Can't be as bad as some Leeds fans are making out if you offered him more than double his current wages?
He's not as bad as a lot of Leeds fans are making out. He's a very average Championship level player and he'll probably do ok in a few games in the PL, but don't be surprised if he fails to deliver. A lot of fans are bitter because he's been very arrogant over the last 6 months. He was good enough to be paid £7k a week, yes. In some games he played extremely well and he stood out. But that's the issue, he rejected what he was worth in search of getting way more than he's worth, most probably because of a greedy agent telling him he's the best player in the world and every club will want him in a couple of years. We're not jealous or bitter because we no longer have him, we feel pissed off about his attitude towards the club. Some pissed off enough that they feel the need to show us up in front of his new clubs fans, like this guy just did. Expecting him to be a squad player is probably pretty accurate, but this whole "Lambert will make a superstar out of him" is a bit exagerated. The man isn't magic, he's just had a couple of good seasons. Don't get me wrong, he's a very good manager, but I don't think he's as good as your fans keep yammering on about.
Yawn! Always the same. Tell it to the Colchester fans who said David fox was ****. If lambert says he's good, he's good. End of.
I'll trust the judgement of champions league winning and double promotion gaining Paul Lambert cheers...
I wasn't questioning Beckford's ability Marko (although I do think he's a little over-rated) I was just pointing out that loving Beckford but hating Johnson for being money grabbing was a flawed argument as they both did the same thing, and yes, your post was far better thought out and less bitter.
The situations were different. The difference in player quality is the big reason we feel differently about the two players. I think it's because we couldn't afford the sort of wages that Beckford was actually worth. He would have deffinitely tore the Championship a new one had he stayed with us, and he was deffinitely an asset worth keeping. The amount of money he will have been offered by Everton will have been simply more than we could afford, thinking most likely around the £30k a week mark. The Johnson situation is different. He wanted £11k a week, and I don't know anyone who believes his ability is worth that much. The club clearly don't think he's worth that much, but it's well within the budget. Beckford was probably on more than that before he left. It's about delusions of Grandeur, and we genuinely don't think Johnson is really that good, he'll be a squad player for you in your first season in the Premier League and if you stay up he'll probably be phased out further and/or loaned out to a lower league club. Beckford on the other hand clearly has ability. He was never going to be a world reknowned superstar but he's clearly doing a good job at Everton and definitely has the quality to play at that level. He was also older than Johnson and it wasn't likely we would have made it to the top level while Beckford was playing so well. His career could have (and probably would have) been heading into it's twilight by the time we got there. The simplest way to explain it is that Beckford had outgrown us, Johnson hadn't. Beckford pissed a lot of people off and it could have ended so much worse after he handed in a transfer request after beating the scum. A week later he had withdrawn that request and couldn't have been more hated by us if he'd tried. This continued for a couple of months while he lost his form and we threw the League One title away, until Grayson put him on the bench and started using him as an impact sub. He played some of the best football he had ever played with us during that period and it climaxed with the sublime performance both as an individual and as the teams captain on the last day of the season. The way the two players left are so different if you look deeper than the money. Beckford went out in the right way and we will always appreciate his efforts, with the highlight being the way he was on the last day of the season. I think it was his first time as the captain and I believe he was given it so he could prove his worth and go out flying with us all waving him off and wishing him the best. It worked. The Johnson situation was far different
Why does that have anything to do with Leeds? He played for a big club in Leeds (Lambert said as much himself) and now he's playing for a smaller, albeit still fairly big club in Norwich. Not hard, is it?
I am sure Whelpdale is saying exactly the same thing - what a great chance to play for a great team like Gillingham
Has anyone ever noticed how all Leeds players are ace when playing for them but then when they leave for another club you end up with loads of posts saying how crap they are? Not really bitter are they LOL
No, that's a myth that other clubs' fans use when they're buying our cast-offs to make them feel better about the fact they've signed average Championship players. People's opinions about a player don't miraculously change, and if you've noticed, a lot of people are unhappy about the way Leeds United's run so there have been some who've wanted Johnson, Kilkenny and Schmeichel to stay. I wasn't one of them and I doubt anyone's suddenly changed their mind just because Leeds haven't extended their contracts.
Actually you just hear more from the ones who think he sucked now because people keep giving us the whole "you're just jealous because you couldn't keep onto him, he'd rather play for us than you" rubbish, and we respond by explaining in plain english that he's really not great. If you were to research it you could say the opposite is true, we all thought he sucked when he was at Leeds but now he's gone we think he's great. It depends how you look at it, and whether or not you view the opinions of individual fans as the representation of the entire club.
I cant really comment to much on Johnson as I hant seen as much as the Leeds fans.I dont think he will start many games for us as i think he will be used as cover for Crofts.Its looking like PL wants 2 players for evry position,so Johnson I guess is second choice.
