Going behind their backs was ****ty behaviour and he deserves all the stick that he gets for that. The bit that everyone remembers isn't actually that bad, though. Hit him with the appropriate stick, please. It was in the context of Arsenal having won the title without losing a game and their owner being extremely rich, though. He saw it as a relatively small amount, compared to what he'd helped them draw in at the time. Trying to stiff one of their starting XI over it when they're paying out so much to other players is rather poxy. Can people stop making me defend Ashley Cole now, please? The guy's a prize prick.
You are right though, they ended up losing one of the best defenders of the PL era and the best LB in the world at the time, over a "poxy" 5k per week and handing him over to their title rivals as well. Was dumb. Wenger is a ****** when it comes to that sort of thing. Fancy selling Cole to Chelsea, or RvP to United!! The **** was he thinking?!
They did get £5m and William Gallas, though. Awful deal. The sales to City also didn't help. They boosted a big opponent and weakened Arsenal dramatically.
Particularly given the club had showed him **** all loyalty for years beforehand. Despite being a key player, he was kept on wages much lower than the rest of the main members of the squad. The simple fact is that people are less concerned with the actual wage they get as they are when it's compared to what others get for the same job. Doesn't matter if it's a small amount or a massive one - if they are getting less than others to play the same role they will be pissed off.
I think that's why he's an easy target. Utd tried the same thing with Pogba - he ****ed off sharpish and no one batted an eyelid. If Cole wasn't such a prize twat no one would have cared apart from the Arsenal lot. And they'd have moved their ire on to Nasri, RVP, Fabregas, Clichy or any of the hundreds of other players to have ****ed off for pastures greener since then
He is also underrated by many fans for the same reason. it is difficult at times to be objective when you despise the person whose work capabilities you are rating. anyone remember the thread on our respective boards about which players you wished had been with you. i still remember coming clean on ours saying "I would take G Neville -there i've said it and i'm going to scrub myself until i feel clean again" after that a fair few others admitted to the same guilty secret . that was a great thread when people took it serious and tried hard to be objective
I agree but the trouble is there was an element of "Tevez" in the way Ince behaved after joining Livpl. And btw continues to do so whenever you hear him comment about United.
Probably just a bit of bitterness imo. After all, Ince didn't want to leave Utd, same as Owen didn't want to leave Liverpool. The manager deemed him surplus to requirements and sold him. Thanks for all your hard work and all the success you've brought, now kindly **** off to mid table obscurity. Hard to believe he wasn't the tiniest bit pissed off that we sold him then went on to win a second double, treble and all the rest, whilst he was stuck at Liverpool and won the sum total of **** all for the rest of his career. Same way some of the Arsenal fans' ire against Nasri, RVP, Clichy, Cole etc is driven by them all winning league titles after leaving Arsenal, whilst the club is stuck with nowt but the top four trophy.
I thought it was a similar situation to Gerrard - the contract ran down as Owen wasn't sure the club could actually deliver him any long term success. Then when Benitez came in and decided Owen wasn't needed the club was left with a player on a one year contract and no option but to sell on the cheap, or let him hold them to ransom like Gerrard did in 2005.
