Friday night the story broke that Sir Alex had Michael Carrick in his sights... and all we're given to cling to is Jol grunting that he's part of the future development of the club. Anything from the boy himself? Not a sausage.
The real problem as ever is money. There are so few premiership players who want to be buried in their clubs' shirt. And I can name one - Robbie Fowler.
So when there is media speculation due to either a) an offer from another club or b) a contract needs to be renewed what we always get is an immediate inertia where the the club prepares to brave the storm and the player & his agent prepare to buy fur coats/ yachts/ more Ferraris.
And that is what gets my goat. King issued no statement until his contract was signed, despite links to Chelski and even ars*nal. Robbie Keane was mute when he was endlessly linked with a move prior to his reincarnation and now it's been 3 days since the Carrick story broke. He's got more reporters round him than the Prime Minister and he's staying schtum. I tried to resist passing comment again Thierry Henry, but it's impossible to discuss bad form in these matters and not make reference to him. He's another con man spouting cobblers about love and devotion - once ALL other avenues have been explored and safely abandoned.
On the other side of the coin, the players that really anger me are those that don't know when to shut up and hide behind their agents and 'sources close to' etc. Usually they are unsettled/ rubbish anyway. Johnnie Jackson and Stephen Kelly both suffered from delusions of mediocrity and took a handful appearances in our 1st team as an opportunity to crowbar themselves into column inches of speculation that were frankly embarrassing. My attitude to those two is 'one down, one to go'.
Would it be asking too much for any of these herberts to just issue a brief statement saying they love the club and are simply, like the rest of us, negotiating a fee?
Net result?
Our respect.
Monday, June 12, 2006
Posted by Harry Hotspur at Monday, June 12, 2006
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
12 comments:
Unfortunately Harry mate it is all about money and negotiation. In carrick's case I dont blame him for not reacting with any comments as he is at a world cup where he needs total concentration. The hard fact is the agents are the sales / money men figures in these situations and so it is left to them, as players could hurt their own earning power with any comments either way. Example, if he says he is committed to the club, he might not be offered his optimum contract that he would if Spurs were frightened of losing him. On the other hand if he says he wants to leave, is too premature for him too anounce anything until he sits down and speaks to his agent first, and after the world cup. So he has no choice but to stay schtum whatever his motive is! Cant blame a player sometimes when it was rumoured that Tottenham were refusing to pay him 40k a week which is reasonable for a top player these days.
Very fair comment.
http://downatthelane.blogspot.com/ ...see, I can spam too.
Surely spaming betwix same team blogsites is fine? It's those ads for something completely unrelated that wind me up.
All silent on the 15 million offer from utd,guess this will mean both the club and Carrick have some food for thought when he gets back from Germany.
I think 15 million is a good price for him, but we have 3 potential problems if this transfer goes ahead.
1)To improve the midfield and make use of this money we would need a combatitive midfielder to succeed Davids and a left winger. Maybe our current targets Zokora and Duff could satisfy these needs? but will be hard and expensive to prise Duff from Chelsea and get Zokora if he has a great world cup!Thankfully, we already have Huddlestone to come in and establish himself in Carrick's role.
2)Big worry that this transfer could send the wrong message to current players in the team with a Northern background who at anypoint might feel "homesick" ie Lennon? Robinson? could become a problem if we dont achieve champs league football this year,which already looks like being more difficult with more games to concentrate on. Because if we dont the Man utds,Liverpools could come in for the rest of our young stars at the end of next season...then it's only a matter of time before Jol gets pissed off and leaves for a non-selling club too!(but anyway thats getting ahead of ourselves).
3)Shame to break up our established midfield but the reality is,if Carrick wants to leave we have no choice but to accept a great 15 million return for him now. Hope the new players would bed in as fast as last season?
Our potential midfield could be this:Duff-LW,Hudd-CM,Zokora-CM,Lennon-RW. Jenas,Tainio-CM competition.
Routledge,Reid,Ziegler wing competition-expect at least one of these will leave though.
Davids may stay for 1 season but doubt it-50k aweek salary too much just for his experience.Dont care much for Murphy-get 2 million back if we can.Ghaly-unknown/unproven.
Means from the above 12 players mentioned should be trimmed down to 8 first team squad midfielders/wingers.
Good points Vinny but if Carrick won't extend before the summer ends I'd ship him out for as much as I could get. Don't want anymore players with one eye on the back door. Don't care how good they are, he should be proud to play for us and up for the challenge.
anon 8;29
That wasn't me!
But I do agree. I'm not offering half price ipods...
El,
Thats part of my point mate, not just that we have to accept a good offer if a player wants to go, but also no point in keeping him cos he's gonna piss off sooner or later anyway and needs his heart to be in it. He's just come off a good season, so probably is the best time to sell him anyway. Would be well happy with 15 million if I could look into the future and see Huddlestone fulfilling his potential!...we could use that extra cash to strengthen elsewhere. Lets face it even the scum sold Viera for 14 million and dont miss him one bit now.
and sorry to say...Carrick aint no Viera...ok he's a bit younger but still...for me he lacks a bit of steel and balls sometimes, requiring us to play someone tougher alongside him just to look after him. Hopefully, big Tommo Huddlestone would have more of a nasty streak.
Re: Vinny
Completely agree on the 'tougher partner' point. We don't want two players to do the job of one and Carrick does in my view lack a certain physical presence which I reckon from the little I've seen, Huddlstone might well have. If we use a tough partner to support Carrick, we can't then have a midfield playmaker in front of him unless we have a 3 5 2 or 4 5 1 formation which BMJ doesn't appear to like much. Anyway If manure really want to pay 14 mil or more for him I'd happily take it. If we don't then let's hope Jol can improve him even more next season, that we make the CL and that Carrick signs an extended.
Rumours saying that Carrick can not leave for less than 20 million...bollocks is he worth that much!...Manure wont but that surely?
Looks like Davids might stay now, Ajax just signed a midfielder they need, I personally think that he is not worth the money for 50 grand a week, when you compare his performances to the other players who are on a lot less, no wonder they get pissed off. We're paying just for his name. Who here thinks just his experience and supposed helping out the youngsters on the training pitch is worth 50 grand a week?
quality posts chaps
Post a Comment