A large part of the problem with loyalty comes not from the players, but the agents. For example, in the case of Bale's move to Los Ladrones do Madrid, his agent was the one who brought up the prospect of a move to the media - and let's be honest, as he was in the final year of his contract with Bale, he was the one saying it was now or never. In comparison, Paul Scholes never had an agent during his career, instead he left contract renegotiations in the hands of the PFA and it was sorted in a matter of hours.
Football is a career. ..so I expect no loyalty from players and managers...would never get a players name on the back of my shirt and more tellingly neither have my children until Ledley quit playing and my eldest got his name on her shirt. What pisses me off is people saying that "you'd change jobs if your new employer offered to double your money"...when you earn a MINIMUM of 50k a week (over £2.5m a year) why does any more matter? Doubling my salary would make a massive change to my life and my family's life...doubling their money is just more cars etc. I also wish players would just be honest instead of this badge kissing ****. The best you can hope for imo is a very good player giving you 2 or 3 years to see if you can win trophies or get CL before they leave.
It's not just money. In Rugby Union in the pre-professional era plenty of players moved clubs to play at a higher level. Some went to League, some took under the table payments from clubs with rich benefactors but plenty just wanted to play with better players at a higher standard. There's good and bad in all. If Bale or Modric had been offered the same money at Madrid would they still have gone? There's a fair chance the answer is "yes" because they would play with better players than we had and get regular chances to win medals and play in the Champions League. Winning is a drug. Coming close just doesn't do it for the truly driven and ambitious. Make no mistake, Pochettino and Lloris are loyal to us right now because they believe that we're on a path to success. If we sold Harry Kane or Dele Alli tomorrow, that wouldn't be the case any more and money would have nothing to do with it.
When Ajax players start turning us down, then I'll believe that CL football and trophies matter more to players than money and playing in the Premier League. I'm sure it does matter to some but I think most of the time money is the bottom line.
I’m struck by my own hypocrisy on the loyalty issue. I want it from players but would never dream of granting it to them. If he’s not good enough, out the door with him--maybe accompanied by a cruel gibe or ten. The one player who has shown any hope of squaring this circle is Soldado. Like many fans, I continue to hold him in high esteem because he showed, perhaps, that having the club in your heart is the most important thing. In any case, other players would be wise to study how Soldado won affection despite it not working out for him on the field. And I’ll continue to wonder why I think players should love my club no matter what, when my affection for them disappears the moment they misplace a pass.
I think Soldado took his job seriously. He was grown up enough and responsible enough to understand that he was being paid a ****load of money to do a job. And that 100% was what was expected, and that was what he was willing to provide. I've little doubt that he's currently providing an equivalent level of commitment to Villareal. It's obviously his nature. No, not all fooballers take that attitude, far from it. But there are those in any walk of life who take their responsibilities seriously, and those who don't.
Soldado, definitely. What about Dawson? When QPR bid £10m for him that would have come with very good terms on a contract, no need to move your family, etc. He was told he wasn't going to play for us. Result? He turned it down and stayed. Whether you term it loyalty or professional ambition or whatever, it ain't all money for all players. If it was they'd all be in the UAE or Idon'tknowwehereitisastan playing for some Oil Oligarch's latest play thing.
Spot on. We're all fickle. And we should remember that patience with players can pay dividends - Bale being a prime example. How many would have happily seen him replaced in the days when he appeared to be a curse and would have fetched £8M rather than £80M? It's easy to be loyal when playing for a club realises all your ambitions quickly - as with Paul Scholes, for example. But players like Sheringham, Carrick and Berbatov had to move to achieve theirs. When gifted players reach the standards they had done at Spurs, then, like any high achievers in any walk of life, it seems natural that they would want to showcase their talents for greater rewards - financially and in terms of winning medals. They wouldn't have reached those standards in the first place had they not had the ambition to achieve the greatest rewards. It's unrealistic to think that players of such quality would stifle those ambitions, stay loyal and happy and carry on performing at the same level.
You can replace all of those references to ambition with talk about financial incentives, instead. I think it would be more accurate.
It would be naive to think that money wasn't a big factor, but all top level sportsmen aspire to win things. Even average players are extremely wealthy these days. It takes more than than cash to motivate players to be the best they can be and to succeed as part of a successful team.
Players clearly believe that cash and success go hand-in-hand. City proved that when they had one, but not the other, as did Chelsea before them.
