England international and finally "very ambitious".
And now add Mercenary to the list.
Ambition to succeed is one thing, but out right greed is another and it is all the more prevalent these days. And it only gets you so far. Ask Gareth Barry.
He is a prime example of all the potential red flags a move to Manchester City comes with. As are Roque Santa Cruz, Shaun Wright-Phillips, Wayne Bridge and Joleon Lescott.
All, were bought in for bumper fees under the pretence of future greatness and are now back ups to someone more expensive yet equally unproven.
And the same will happen to Mr. Milner when city don't win the league next season.
Where is the true ambition in that?
Does Milner really want to jump on a bandwagon to play 25 games next season, before being cast aside next summer when Mancini or whoever is buying the players at City gets wooed by an agent for a player with a fancy name and overhyped reputation.
Does it seriously make that much difference if you earn 100 grand a week or 70? It's not like Villa didn't put a massive offer on the table. There must be a point you reach where it really makes no difference whatsoever?
And so if its not about money, what is it about City?
They splashed the cash last year and finished fifth. Wow. A mighty one spot higher than Milner's Villa. The players City have burnt their money on this summer are remote improvements on what they already have.
He has no deep-rooted association with them, no real motivation for joining, what have they ever done for him?
Milner filled the void at the heart of the Villa side with consumate ease last season, become a regular England international and had the chance to become a true great without moving clubs.
With his progression as a footballer, he would have driven that young team on in their pursuit of reaching the next level.
Now that heart has been ripped out. And for what?
The opportunity to be part of a squad of strangers with no bond or reason to be at City other than money? I bet he is so excited.
Teams win titles and trophies, look at Spain. Lots of teams had great players in the last World Cup, but they are a great team.
Winning trophies as part of a great team used to be the focal point of a professional footballers ambition. Now, unfortunately, it seems it's all about ambition to have the largest bank balance.
22 July 2010
6 July 2010
Money Money Money. Silly season begins.
It goes without saying World Cup year would see astronomical transfer fees exchange hands and players crop up from all over the globe to(encouraged by their agents) cash in on a few good performances.
This year’s rumour mill has been in full flow for a good few months now, and some silly clubs have already fallen into the trap of believing a players hype before any real substance materialises.
The clever, real, clubs jumped in early and took proven quality pre-tournament. David Villa finally got his move to one of Europe's elite clubs for a fee which, given the way he's rescued Spain time and again on route to the semi-final, looks like a snip.
Their Spanish counterparts, Real Madrid, took a typically different approach to the transfer market, waiting till a few games into the tournament to agree a fee for Argentina’s Angel Di Maria. The winger managed to start a number of games for Argentina during their traditional ‘flatter to deceive’ World Cup campaign, but in reality, twenty million pounds looks a lot of money.
Speaking of a lot of money, as you would expect, Man City represented the extreme other end of the spectrum and have been the first to dive right in and offer stupid money to players who have proven absolutely nothing.
They actually started the summer very sensibly. German defender Jerome Boateng has been as efficient as you would like from a full back and looked a much more thoughtful purchase than some of their previous purchases. It didn’t last long though.
While David Silva assisted Valencia to their best of the rest 3rd place finish in Spain last year, his one undistinguished performance against Switzerland in Spain’s opening game defeat has earned him a seat on the bench for the rest of the tournament. It remains to be seen whether the City’s biggest fee of the summer was money well spent, with Silva still needing to adapt to combative English midfields.
A word of note to any City fans expecting miracles. I’m sure Real Madrid, who have watched Silva week in week out for the last three seasons, would have had more than a fleeting interest and signed him instead of the even more unproven Di Maria to run their midfield next season.
And another thing
City raised more questions with another of their summer captures. Don't get me wrong, Yaya Toure is a better player than Nigel De Jong and Gareth Barry, but is he really worth the reported £220,000 a week they've given him to anchor their midfield?
Is £220,000 a week really a justifiable amount of money to pay someone who spent most of last season injured, and plays primarily as a destroyer in midfielder? I’m sure Lee Cattermole would have come for a snip of the price. If they had to offer someone of Toure’s stature in the game that much to come to Eastlands it doesn’t say a lot for their aspirations to sign players from the many echelon above Toure’s level.
All of this brings me on to the main point. What is the football industry coming to when Yaya Toure would rather go to play for City in the UEFA Cup, than sign for a massive club like say Arsenal or Manchester United who desperately need a player in his position, purely because of the wages on offer. When did footballers become so greedy, that they’d leave Barcelona for a club in a completely different football stratosphere for financial reasons?
Toure, rightly or wrongly, already has more money than 95% of the planet will ever have. But why is money that important to someone already set for life aged 27, that they would sacrifice a career at perhaps the greatest football institution in the world on the basis that an Arab Billionaire wanted to double his already astronomical salary.
I can’t wait until he announces in true Robbie Keane style, that he has supported City since he was a boy.
Money shouldn’t matter at this point in his career, playing for FC Barcelona or Manchester City is a no contest.
Which brings me to Joe Cole. The man who ‘wanted to be appreciated by Chelsea’, which in lamens terms means he wanted his last big pay day, needs to take a look in the mirror. Why churn out such rubbish when negotiating a move. If it’s really about money, take a leaf out of American sports stars and admit as much. Any working person can appreciate that given the opportunity to earn more money elsewhere, they probably would.
How refreshing would it be though, if Cole really did want to be appreciated as he says, he went and signed for his boyhood club West Ham on a £5,000 a week salary, reversed their demising fortunes and went down in east end folklore. That would be earn him true appreciation from the fans at Upton Park.
Something tells me his desire to be ‘appreciated’ means something completely different than the traditional sense of appreciation.
This year’s rumour mill has been in full flow for a good few months now, and some silly clubs have already fallen into the trap of believing a players hype before any real substance materialises.
The clever, real, clubs jumped in early and took proven quality pre-tournament. David Villa finally got his move to one of Europe's elite clubs for a fee which, given the way he's rescued Spain time and again on route to the semi-final, looks like a snip.
Their Spanish counterparts, Real Madrid, took a typically different approach to the transfer market, waiting till a few games into the tournament to agree a fee for Argentina’s Angel Di Maria. The winger managed to start a number of games for Argentina during their traditional ‘flatter to deceive’ World Cup campaign, but in reality, twenty million pounds looks a lot of money.
Speaking of a lot of money, as you would expect, Man City represented the extreme other end of the spectrum and have been the first to dive right in and offer stupid money to players who have proven absolutely nothing.
They actually started the summer very sensibly. German defender Jerome Boateng has been as efficient as you would like from a full back and looked a much more thoughtful purchase than some of their previous purchases. It didn’t last long though.
While David Silva assisted Valencia to their best of the rest 3rd place finish in Spain last year, his one undistinguished performance against Switzerland in Spain’s opening game defeat has earned him a seat on the bench for the rest of the tournament. It remains to be seen whether the City’s biggest fee of the summer was money well spent, with Silva still needing to adapt to combative English midfields.
A word of note to any City fans expecting miracles. I’m sure Real Madrid, who have watched Silva week in week out for the last three seasons, would have had more than a fleeting interest and signed him instead of the even more unproven Di Maria to run their midfield next season.
And another thing
City raised more questions with another of their summer captures. Don't get me wrong, Yaya Toure is a better player than Nigel De Jong and Gareth Barry, but is he really worth the reported £220,000 a week they've given him to anchor their midfield?
Is £220,000 a week really a justifiable amount of money to pay someone who spent most of last season injured, and plays primarily as a destroyer in midfielder? I’m sure Lee Cattermole would have come for a snip of the price. If they had to offer someone of Toure’s stature in the game that much to come to Eastlands it doesn’t say a lot for their aspirations to sign players from the many echelon above Toure’s level.
All of this brings me on to the main point. What is the football industry coming to when Yaya Toure would rather go to play for City in the UEFA Cup, than sign for a massive club like say Arsenal or Manchester United who desperately need a player in his position, purely because of the wages on offer. When did footballers become so greedy, that they’d leave Barcelona for a club in a completely different football stratosphere for financial reasons?
Toure, rightly or wrongly, already has more money than 95% of the planet will ever have. But why is money that important to someone already set for life aged 27, that they would sacrifice a career at perhaps the greatest football institution in the world on the basis that an Arab Billionaire wanted to double his already astronomical salary.
I can’t wait until he announces in true Robbie Keane style, that he has supported City since he was a boy.
Money shouldn’t matter at this point in his career, playing for FC Barcelona or Manchester City is a no contest.
Which brings me to Joe Cole. The man who ‘wanted to be appreciated by Chelsea’, which in lamens terms means he wanted his last big pay day, needs to take a look in the mirror. Why churn out such rubbish when negotiating a move. If it’s really about money, take a leaf out of American sports stars and admit as much. Any working person can appreciate that given the opportunity to earn more money elsewhere, they probably would.
How refreshing would it be though, if Cole really did want to be appreciated as he says, he went and signed for his boyhood club West Ham on a £5,000 a week salary, reversed their demising fortunes and went down in east end folklore. That would be earn him true appreciation from the fans at Upton Park.
Something tells me his desire to be ‘appreciated’ means something completely different than the traditional sense of appreciation.
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