One of the big hoohahs about RVP's and plenty of other players transfers is money and 'loyalty'. The terms Judas, mercenary etc are often banded about by fans.
But why?
The only answer I have for this is because as fans, we think with our hearts, not our heads. We can't fathom players wanting to go somewhere else for more money because we would die for the chance to play in our clubs colours and the finance of football is almost a fantasy world. We can't possibly imagine being paid £70k a week and so the choice to plump for another team for an extra £40k doesn't mean much to us, it's numbers, numbers we will never see on a contract in front of us or realistically even discuss as a wage.
Is a player a mercenary because he chooses to leave a team, to go to another for more money? No. In any other profession it would be seen as a no brainer.
Why do fans expect players to be loyal? Clubs are rarely loyal to players and fans even less so.
How many articles see players referred to almost as board game pieces. Player X can be sold for £2 mill, Y for £7 mill etc etc and with the money raised we should bring in players A, B and C.
We have very little loyalty to players and if they don't fit with what we want, they are slated and called to be sold. Carrick, Ronaldo, Evra, Vidic, Fletcher to name but a few at UTD alone have all been subjected to this.
I remember defending Ronaldo when people wanted him sold. One trick pony. Selfish. No end product.
Yet when he wanted to move, fans were shocked, upset, devastated.
Ronaldo's case is a bit different in that he is still very highly thought of but still, people were angry that he wanted to leave. How dare he want to go!
Hypocrisy?
'we discovered player X, nurtered them, gave them a chance and this is how they repay us!'
Well yes, they have moved to a bigger team on more money, natural career choice? Barry, Cole, Rooney, all victims of fans hatred because they chose money. How criminal!
If you got taken in to a sales job at 16, taught the trade and nurtured by your managers and colleagues and became an amazing salesman, would you choose never to leave, out of 'loyalty'?
If a bigger company, with better prospects came in and offered you more money, would you stay?
Let's assume your current company rely on your sales to really bring in income and without it, they might struggle. Would you turn down the great job offer to stick with them and help them keep afloat? Or move on and enjoy a more lucrative career and lifestyle?
I'm genuinely intrigued as to people's opinions on why players leaving for more mo ye or trophy prospects is bad?
Is RVP a bad person? He left to go to a club with much better trophy prospects and get paid more money. Why does this make him a Judas? Why should he care what happens to Arsenal? Why should Ronaldo give a monkeys about us anymore? Because we developed him? What difference should that make, really?
Nasri left, got paid more, won a trophy. Cole left, got paid more, won a few trophies. Barry, Ronaldo, Clichy, Toure, Tevez(slightly different but not entirely) to name but a few. What did they do wrong?
Gerrard was villainised for wanting to go to Chelsea, to the point of death threats. Why?? In hindsight, in guessing he wished he had. Would have earned more and probably, won more.
'Mercenaries'
posted on 17/8/12
I follow Bilboa quite closely because in a way it's a romance the way they run their club. It would be like United saying we will only have players from the Greater Manchester area.
However, in Llorente's case, it's the way of the modern footballing world and teams like Bilboa will fall victim to it like teams like Swansea are now. Sinclair refusing to sign a contract, Allen gone. There's no loyalty in that and the player has used the opportunity to better themselves. The clubs can and do do the same. Look at the way we have treated Berbatov. It's swings and roundabouts and the crux of the matter is the huge huge amount of money in the game now.
posted on 17/8/12
Carrickature, bang on mate
Surprised at some of the good views and opinions this got to be fair, cheers lads! Some interesting points
posted on 17/8/12
No fair play to you. A good article and it's not often an article is created that is relevant and unites some well thought out posts. Even Mr London Blue has gone up in my opinion. Much like London Blue with their summer signings to be fair. looking forward to seeing how they play this year.
posted on 17/8/12
Fortunately, I think it'd be almost impossible to change the way the club's run now. Maybe all those years ago, when R.Sociedad and Osasuna changed their policies, but nowadays they're too intimately linked to Basque national pride - pretty sure the fans wouldn't have it, and they're still a 'fan-run' club like Madrid and Barça. Anyone standing for the presidency proposing a change of policy wouldn't stand a chance in hell.
That might be Llorente's only saving grace, that he's not actually of Basque heritage.
It's not that players are generally expected to play their entire careers for them - in fact, Aduriz has just rejoined for his 3rd stint at the club - it's just the manner in which Llorente's gone about the business.
posted on 17/8/12
Compete agree OP. Some fans on here show literally no loyalty to the players (Anderson for example) but then they expect it back? Hypocrisy
posted on 18/8/12
There's a huge difference though between footballers and normal citizens. Let's say on average normal citizens who work fulltime will be earning between £10,000- 30,000 a year. Sooo if someone worked and was earning £20k a year and were working at that company for 5 years but then they got offered a job elsewhere and they were offering £25k a year that person would be a fool not to accept that new job.
However I would say nowadays a lot of Premiership players are on around £50,000+ a week. Soo if player a is earning £50,000 a week he would be getting £2.4 million a year. Seriously does anyone really need to earn any more then that? soo it is greed, unloyalty when they move to clubs for extra £££ when they are already filthy rich as it is. Van Persie for example knows we gave him that chance to play and we stuck with him through his injury prone years. He "loved" the club and apparently was an Arsenal fan as a child (saw some pics of him as a teenager in an Arsenal shirt and he had Arsenal posters in his room). It is annoying when players use that excuse of "I want to win things"
The likes of Sharer, Le Tissier, Scholes, Neville, Giggs, Adams are players we fans should look up too as they were loyal towards there club.
posted on 18/8/12
Considering he refused to even discuss a contract with Arsenal I think it was about winning things for Van Persie...
posted on 18/8/12
Van Persie also said earlier on this year that winning things at Arsenal would feel special to him rather then doing it another club. Sooo clearly he has gone back on his word hasn't he. Either way he should have stayed at Arsenal rather then being a judas and joining a rival club.
posted on 18/8/12
Best article I ve seen, well thought out and well received,
It's now turned into a job, with all the money involved
Fans will get attached to certain players and feel a sense of betrayal but depends in the player, ie, what if it was someone like diaby, I bet there wouldn't have been such a level of noise about it, it all depends on the player and if that player has built a special bond with fans
Buy what do you do if you have a chance to maximise your ambition
posted on 18/8/12
I have played an online game where I left one clan (group of people) and joined another clan because they were better.
Unsurprisingly as I didn't get paid for it this was nothing to do with money. Simply improving myself and my personal chances at glory...