Dan Harding chooses to sign for Eastleigh, saying he couldn't bring himself to sign for Pompey

I didn't realise that there were two Dan Hardings who played for Saints. This one was obviously a very talented chap. The other one must have played about the same time and was "ok going forward, but nowhere near good enough in defence", or so some were constantly saying on here!

 

The other one can sign for Portsmouth

 

Moi

 

Bollocks. Did you not consider why he also turned down other league one sides? Perhaps the sound bite for turning those down wasn't as good for the media.

 

Moi aussi.

 

Oh come on would you rather play for Poopey or Swaythling Athletic. No choice really..

 

He just chose a club on the up......I'd say that shows ambition

 

Always liked him and had to defend him against the Neggies on a couple of sites, my admiration for him has gone up a notch.

 

Well obviously a big caveat is whether he meant or it whether he was just saying it for the bantzzzz

 

I noted that Dan said this: Don’t get me wrong Portsmouth is a big club and I would imagine they are going to do very well this season, but I just couldn’t bring myself to do it.

So Dan tried very hard not to offend Pompey supporters, but he had to let Saints and Eastleigh supporters know where his sentiments and loyalties lay. To be honest, I think it is rare of a player to have such a loyalty. We herald it in far ever diminishing numbers of players these days, and I think Dan deserves a bit of respect for showing some to his favourite former club. In Eastleigh, he's chosen a club emotionally and geographically close to Southampton, and that's great, in my opinion.

I always liked Dan Harding as a player. I would try to emphasise his good points, back during those times, and there were plenty of them. My favourite little joke about him was that there was something of lavender about him, which he took in very good part. The fact that he did made him all the better person in my eyes. Imagine Osvaldo doing the same.

 

That's their choice. Harding chose differently. You only see the ones who chose a certain way. For all we know, there might be some women out there who could play for Portsmouth but have opted not to because they are Saints fans. And quite possibly the reverse as well.

You wouldn't want a guy on your team who doesn't want to play for you obviously. So no big loss. And you can boo Harding should he ever play against Portsmouth, that's all part of the fun.

But that doesn't mean Harding is unprofessional. What matters is that he honor his commitments to the team that actually signs him. He owes nothing to Portsmouth FC. I would feel the same way about a player not under contract who opts not to play for Saints. It's their lives, it's their career.

If Harding had said "I refuse to play for that piece of crap Portsmouth team. ****ers all of them! I wish they would hand me a contract right now so I could wad it up and throw it in their faces!" that might be a little unprofessional.

But he said nothing bad about the club. He merely explained that for personal reasons he chose Eastleigh.

 

Unprofessional might not be the accurate term, but I'm too tired to think what that term might be.

 

You should make sure you're not too tired when you first post them PL, then you may get the right term at the start.

It may even be that your allegiance to your team clouded your view of a player showing his allegiance to his. Perhaps this makes you an unprofessional fan, or an unamateurish fan as you're not a professional fan, but that then sounds like a compliment. Maybe I am just too tired to think of the right term and should heed my own advice? Eh?

 

If I only posted when I wasn't tired, I would never post on this this forum.

 

And all our lives would be just that little bit more unfulfilled...

Vin

 

I completely understand Harding's POV. People outside of Saints don't understand how wonderful it has felt over the last few years and those 2 promotions were magical. As Harding said, those were highlights in his career. He wants to feel at one with the Saints fan and doesn't want to taint his memory....it may be childish of Saints' fans to be upset if he signed for Pompey, but he knew we wouldn't be impressed and he decided that his relationship with us was important to him. It may turn out that he has made a sacrifice, but not everything is about money.

 

I've always disagreed with this view. I thought he was a decent defender, streets ahead of his replacement.

 

Football rivalries should be between fans, not players. Honestly, in the interest of your career why would you be that bothered. Have fun at Eastleigh when you could have been playing in front of crowds of 18,000.

 

You do realise that players are just people, and therefore, the same as fans - right?