Obviously there are exceptions where truly exceptional players need to leave their clubs to grow as footballers but even within the top clubs there is no loyalty. How can we go from having legends like Matt Le Tisser slogging it out at Southampton for all those years and then have players like Samir Nasri who isn’t prepared to wait a more than three years.
Steven Gerrard is testament to the fact that if you stay and work hard at your club you can win the biggest trophies. Gerrard could have left on numerous occasions during his Liverpool career but he didn’t and he has lifted the Champions League, The Uefa Cup and the FA Cup and the League Cup in his time. Had he left it is arguable whether Liverpool would have won nearly as much. They definitley wouldn’t have won the FA Cup against West Ham.
Bosman
The Bosman ruling is another problem in that it highlights the way in which power has shifted from the clubs to the players. In the past the players, knowing they were at the whim of the club, would not have been able to even consider forcing a move away. Now examples such as Rio Ferdinand’s to Man Utd or Nasri’s to Arsenal are demonstrative of the power that players have. And with more power they seem less responsible, less considerate and less loyal.
I know that many people will argue that these players have the right to look after themselves, after all it is their career we are talking about, but you cannot ignore the reasons for their disloyalty. Many of these players are abandoning the clubs and managers that made them what they are today, and the gratitude shown is minimal. Player loyalty is on decline, there can be no doubt, but how far will UEFA let it go before they introduce stronger financial rules to curb the temptations that billionaire owners can offer?
Written by Hamish McKay for FootballFancast.com. Follow Hamish on Twitter @H_Mackay
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