Ibrahima Sonko has said he felt "dreadful" while picking up £14,000 a week from Portsmouth for doing absolutely nothing, Sky Sports reports. The Stoke defender was on-loan at Fratton Park last season, but was largely confined to a place in the stands. The Senegal international said he was frustrated as loan rules prevented him from taking to the field. Pompey had seven loan players at the club meaning two always had to be left out of the squad. Sonko claims the relative strength-in-depth of the Portmsouth defence and injuries in other areas of the time meant he became the fall guy. He told The Sun: "This has been a dreadful experience. I've taken the money because that's what is in the contract. But all I've wanted to do is go out and earn it. "I've been caught in an infuriating web of rules and red tape which some managers are not even sure about. "At Portsmouth I had to sit in the stands and watch my team lose because the rules mean I could not even be in the squad. "The fans are sitting around me and God knows what they think? I'm sure that if many clubs don't even know the rules, then they don't. "So to them I must have looked like some lazy footballer - picking up almost £20,000 a week but could not be bothered to play. "The last three years have been a mess and it needs to be sorted. Far from being lazy I feel like I've been restricted from doing my work. "What other business would have such complex rules that stop people moving around and getting the best out of themselves?" The ex-Reading man, who has also had a spell on-loan at Hull City, explained why he featured so rarely at Fratton Park. He said: "I was one of seven players on loan because the club was struggling to sign players permanently. The problems started when we got injuries. "There were gaps all over the team except in defence. The rules state you can only have five loan players in the squad on match day so I made way. "It ended with me sitting in the stands while the manager did not have enough players to fill the bench! "Portsmouth were paying me around £14,000 a week to do nothing. It sounds lovely but it wasn't. "It just seems as if the rules are holding players back. We would often get different answers from different people at the Premier League and Football League. "Clubs are confused, managers have no idea and players are stuck in the middle."
Good or bad player I find it ludicrous that it is the rules that stop a player playing without any really sound reason.
I swear there's an echo in here, I say, I swear there's an echo in here here here here here............
We (Hull City) paid him £20,000 a week while on loan in the 2009/10 season. He was the worst player I saw for us in the Premier League; in his first game he had an absolute shocker at Sunderland - at fault for 2 of the goals in a 4-1 defeat. I'm surprised you resorted to taking him, despite your desperate situation with squad size. These rules as you have stated are ridiculous though. Some sort of loophole or alternative system meaning players can be sent back to their parent club (who are obliged to pay the contract) has to come in. I'm sure Stoke City are OK with the current system though
Stoke have a habit of loaning out the deadwood to some poor suffering team. We had Anthony Pulis and have only just managed to get rid of him. Two years at our club and never able to wear our shirt for the first team.
"At Portsmouth I had to sit in the stands and watch my team lose........." -------------- Yes Ibrahim, because with you in the team Pompey wouldn't have lost would they? Good lad. £14,000.00 every 7 days though? Jeez!
