Excuse me? I was responding to the analogy raised by DR. Nobody mentioned him being a Fulham legend, that was an exaggeration, but he is getting a bit of a love-in on here. I'm just offering a much-needed balance.
I, like you, wasn't exactly praying to the Gods for AJ to get injured, but the fact he now is, means he gets absolutely no sympathy from me. What has AJ done to deserve our sympathies? He ran around a bit? Isn't that part of his job? He failed the other part, scoring goals. When Bullard got injured at Hull, was everyone sympathetic then? It's basically the same scenario, both left us for 'brighter' shores after having spent most of their time here injured, only to criticise the club once they left.
The guy has done his cruciate and most is going to be out for the rest of the season. Had he pulled his hamstring or experienced a minor injury and be out of a few weeks I think most people would be having a “wry smile” or saying its “karma” but the guys done his cruciate. It’s a career threating injury at the best of times, even more serious when your 31. I wouldn't say this is a “Love In” for AJ but to say it’s karma that he’s done he cruciate is harsh…
There's 'no love in' at all Bidders, just surprise at the severity of feeling and the joyous thrill of seeing a footballer get seriously injured. Bandit, there's a world of difference in saying 'I am delighted by this news' and 'he gets absolutely no sympathy from me'. So one minute you're thrilled that a person has suffered a nasty injury but then a change of heart and you're not delighted but rather you have not an ounce of sympathy for him? Karma hasn't got anything to do with it! That means you're saying because he wasn't complimentary about the latter part of his stay with Fulham he deserves to get a bad injury! This article started off as a newsy post about a past Fulham player (not legend), did it deserve such an unFulhamish comment? I'm still shocked at the comments to be honest.
AJ is a player who has only recently left and, as a result, emotions still run high around him. I think there is still a lot of resentment towards him that will diminish somewhat in time. I have no sympathy for AJ but I suspect he wouldn't expect any. He made the right decision for himself (and his family) to take the longer contract on more money at QPR, we made the right decision (for both finances & team strength) in not matching it. He was always going to be prone to a serious injury and the club knew that. I did have a wry smile when that injury happened, but I didn't take any pleasure in it. I think deep breaths are needed on both sides. We can revisit the AJ issue next year and I'm sure both sides will be more circumspect.
Fair enough that it wasn't your analogy, but it's one that's been thrown around a lot to claim that AJ wasn't hard working. DR was using it to make the point that we would expect sympathy not criticism if we were off work with illness, you (and others, in the past) have used it to argue the opposite point. My comment was meant to highlight that it's a misleading comparison: AJ had an industrial industry, picked up in the direct carrying out of his job. That's not the same as someone being frequently ill in ways unrelated to their work.
He spelt ****er wrong as well Bandy baby! Poor comment from you though, thought you were better than that.
I'll admit that my initial post was perhaps made rather rashly, but when I see a player ruled out for the season my usual reaction is sympathy. This was not the case here though. I think he treated the club with a certain amount of arrogance, a club that paid an awful lot of money to him over the years he was here. The least he could have done was to repay the clubs faith by sticking around a bit longer (Jol didn't want him to leave) when he had begun to rediscover some of the form which persuaded us to buy him in the first place.
HOLT, if a player from QPR, who had spent copious amounts of time on the physio table, and at the moment he picked up form decided he wanted more money I don't think you would view him highly. I admit my comments were rash my lack of sympathy for him stands.
You can't blame a player for wanting to get his wages Boutiqued at Rangers and cashing in. Chelsea legend Hughesy did the same. It's just when they come out with the bollox about moving for sporting reasons that it is ridiculous, especially when moving to QPR. They are mercenaries
The severity or nature of the injury wasn't the point. For example, in my job, if I was off work for an extended amount of time due to injury caused by work or otherwise, I would lose some or all of my annual bonus. Why? Because absence from worked is deemed either the same as or, or equal to poor performance. That's the angle I'm looking at it from. But this is getting silly. The way I see it, if you're not on the pitch, you're not putting in a shift. AJ was injured more often than not, and no amount of sympathy makes the time he spent on the treatment table any good to the club. I'm taking his whole time at the club into consideration, not picking the parts where he played. But I've said this before, so I won't say it again. I still have no sympathy for him, no amount of hand-wringing will change that.
You're right - this is getting silly. My last comment about putting in a shift is to say that most players say it's really hard work to come back from an injury - putting in hours of rehab work, often on your own and without the banter of mixing with the rest of theam. A footballer being injured is a long way from a footballer who isn't working hard. But let's all just let it go. AJ has gone, let's talk about the players who are still here. We won 3-0 on Saturday, remember everyone?
OK, I think I can wrap my head around this discussion. For some of us (including me), people like AJ, Dempsey, Zamora, Bullard and Hodgson and the rest are/were seen as employees of the football club I care about. So when they left to take jobs at other clubs, most of us felt an honest sense of "thanks for your service" and wished them well. And all of the people I just mentioned left for perfectly legitimate reasons - money and opportunity. And even if Bullard or Zamora said something unkind on their way out the door, I don't take it personally and I generally look back on their service with gratitude. But there are others among us (perfectly nice people, whose opinions I value) who take a more tribal and passionate view of Fulham. For you, Fulham is personal, pure and simple. Any player or manager wanting to leave probably feels a bit like a betrayal, hence the "wry smirk" when the player pulls up injured. It's even worse when they take a pot-shot at the team. I think yours is a deeper personal and emotional investment than mine. To a degree I envy you. I think I can explain this with a relationship analogy: a woman walks out of your life you've known for 10 years. How do you react? Well it depends, doesn't it, on how invested you were in the relationship. If she's just a co-worker who works a few cubes down the aisle, it's not a big deal. If she's your wife, you're going to be rather upset. And I think that's the difference.
To clarify, my wry smile was very much an "I told you so" smile. We told QPR fans that there was a very high chance this would happen, and it did. I don't feel betrayed by AJ. I don't mind if a player asks for a pay rise, as long as we accept the club's right to say no. I ask for a pay rise every year, regardless of performance. If the employer says no, I look at other jobs. Stone cold logic.
You make that post then follow it up with this one, Ellers told me your new name was "London's thickest!" I still prefer BlueZzzzzzzzz
