It may sound childish but have we not been taught that if you work hard for something then it feels all the more satisfying when you achieve your goal? How does leaving for a club who have secured their place in the competition without your help feel like an achievement?
Unfortunately individual success for many players now seems the priority rather than playing for the shirt, the badge and for the fans. Perhaps this is an outdated concept when there is so much more money and more opportunities in the modern game, but it is one which I still believe in. Of course there are exceptions but too many players nowadays seem too willing to just jump ship when things aren’t going their way and I think that is a real shame. The transfer rumours surrounding Samir Nasri in the past week or two, for instance, have not made the Frenchman look like a team player at all.
One of these exceptions is Scott Parker. Parker played his heart out for West Ham in a bid to save them from relegation. I remember watching the Liverpool Vs. West Ham game, for example, which Parker basically won for “The Hammers” single-handedly. Ultimately, his efforts could not rescue West Ham from the drop and Parker has accepted he will now need to move on to a new team. This is the sort of attitude I cannot fault. Parker did his best to keep West Ham up and now it is understandable that he would want to move on to keep his place in the England team.
Ultimately, the chance to play against the likes of Barcelona, Real Madrid, AC Milan, Bayern Munich, et al is not something that comes along regularly for the vast majority of footballers. We saw that factor during this year’s competition with Tottenham and will again next season with Manchester City. Footballers desire to play in Europe and also, once they do get a taste for it, they want to play in it again. However, maybe a player should ask themselves how they would truly feel if they do ever lift that UEFA Champions League trophy. Will the moment be as special to them as it was to Steven Gerrard with Liverpool or to Gary Neville with Manchester United?
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