More on from yesterdays Daily Fail article about the money grabbing F***** Darren Bent: I'm no money-grabber Villa striker insists he left Sunderland for footballing reasons DARREN BENT has hit out at critics suggesting he left Sunderland for Aston Villa for cash. The England striker is preparing for a hostile reception on his first return to the Stadium of Light on Saturday by fans still angry at his decision to quit Wearside in January. But Bent, who has promised not to celebrate should he score at the weekend, is sticking to his argument that he chose to join Villa for footballing reasons âand not a hefty pay rise. He said: "There was an offer of £24million on the table â it gave Sunderland a lot of money â and there were already several England internationals in the Villa squad. "I saw it as a chance to go there, play with those guys, build up a rapport, get back into the England squad and stay there. "I know that Sunderland fans cared for me and treated me like one of their own â I felt like one â so I understand why it looked like a betrayal, but in my eyes it wasn't that." Bent handed in a transfer request just two hours after a poor display for Sunderland in a 1-1 home draw against arch rivals Newcastle. Forty-eight hours later he was confirmed as a Villa player. That led to accusations from Sunderland of tapping-up â claims strenuously denied by Villa. Black Cats boss Steve Bruce also revealed Bent had attempted to engineer a lucrative move to Turkey the previous summer despite the player repeatedly stating his love for the club and the region. It was an acrimonious departure and one which Bent feels overshadowed his achievements at Sunderland, for whom he scored 32 goals in just 58 league appearances following his move from Tottenham in summer 2009. The 27-year-old added: "I had 18 months at Sunderland and every single moment was fantastic. "The way it came to an end was really disappointing because it felt like all the good work 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, whether I am booed or not. "I am so grateful to the fans and the club and what they did for me. "Whatever happens, I wouldn't celebrate if I scored a goal, no badge kissing or anything like that." http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepag...ists-he-didnt-leave-Sunderland-for-money.html
Whichever way you look at it Bent was good for us. He probably kept us up in his first season and he was getting us noticed enough to get himself an England call up. At the end we got double what we paid for him. Of course his leaving was acrimonyous but its because he was scoring lots of goals which was good for us. I think he is a bit of a plonker for leaving because he had it made here with us but to be honest, he isn't a Sunderland lad and has no real connection with us. If any one reading this was a pro footballer from Sunderland and they were playing for Brighton (for example) and Nottingham Forest (for another example) came in with a better offer then you would probably take it. We sometimes get players who take to the club and become a part of it (Quinn & Ball) but for a lot of them its a job. He (Bent) could have handled his move to Vanilla better but his move to us was a right clart on as well, remember the tweets? I really believe Bent has a lot of feeling for SAFC but that's about it. Who honestly would not have him back? So, by all means BOO him all afternoon but think on, we just may have been in the Championship if it wasn't for him. Right, I expect to get slaughtered for this so off you go!
He done a deal with Villa on the sly, of that I've no doubt. The timing gave us no chance of getting in an adequate replacement, which along with our injuries, contributed to a serious downturn in results which almost cost us our Premiership place...For these reasons, I intend to do something which I can't ever remember doing before in my 40 odd years supporting the lads, and that is booing a returning player.
Charley- I don't see any validity in the arguments that we would have been relegated if we didn't have Bent. We spent a significant amount of money to get him, plus wages. Would we not have had other options to buy/loan, would we have played with 10 men if we didn't get Bent?
No we wouldn't have played with ten men, bertie. But we'd probably have played with a lesser striker - say Defoe with 14 goals that season. Deduct ten goals (and the resulting points) from what we had in May, 2010, and there's little doubt that we'd have gone down. Let's face it, we only just avoided it on the last day with Bent !
Bertie- Who knows what would have happened if we didn't get Bent? Now and again we get a really good goalscorer (SKP or Marco) and other times we get a flop (Flo) I can't think of any player who would have done as well as Bent for the money we paid. Had he turned out to be hopeless then we would have probably been happy to take half what we paid for him but he was prolific for us. I don't like the way he left but I think after a few years history will look back more kindly on Bent. I sound like an apologist for Bent but if you stand back a bit he done us a lot of good. Villa are possibly a bit on the wane now and we are (I think) on the up, so what may have been true a couple of years ago about Villa being a 'bigger' club is not now necessarily so. Maybe that will prompt another move for Bent.
Agreed RAW not the fact he left but how for me really scuppered us and a chance of a very strong season. Footballing reasons? How about the chance to finish top 8 in the prem with and outside chance of Europe... where the hell were villa at the time? Be a mercenary if you want but don't bloody lie about it and want people to feel sorry for you, spineless git. Why not say I think Villa are a bigger club I could get a 30K a week pay rise and better my chance of being in the England side and I'd rather that than stay and fight for the club who revived my faltering career. Might not have been pleasant but think people would respect the honesty.
STEVE Bruce says Darren Bent missed out on the chance of becoming an all-time Sunderland great when he quit the club just 16 months into his stay at the Stadium of Light. But the Black Cats’ boss says that this Saturday’s game against Aston Villa – which marks Bent’s first return since engineering a shock transfer in January – is about far more than one player. “For me, Darren did fantastically well and no-one can deny that,” said Bruce. “His goalscoring record here was quite staggering and I think you could argue that the goals he gave Aston Villa when he left us last season probably kept them up. “He could have been, in my opinion, one of the greats of Sunderland, and I’m talking about up there with the very best goalscorers in the club’s history, if he had hung around http://www.sunderlandecho.com/sport...nt_could_have_been_sunderland_great_1_3905955
All this guff he is coming out with now is adding to my belief that he is an out and out liar. I particularly like the bit about moving to Villa to be nearer his family! What about when he wanted to go to Turkey in the summer? Has his family moved? All the verbal diarrhoea he is spouting now is an attempt to appease the Sunderland fans because he knows what's coming on Saturday, a sure sign of a coward.
I would, if there wasn't thousands of people who loved me, sang my name every week and idolized me. He knew how much we loved him and the way he left us he could have got us relegated, he is a **** and I won't ever forgive him. He saved us? We saved him. He was rotting at Spurs, if it wasn't us it would've been Hull! He owes us a lot and he ****ed us over, bigtime.
To be honest he had to think about his England career as well, there was no way on God's greean earth he would be allowed to play for England while at Sunderland, I think all know that
100% Agreed. Whatever he says won't and never will wash with me. I've never felt so disappointed in a footballer as when B£nt left.
