Alex Dunn delves into the hornet's nest of hypocrisy that is loyalty in football and is left disappointed.
Alex Dunn delves into the hornet's nest of hypocrisy that is loyalty in football
The scandal of MPs' expenses has caused barely a ripple in a football world so closeted its stars probably aren't even aware most people don't own second homes, but the recent defections of a number of its high-profile members has been met by a similarly resigned and deflated public response.
Hazel Blears' resignation, along with a number of her fellow back-benchers, has brought into sharp focus not just the fact too many politicians are imaginative in their handling of expenses, but that we, the public, expect more from those that pursue what are perceived to be vocations rather than careers. Football and politics rarely mix but there are parallels between the two in that the decisions made by their practitioners are judged by a moral compass set considerably higher than perhaps we set for ourselves.
Obviously, both reader and writer wouldn't dream of stretching the rules our employers set in terms of what are acceptable expenses (that reminds me I need to claim for the research beers I had while watching the FA Cup final last weekend) but the question of loyalty is less clear cut.
The argument, like many, is fundamentally one between pragmatism and romance and there are perhaps no more romantic a species than the football fan. The pragmatist usually trots out the line 'if you were offered an extra £20,000-a-week to move jobs would you go?' While most reply 'I'd do it for £20', our inner romantic stops us from allowing footballers the same privilege. In the words of Bruce Hornsby, or for the kids amongst you 2Pac, 'that's just the way it is'.
While even the most hard-nosed Holte Enders had accepted Gareth Barry's exit was all but certainly a question of when not if, his destination of choice has for many sullied irretrievably 12 years sterling service in claret and blue.
For Aston Villa fans declarations of intent to join a club playing UEFA Champions football is one thing; signing for Manchester City quite another. It's like boasting of a luxury cruise around the Bahamas and booking a day-trip around Bridlington, or more pertinently the Manchester Ship Canal. In a dinghy.
Barry has countered against accusations of greed and hypocrisy in an open letter to the club's supporters and to be fair to the England midfielder, at least he's learnt from his mistakes in acting decisively and thus avoided the protracted negotiations and sulking that did himself, Villa or Liverpool few favours last summer.
A parting of ways that has been swifter and more amicable than could ever have been expected allows Martin O'Neill ample time to find his replacement, although the Ulsterman must feel aggrieved already with a close-season that has seen him lose Barry to ambition/wanderlust/greed* and Martin Laursen to injury. (*Delete as applicable)
Undeniably he's taken a gamble in joining a City juggernaut that seems just as likely to combust as it does hit the stars, but amid all this caustic criticism of his move motives, there is a part of me that admires his spirit of adventure. There's no doubt Villa are a well-run club heading in the right direction under a fine manager and even handed owner but are they are a little, how can I put this, like supermarket jeans? Perfectly functional, but I probably wouldn't want a pair.
Villa are the club you'd like to take home to your mum; City are the date you'd take on a dirty weekend. His pleas that after over a decade at Villa he fancies a change may sound hollow to those fans that expect players to bleed club colours, but is it not human nature to fancy a burger every now and again even if you've got steak at home?
Travel north and Steve Bruce's move from Wigan to Sunderland, bearing in mind the clubs' respective final league placings last season, brings to mind the clear-thinking philosophizing of Danny De Vito in Twins: "Money talks and bullsh** walks."
I'm not saying Bruce is a careerist but Siralun rejected his Apprentice application on the grounds he's a tad too ruthless. We couldn't get hold of Siralun but Margaret, off the record, said he was 'a bit sneaky'.
Wigan owner Dave Whelan has taken the news with remarkable calm and good grace, although one suspects his motives are as much Machiavellian as they are magnanimous, given he plans to get over having his manager stolen by Sunderland by pinching Roberto Martinez from Swansea.
Although full of praise for a manager who has undisputedly done a fine job at The JJB, Whelan perhaps best summed up the situation when he signed off with 'Aye, he's been about a bit', as if describing a washed up club singer on the end of Wigan Pier.
Still, who could deny a Geordie and Toon fanatic a crack at his dream job?
Bruce claims, or at least hopes, he can follow in Bob Stokoe's footsteps and transcend the Newcastle-Sunderland divide in winning the confidence of his Mackem detractors. "I think they (the fans) like one of their own from the north east," he said upon being unveiled at the Stadium of Light. "It's results on the pitch that matter. I hope I can win over the few (thousand) doubters I have."
The question of loyalty is not reserved solely for those aspiring upwards. You can set your clock, or in my case sleeping habits, on Cristiano Ronaldo's annual dalliance with Real Madrid. For the past three summers the first time I've slept on top rather than under my duvet has coincided with a familiar whine of discontent echoing around Old Trafford.
For the majority of us the first ray of sunshine to puncture the clouds on a summer's night heralds not a white-short clad, woozy headed exclamation of paella-love, but rather an expletive-ridden trip around Tesco, lamenting the fact there's more chance of finding a sausage at a vegan's Bar Mitzvah, before cancelling the barbeque.
Ronaldo has spent each of the last couple of summers not knowing whether he's Arthur or Martha; one minute he's pining after Manchester drizzle and industrial landscapes, the next he's completed a poolside metamorphosis from wing wizard to George Michael and demanded a move to Club Tropicana Madrid. With a flower behind his ear.
I was planning to conclude this piece with a cutting diagnosis of the problem, maybe even suggest a cure, but then the football gods threw into my lap a gift that this horse was always going to swallow.
Brendan Rodgers come on down...
"When I am asked about other clubs, people are questioning my integrity and one thing I have mentioned is I always have integrity," said an incredulous Rodgers as far back as 22nd May.
"I am loyal and find it disloyal when I am asked about other clubs when I am the Watford manager."
A statement from Watford chairman Jimmy Russo on 4th June: "Following speculation over the Reading vacancy I had spoken to Brendan only last week and he had assured me that he was 100 per cent committed to Watford FC and our plan for the future.
"Once Brendan had confirmed his desire to discuss the opportunity and Reading had met a contractual compensation figure, we were powerless to prevent him doing so."
