Rigsby's Last Stand

[macmanson]

First Mancini came out with this quote:

"Stephen Ireland is a good player but he has been here all his life and he needs to change," said Mancini.

"Sometimes it can happen that a player stays with the same squad for 15 years and plays well but a moment arrives when he needs to change.

"Now is time for him. I really think he can improve."

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11095_6310937,00.html

Then in the the days leading up to the closing of the deal and Mancini said:

Asked if the deal would involve Ireland, Mancini added: “I hope so.

http://www.breakingnews.ie/sport/mi...minent-says-mancini-469681.html#ixzz0yNzEUHSa

Like I said, I don't begrudge any player that slags us when the club keeps doing this shit to them in the press. It was the samething with Bellamy. Mancini was quoted in the papers for weeks prior to the Bellamy interview saying he didn't think Bellamy would be in the 25. Then Bellamy comes out and basically lays the siutation bare as he sees it, basically that's he's perplexed after coming off a great year and being told he doesn't have a spot in the 25 the next year. Then he's ripped to shreds about being a giant no good unloyal cock. I think Bellamy was well within his rights to defend his name and make the situation apparently clear as it was abundantly clear that the club had no use for him but had no problem destroying his career by shipping him out of the country to play in Germany so he couldn't play for our rivals. That's just petty on our clubs part. And yes, I would have no problem with him going to our rivals. I want us to be the best because we beat the best, not because we tried to weaken our rivals with petty imature behavior regarding player's futures. It just shows a lack of tact.

Fair enough,

Personally I don't see anything wrong with Mancini's quotes, but that is just me. If Ireland was performing to a brilliant standard and we were bottom of the league, his loyalties may have been elseware, and he may have been the one saying "I hope I can leave, I want to improve" Obviously this is hypothetical, but it is just my opinion that it is maybe about time Clubs managed to treat players the way that players have been treating clubs for a number of years... It works both ways for me, usually the one who is under performing, be it the club, or the player, gets left behind...

Don't get me wrong, I have no problem with the club moving on players that they don't feel are needed anymore, just do it in a constructive way. Don't restrict where the player can go and simply let them move on. Once the player has left, just a few nice words like "Good guy, great player but not a player we feel is needed for our club anymore, wish him the best of luck" would make any negative comment the player makes afterward sound petty. It also likely cost us significant money on Ireland's transfer in the end as we put it out in the press that we didn't value the player highly.

Telling a player that you don't need him months before the final squad is to be announced and questioning his character in the press is not sound man management and is something that will sow seeds of distrust in the squad. How many of the squad do you think now have it in the back of their mind that this could be them next, player of the year and then chump of the decade the next. So it doesn't surprise me that players who have left say there is no trust because the fact of the matter is that there isn't any at the moment. We are a squad of many good individual players at the moment but there is no team yet to speak of. It will come in time but the club could do alot more to speed it up by making it club policy not to talk about personnel issues in the press either by manager or player, with a hefty fine for infractions. What happens in the dressing room should stay there, period end of story.

-- Thu Sep 02, 2010 11:53 am --

I dont like petrov one bit. yes he was a good player for us but always had a chip on his shloulder e.g showing his name and number to the bench when he scored! TWAT

I don't really see that as moaning. I took it as tongue-in-cheek when I saw it. Just his way of letting the manager know who scored...almost like a "hey remember me?" type of jab.

In general, I wouldn't want a single player at our club that wasn't pissed off about not playing. If you are happy to sit on the bench and collect money then you should be shipped out at the first possible convenience. Being able to manage a large squad of talented players is what we pay Mancini to do. Of the 25 players in our squad, I would expect that 14 should be totally pissed off when kick off time comes as they feel they are good enough to be in that 11. I won't those kinds of players and a manager who can manage that situation. Not 11 quality players and 14 bench warmers happy to just pick up their pay week in and week out.