There has been a lot of talk about loyalty in the modern game over the past week or so since the goings on in the January transfer window. Whether it was Fernando Torres’ departure to Chelsea or Andy Carroll’s arrival from Newcastle, the question of whether there will be anymore “one club” players has been raised this week. On his move to Chelsea, Torres remarked that romance in football was dead and that it has been replaced by the obsession of winning trophies. Loyalty has been effectively replaced by “Glory-hunters” in the modern game.
Of course, this is not necessarily a new phenomenon. For decades players have moved clubs to teams they feel they can have more success with. In recent years at Liverpool, players such as Pepe Reina, Fernando Torres and others arrived at the club in the hope they would replicate the great Liverpool teams of the past by winning Premier League titles and Champions League trophies. While Torres has moved to pastures new to find trophies sharpish, Pepe Reina has apparently stated today that he is impatient for success at the Reds.
Players moving clubs in search of trophies is pretty much part and parcel of the modern game in most player’s eyes. However, what Torres and others, do not take into consideration when they move clubs in search of glory, are the fans. Like many before him, on his arrival and during his stay on Merseyside, Torres preached loyalty to the club and stated that he would never play for another English club. He was stating what he believed at the time but when asked about this statement after his move to Chelsea he said:
“I said that at that moment, I didn’t think I would play for another club – because at that moment Liverpool were giving me what they promised … but not now.”
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For him, circumstances had changed and therefore his future at Liverpool was also in question. From his point of view, it was a purely selfish calculation in which his own career objectives took priority over the feelings of the fans who had grown to love him as an idol. If he had stated on his arrival at Anfield that he had come to Liverpool to “win trophies or he would look to move on in search for winners medals,” then fans would not have grown so attached to him, and become so angry at his departure.
A player such as Torres would never have said such a thing though as it comes across as purely selfish. He would be perceived as player, playing for himself, rather than working and fighting for the team. How would that go down with his new team-mates and the fans? To ingratiate yourself to the club it is best to speak in the most reverential terms about both the club and the supporters. He may even mean many of the sentiments but at the end of the day, his priority is to be in a successful team. Personal glory looks to have sway in his mind above all else.
The same may go for Pepe Reina. People believe him to be an honorary Scouser as John Aldridge said in his column for the Liverpool Echo this week, but it’s again apparent that the desire for trophies and success are first and foremost in his mind. Hopefullly with Kenny Dalglish turning the club’s fortunes around, it will persuade the Spanish goalkeeper to stay, but what maybe now in question is whether he is staying purely for his love of the club or because there is a greater chance of winning medals. Certainly a player should not be criticised for wanting to win things. After all, players have short careers and they want to make the best out of them, but it is a shame that loyalty to clubs doesn’t stretch far these days.
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This week it is even more of Liverpool WAG Carly Zucker!
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Why should successful sportsmen feel they owe anything to the rabble spectators? The foul-mouthed masses that curse and spit venom don’t even pay the players’ wages these days. They are just stooges for a worldwide TV audience, to add visual atmosphere for those in their armchairs, like the stupid-looking audience at an Opra TV Show recording.
Supporters at games have too high an opinion of themselves. Take one who has been to EVERY LIVERPOOL GAME FOR FORTY YEARS. Take every penny he has spent on HUNDREDS of tickets. Add to that every game-day meal and drink. Add all travel expenses, for trains, planes and petrol, add programmes and club shirts and flags and whatever else can be thought of. Go on… ADD IT ALL UP. You know what? ALL FORTY YEARS OF THE MONEY SPENT ON FOLLOWING LIVERPOOL does not even add up to two or three days pay for a single top player. Read that again – support Liverpool and make financial sacrifices for FORTY YEARS and YOUR CONTRIBUTION IS NOT EVEN GOING TO PAY FOR TWO DAYS OF TORRES’ SALARY. In three or four seasons of support you think is so important, you don’t even pay for a single day of Torres’ time at the club. NOT A SINGLE DAY. Fact.
Loyalty? The players see you as a seething mass of losers who one only has to ingratiate with sugary words to win over. Here are some ingratiating words for you: “I love Liverpool. I always dreamed of playing here. If I ever have to leave, I’ll want my son to come here and play. I hope my grandchildren too will play here too”.
There you are. Simple isn’t it? Mugs.
hes wrong……
ive spent thousands on liverpool, enough for a few days pau for stevie g, and your saying im worthless, get lost you tnuc
At £750 for a Liverpool season ticket, you wouldn’t pay for even one single week of Gerrard’s salary if you bought a season ticket at those prices for ONE HUNDRED YEARS (750×100=75,000 which is far less than Gerrard earns in a week). Laughable!!!!
Only thing that is simple is your stupidity.
Hardly. For one player on 150k per week, like Gerrard, you would have to buy a £750 season ticket for TWO HUNDRED SEASONS to contribute enough to your club to pay ONE WEEK of his salary. Doesn’t that make you realise exactly how micro-miniscule your importance is to that player?
…please shut him up !
You are one of the greatest morons I have ever come across your lordship, quite honored at your esteemed presence I feel sir.
you are so off the mark its unbelieveable cecil, attendances pay wages end of lol
we collectiveley pay their wages by attending games, the club relies on those people who only make 2 games a year
I have payed 30k to liverpool over the last eight to ten years for an executive box which i then claim through my business anyway.
you quoted that we would never have payed enough for a single day of torres wages, well i actually have.
about reina, lots of top clubs would want him and have been interested in him i.e arsenal, juventus, when has he ever said he would like to go to another club or hand a transfer request???
he has been loyal by being a foreigner in liverpool with an underachieving team who would blame some players for wanting to leave, he has never said he wants to leave, this has been fabricated by sky sports
cecil i dont think for one second you have attended a fraction of the games you say you have attended………. your a d**k
u guys talking bout 1 fan, 1 ticket, 1 replica kit etc..how bout millions of them season in season out?tv rights are demanded by fans..and becos of fans, sponsors pays millions to have their brand name on the chest of players..
for me though..its quite simple, i simply love liverpool football club..enough to make me be ignorant of the business, the politics, bla bla bla…i just wanna cheer for my team week in week out..i get sad when they drop points and feels on top of the world when they win…its really suppose to be tat simple..fans alike should not be complicated by all these..afterall who cares how much the club’s paying them players..
many including myself are frustrated by torres’ departure and the excuses he gave as a reason..but as quoted by carra, kuyt & reina even king kenny himself, its part and parcel of the game..players comes and goes..
How many LFC supporters gave a damn how those Atletico Madrid fans felt when their home grown torres left them for LFC in search for glory & throphies? They’d felt the exact same feeling of betrayal like all current LFC supporters..
Those feelings were probably clouded by the UEFA Cup winners medal the season after he left..just like how LFC won the coveted 5th Champions League title the very season our previous star striker Michael Owen left LFC for Real Madrid..who even cares bout Owen now?
There are definitely loyalty left in football..Gerrard & Carra is two excellent example..LFC should mourn for a week in the unthinkable event that gerrard or carra leaves LFC..everyone else is, well, expendables.
english players are not paid enough, well not compared to american sportsmen anyway, anyone remember michael jordan transfer for 150M and being paid 1.5million per game??
besides, look how much their tax contributes to the british economy! if it werent for footballers our country would be in a lot more debt