Well said. Henderson et al had the choice to go and work in Arabia. They could’ve chosen not to. Not everyone has the luxury that they had.
Help me out because I genuinely don't understand this mentality, is it playing in Saudi that was bad or because he supported LGBT and then went to a country that doesn't support it? Was it because his salary was ridiculous? Honestly help me out because I don't understand.
I'm being honest, one thing I am on here is honest and it has gotten me in trouble, please take a moment to explain it to me. Sunderland supporter to Sunderland supporter.
Just playing devils advocate here.. if Henderson was asked to champion the LGBT bollocks he could hardly say no because it would’ve made him like the villain, whether he agrees with it or not. He would’ve had his name dragged through the mud if he said actually no I don’t want to put my name to that.
Done it, still none the wiser. Have the feeling people can't really defend their position and are just outraged/upset because that was the general zeitgeist at the time.
Obviously there are a load of players and sportsman who have sold out to the Saudis, cant stand the lot. But with Henderson, its a bit more, just to me anyways. He campaigned for everything they dont stand for, he probably profited from sponsorships and advertisements when it came to being one of the faces of the equal rights campaign. Then he spits in those peoples faces by taking the money from Saudi Arabia and being pretty pathetic in his justification for doing so. Then you add in what is going on with the Mags and for a Sunderland die hard to move there, just stinks for me like. Obviously he has a family and will do whats best for them and Im sure there will be a lot of fans on here who just dont care about the above, which is absolutely fair enough. But thats just my thoughts on him and why I dont want him back at the club.
I think you might have leaned on something regarding the Mags there that makes a bit more sense to me. With regards to the gay rights bit, like if peoples beef is that Saudi is anti-gay it would really make sense to aim your ire at that rather than a football player accepting a big contract, and as someone said above, it's not like you can openly reject support for LGBT and be unscathed by the media in recent times, he probably does regret leaning into that and probably thinks he should have just been more neutral on it, I would imagine. The Mags bit though, I think there might be something there, we do like to bash the Mags (maybe rightly) for being owned by the Saudis and maybe us having Henderson negates our ability to beat them with that stick. For me, who cares? Get good players and stay up, I don't want to spend a second more than I have to thinking about the Mags and what they're doing.
I felt at the time that Henderson was pressured into going to Saudi by Liverpool as it was a great deal for them. Think they needed a mini squad-rebuild at the time and the money would go a long way - plus freeing up wages. He could have stood up and said no, of course, but maybe felt a loyalty to the club for being with them so long and all of the trophies won.
Not reading many threads I’m in Rhodes However I did read that we were after Henderson’s replacement from Liverpool I think a Chinese / Japanese bloke ?????????????
I like this argument until I remember his gay ambassador role. It's a no from me. I'll let the club decide on what's best and not complain if they go for him for his experience.
I'd have him back in a heartbeat, experience, loves the club, professional and would probably agree to wages that suit our structure. His legs might not be what they were but it's not like he's playing pub football, it's still a decent division and he's also played European and international football this season
I'm not too sure on Henderson coming back. I can see the reason why - experienced head for the Prem and a voice on the pitch but if Jobe goes (and it looks like he is but god I hope he decides to stay!) we're gonna be losing that physically that he brings and I would want to go with another player that gives us that as a starter.
I agree with much of this - we need his nouse and leadership - but I don’t think he’ll be able to do the full stint at the ferocity of this division so we’d need another set of energetic legs for that holding role.
