Lovebitesandeveryfing
Well-Known Member
I think a reasonable degree of comparison (not identical in all points, obviously) of the situation for Villa and Spurs fans is us and Shaun Wright-Phillips. Obviously if you've got a very talented young player at your gaff you don't want them to leave for higher wages/a bigger club/more likelihood of trophies. You want them to stay with you and dream about them helping your club/team make a step up (not trophies immediately, of course — but it takes bricks to make a house). I would like people to hold up their hands, think back and say if they were enraged by it at the time. Personally, I can genuinely say I wasn't. Deeply sad, yes. But it was just in the order of things, by that point. It was the way football was. I was pretty philosophical. As it turned out, it didn't really amount to a career changing move for SWP. As I remember it, he spent a lot of time on the bench at Chelsea. Which seemed like a waste.
Actually, I say it's the way football was at that time. But thinking back, it's much older: I'd be curious to know what the feeling was of, say, a lifelong Watford supporter when Liverpool just rocked up and swooped for John Barnes, saying “I'll have that!”. Probably the best player Watford ever had, although it seems to have been airbrushed out of football history (not least by the player himself — you'd think he'd been born on Scotland Road).
Actually, I say it's the way football was at that time. But thinking back, it's much older: I'd be curious to know what the feeling was of, say, a lifelong Watford supporter when Liverpool just rocked up and swooped for John Barnes, saying “I'll have that!”. Probably the best player Watford ever had, although it seems to have been airbrushed out of football history (not least by the player himself — you'd think he'd been born on Scotland Road).