Badge kissing Bent... Darren Bent was a goal-scorer at a North East club. Perhaps you have to live in that area to understand the unique bond he had with Sunderlandâs fans â and the subsequent pain following his departure. Nine months ago, everyone had an opinion on why Bent left Sunderland. But the facts are simple. Aston Villa paid £24million for him. Bent returns to Sunderland this weekend with his new club, and the England striker is not naive enough to expect a rousing reception. But he says: âI had 18 months at Sunderland and every single moment was fantastic. The way it came to an end was really disappointing because I felt like all the good work I did went out of the window, but I will always â always â look back on it with very fond memories, regardless of the reception I get at the weekend. âWhatever happens, I will not celebrate if I score â there wonât be any badge-kissing or anything like that â because I had such good times up there. I have huge respect for the people at Sunderland and what they did for me. I owe that respect to the stadium.âI was delighted with life up there, I was settled and happy. I met good people and I made firm friends. Itâs a lovely place to live. When other people ask me about it, I always tell them that if they get a chance to play in the North East they should take it, because the fans are brilliant, everything revolves around football. Fans favourite: Bent enjoyed a good relationship with Sunderland supporters âLeaving was nothing to do with that. It was the opportunity for me to play for Aston Villa and Iâm back close to home and my family. It gave Sunderland a lot of money, so it was a good deal for both parties. âIt may sound strange, but I take heart from knowing itâs because I had such a strong relationship with the supporters that they were so angry when I left. I know they cared for me and I know they treated me as if I was one of their own â and I felt like one â so I can understand why it looked like a betrayal. But in my eyes it wasnât. âA playerâs career is short and sometimes you have to take a decision. Sometimes itâs not a popular decision but it was a football decision, one I realise fans canât take when it comes to who they support. So it hurt them. But it was nothing to do with money or greed â it was purely a football decision. âThere was an offer of £24m from Villa, there were already several England internationals in the squad and I thought it was a chance to build up a rapport and get into the England squad and then stay there. It happened.â Bent recognises the role Sunderland manager Steve Bruce played in his rehabilitation as an international striker. âI needed to rediscover my smile, that spark in my game, and Sunderland gave me the opportunity to play regularly. I felt I could knock down walls with those supporters behind me. âSteve Bruce was one of the big reasons why things went so well for me. He just called me and said, âWill you sign for Sunderland?â With no hesitation, I replied, âYesâ. He said, âIâm not going to complicate it too much, just go out there and do what you doâ. He never complicated things. He was a big part of me getting back on track. âWe had good times together. The beach ball game (v Liverpool) . . . then we beat Arsenal 1-0 and also had a 1-1 with Arsenal, where I scored in the last minute. It would have been nice to have a few fond memories of playing Newcastle, but that wasnât meant to be.â Bent scored on his debut against Manchester City for Gerard Houllierâs stuttering Villa side, and a further eight goals in 15 games lifted Villa to ninth despite a season of turmoil in Birmingham. Made for each other? Saved:Bent was given the chance of first-team football by Steve Bruce âGerard still rings me now,â says Bent. âFor a manager of his calibre to identify me as the guy to come and get them out of trouble meant an awful lot. We were fourth or fifth bottom when he joined. People were looking and thinking, âWhy the hell has he gone there?â but I always believed it would turn out all right and we could be a force.â A by-product of the move was a raised profile with England. Ashley Young and Stewart Downing were already at Villa Park, although both have moved on, but the net result was a return to Fabio Capelloâs plans. Now that Wayne Rooney will be missing for three games next year, the focus has sharpened. âI feel a lot more comfortable about England now, more so every time we meet up, but thatâs come from playing games. âEvery time Iâve been fit since the World Cup, Fabio has said, âYouâre my guy, hereâs the No 9 shirtâ. Weâre all gutted Wayne is suspended but I still feel sometimes people are looking for someone else. So itâll be like, âOh, yeah, Darren Bent has done well, but who else is there coming through?â âOf course there are some great young players around like Danny Welbeck, Daniel Sturridge, Andy Carroll . . . Some members of the media say it, some pundits, maybe. I know that Alan Shearer has been rooting for me since day one. âAll I can do is keep proving people wrong, but you can never really win, can you?â If he scores the decider on Saturday, that truth will hit home harder than Darren Bent wants to think Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fo...underland-fans-Aston-Villa.html#ixzz1blKY1bOc
i thought what he did for the club was massive and despite the bitter ending he should be thanked for his time here. he did after all leave us with 24m£ which is extremely good for any club and to be honest not replacing him with that kind of money is upto the club, not him. regardless, i too just hope he has nothing to celebrate.
Agree that we will all be grateful for what Darren done up here he pretty much kept us up but its a shame he didnt buy into the long term goals of the club etc but we move on and lets show him what he smissing at Villa, a loud and passionate crowd who are fully behind their team and lets beat Villa and show Bent that he should never have left Sunderland!!
Why leave us, a club where he was adored to go to a smaller club? It's Blatantly about money and nothing he says will ever convince me otherwise. Expect Hell on Saturday Mr B£nt. It's all you deserve.
I sincerely hope he has the single most devastating, depressing and utterly miserable day in his professional life and We as SAFC fans have made him feel that. Shove his bull **** "I really had a good time" lies and deceipt down his greedy back stabbing throat. Not physically but psychologically. He is a brittle character by nature. Let's shatter that character on Saturday. He didn't leave us 24m better off, we still haven't got all the money and we owed spurs, he simply left us high and dry mid season and the club foolishly just allowed it to happen. It's probably the single most appalling decision made by this club in its history, as ultimately it killed a promising managers reign dead (this was the turning point for Bruce from hero to zero), halted what may have been a watershed season and derailed our campaign completely. Bent should be made to feel very, very unwelcome and left in no doubt that a walk along Roker beach now would be the worst decision of his life. He is now stuck at a middle of the road club that has sold the 2 players he seemingly moved for, lost the French twat who signed him and now employ the most miserable Scottish ****er in football today as its manager. **** bent and **** his career. I really hope the vacant England spot goes to Danny Welbeck and not this cock sucking twat. Apart from that I'm pretty chilled for the weekend. Lol
i'll be applauding you Bent and rightly so we had an entertaining side under you and your goals and penalties made many of my Saturday afternoons ignore the haters!! bRUCE OUT!
Separate the two issues newton. I don't know how you can applaud bent at all. I'm no Bruce supporter but I want us to beat Villa and make Bent feel like **** at the same time.
Bent sold his soul for his twenty pieces of silver, of that I have no doubt. In doing so he helped bugger our season right up, and in my opinion it is something that we are just starting to recover from now.
Oh i want us to beat villa mate and i'd love Bent to mess up i really would But when they say his name i'll have to applaud him for his 32 goals in 18 months for us. I feel like Bruce is a big reason why he left though. Rumours about Bruce being pissed off at him for shagging his daughter and Bruce using him as a lone frontman with poor support second season didn't help the cause.
Hiss and Boo as much as you want but by 5.15pm Saturday Mr Bent will have forgotten all about sunderland again
Just call it a reality check Save this thread for next season, then just swap Bent name for Sessegnon or Bendtner
We are recovering? Really? I'm pleased you said that kidda as I seemed to have missed it. Can you remind me when it happened again and what actually happened?
Your a little early for pantomime season tit **** but then again, playing the arse end of the pantomime cow for the 25th year running must be a real lift in your life each year.