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Suarez, Rooney, Bale and the Pursuit of Happiness

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Liverpool SpursTHE biggest news in English football revolves around three players who have not changed clubs this window.

The protagonists – Wayne Rooney, Gareth Bale and Luis Suarez – all want to move and all are unwilling to force the issue to get their celebrated change of scenery. It is a tale of greed, emotion and devotion and yet there is a head crushing tediousness about it all.

The background is this: Wayne Rooney wants to leave Manchester United and join their Premier League rivals Chelsea; Gareth Bale wants to escape from Tottenham to play for Real Madrid and Luis Suarez hopes to wear the Arsenal shirt unless Real Madrid are prepared to rear their head in this eye watering ‘saga’.

Yet despite such intense desires of these contracted football stars, not a single one of them is prepared to hand in a transfer request and formally ask to leave the club. The thought of forgoing their ‘loyalty’ bonus is seemingly enough to prevent them from declaring their intention to depart to the ‘club of their dreams’.

The narrative from the player is always the same in these instances. The player is unhappy that he is denied his ‘opportunity’, whatever that might be, by his current club. The player is held down against their will by their unreasonable employers when their intentions are reasonable and just.

In the case of Rooney, his intention to leave comes from the necessity to feel ‘wanted’ or more appropriately the biggest fish in the pond. Rooney demands to be central to his team’s plans and after being dethroned by a combination of Van Persie and Kagawa, Rooney wants Man United to re-mould their team around him or let him find that position elsewhere. Man United have made their position clear, Rooney however allows ‘sources close to him’ to do the talking.

Gareth Bale’s argument is that he should not be denied the opportunity to play for Real Madrid, the most successful side in the world and the team that is the creator of legends. Many of the best players have spent their best years at Real Madrid. It is the club that validates you as a player; a footballer who succeeds at the Bernabeu has triumphed at the pinnacle of the football world.

Tottenham don’t wish to sell but will sanction a move if the fee is right. Bale, like our other central characters, has voiced his desire to leave but again no formal request to move has been presented to his club.

Then there is Suarez, who is envious that he cannot deploy his talents in the Champions League, the arena which can take you to Real Madrid. Suarez was clear that he wanted the move to Real Madrid at the start of the transfer window but they have not been forthcoming.

With Liverpool no longer punching at their previous weight there has been a reticence from the biggest clubs to procure the striker’s talents, he is not as tested in the environs of the elite European competition. The striker knows that a short stay in London could well pave the way to Madrid if he sustains the form he produced at Liverpool.

The arguments for these stars to move are informed by the past when there were horrendous constraints upon football players by their clubs. Before brave men fought to be paid a reasonable wage for their working skills they were handcuffed by the maximum wage ‘retain and transfer’. Tied down to low contracts with no ability to move to a new club without their holding club releasing their registration, footballers were subjected to degrading treatment from their clubs.

Thankfully, that dreadful system was dismantled and the stars of the game have rightfully seen their remuneration packages swell as the sport has seen billions of pounds poured into it. However, the end of those problems saw a new power shift where the clubs became less powerful than those they had under contract.

A transfer request and a wink to the club that the player would not play to their best ability or would cause trouble within the team was enough for a club to back down to a player’s demand and sanction a transfer to a new team. Most sports teams do not want a squad member who no longer has a desire to play for that club anyway. The disruption to the squad is counterproductive and a failure to move that player on can see the individual’s transfer value plummet.
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That was until Manchester City showed that some clubs had enough money to rein players back in. Carlos Tevez went on strike after not having things go his way at the Etihad Stadium. The result was a continued fine by the club until a dishevelled Tevez returned with his proverbial cap in hand and helped Man City to their inaugural Premier League title.

Yet it is only the privileged few incredibly cash rich clubs that can still twist their millionaire employees to comply with their obligations. They can afford to play the hard game and risk the reduction of their asset while they seek to replace him. The player is rendered powerless and penniless and must accept the club’s rule.

But these protracted transfers are not just symptoms of the club v player battle there is the consideration of the fans and perhaps this is the crux of the issue. There is a third party to consider that has no direct involvement with the deal at all but to whom the deal matters most. Players must beware both sets of supporters when involved in these scenarios.

There is the torn position – the player does not wish to incur the wrath of the supporters of their current club but wishes to make their desire to leave known. This leads to concocted stories to make the fans sympathise with the player’s position. If Rooney, Bale or Suarez are too forthright when seeking a move they burn their bridges and there is less opportunity for redemption for them if the sale does not go through. This is important because if a player has to stay but their reputation is stained at their club, they will sell less shirts and their wallet will be hit once more.

As they are contracted by their current team and by extension the fan base any move can only be viewed theoretically until an agreement is reached. There is therefore too much risk in showing their hand so instead there is a battle to win the hearts and minds of both sets of fans. Herein lies the transfer request problem. Not only does the transfer request see the player wave goodbye to a nice sum it also signals to supporters of their current club that the player wants to leave making them the bad guy.

The bizarre nature of these PR battles between clubs and players to ensure fans stay on their side actually causes more problems than it’s worth. Take Luis Suarez’s statement that the media were one of the main reasons he wanted to leave Liverpool. This was a lie but one which was believable the fans are happy to accept this reason if it is the truth but Suarez’s angling for a move to Arsenal proved that this reason was not true. This angers fans more. We would much prefer for a player to say ‘I want more money and I think that at another club my opportunity to enhance my career, make more money and maybe win more trophies will be greater. I’ve enjoyed my time at the club but I’d prefer to chance my arm somewhere else.’

We know that this is the real reason that players leave clubs. Fans are not stupid. If you tell us exactly as it is we may disagree but we can accept the reality. While the support for our club is based in extreme partisanship we also understand how life works. A truth that we don’t like is much easier to take than sweet lies which later are revealed to be false.

Of course, the main factor is the selling club. Those in charge do not want to anger fans and therefore look to blame the player if they leave so that anger is not directed at them. This is only natural but fans usually are in a position where they want to believe the club anyway because at the end of it all they are supporters of the club. There is less reason for players to engage in the PR warfare unless the club’s blame game materially affects their reputation and therefore their ability to make money.

Ultimately, though all three will see more money lavished upon them if they move be it in wages, bonuses or image rights. If the price was no good then the move would be less important.

Of course there are extenuating circumstances with Luis Suarez’s position. Liverpool allegedly proposed a gentleman’s agreement with Suarez but refused to put it in writing. That Liverpool were cunning enough to put a meaningless term in his contract is as much to do with the club’s desire to protect their position as it is to do with the poor advice given to the player. And it is because of this clause that Suarez has not put in his transfer request. He wanted the clause to be put to the test to avoid having to be the bad guy against a club and fanbase that did back him in difficult circumstances.

Overall, we can pretend that there are much more important factors at stake but the reality is that all of these moves are primarily driven by the financial outcome for the parties involved. The relationship between the fans and the club is simply the mechanism used to try to influence that outcome in each party’s favour.

The problem is that as the same story is repeated ad nauseam, the less value it has with fans and the less influence it is worth and what was once a story of interest becomes a boring and irritating distraction from the business of playing football.

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3 comments

  • stuckincornwall says:

    You talk alot Of crap. So bale has voiced his opinion on leaving spurs has he. And he wants to escape tottenham??? What a load of rubbish. First he hasnt said that he wants to leave, second how are tottenham, united or even liverpool in the wrong by not selling a player that is under CONTRACT. If the club stopped paying a player they would be Breaching the contract but a player can move when they want and thats ok. Bale will only be sold for the value that we beleive that is right. Otherwise he will stay. You need another job because clearly this one is not working out for you. If it was you would have wrote a factual blog not a fictional bias load of crap.

  • Zee says:

    Deluded Liverpool, can’t accept there not a relevant club snymore, trying to say he wants to go to Madrid after arsenal.

    Accept it, the son of anfield, the heart beat of the kop, the soul of the people of Liverpool wants to leave ur sad depressing club and move to a bigger, better club.

    Deluded Liverpool fans don’t realise that in modern football world, trophies won is just a small factor in determining a big or bigger club.

    It’s not 1984.

    # the great anfield delusion

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