There always seems to be lots of talk about player loyalty. But why should they be loyal? This is something I just don't get. Most players don't support the club they play for in the way that fans do, so why do so many think that they should stay loyal? The fact of the matter is that most players are offered short contracts of 1-3 years and are there to do a job. Both players and clubs have to keep moving forward, so this loyalty thing the everyone talks about just can't work. Are you really saying that Swansea should keep all their players and all the players should want to stay at Swansea? How would that work in practice? It wouldn't, because we'd still be in League Two or worse. Clubs like Swansea are ambitious and want to move forward, so it's obvious that they need to get rid of some players and replace them with better quality players. The same goes for ambitious players. Suppose you really wanted to be a footballer and thought you could one day play in the Premier League. And suppose Neath gave you your first chance. Would you really stay with them for you whole playing career, just out of loyalty? No you wouldn't. Most fans just can't accept that while most players love football, they don't have any loyalty to one team. They may love some teams but that's not the be all and end all of everything. And if players move for better wages, why do they get slated. Nearly every person I know would leave their job for double or triple their wages. Why should it be different for a footballer. If they initially agreed a 2-year contract, then there is no disloyalty on either side if the contract isn't renewed. It baffles me that so many fans have difficulty understanding this. They expect player loyalty but are all to happy for their club to sell players in order to improve the team. That's just double standards. Why don't fans understand this simple concept? What is wrong with them? OK, I know some fans understand this, but even an untrue rumour has many fans claiming a player is disloyal. That's just plain stupid.
Good post. Not enough people look at the other hand so to speak. Being a football player is a career, unless you are seriously lucky, you'll have to move about a bit to find and achieve success. The issue of loyalty only comes into question when a team is doing well, progressing on and off the field, and a player decides to move away during, or in the middle, of a contract. But if they can make more money elsewhere, and if there heart and mind isn't fully focussed on the task at hand, then they should move away. As no club needs players that aren't giving 100% to the cause. It works well both ways - we're happy to get rid of a player not giving his all, the player is happy to get a fresh move to a club that he wants to give his all for.
Terrific article . From a Swansea point of view , we have been very lucky in the loyalty department . For the last 4 seasons , from promotion to promotion , whose left without being shown the door . ? Loans don't count because they have to leave . Robinson ( yippy yoyo ) , Scotland (left 2 million on the desk ) , Britton ( but he came back within 6 months ) . Who else ? When players get to Swansea , they seem to want to stay . Not many teams can boost about having so few disgruntled players
Well it's a job, no matter what people say ! I work for a company I am well paid for what I do, I am not blowing my own trumpet but I am good at what I do if I was offered a job that tripled my wages in say Manchester , it would be bye bye my current job Loyalty sod that I would be on well over £100k a year , that would be nice
It all depends on the club really. You have to build a reputation as being a fair club who will look after your players as long as you ultimately toe the club line and give your all. I´d be disappointed if Pratley wasn´t even offered a new contract (unless we knew 100% he wouldn´t sign it, thus making it irrelevant), but apart from that we´ve behaved pretty well as a club over the last few years, and word of that would surely spread amongst professionals burned elsehwere. I think loyalty has to be shown on both sides. The example of breaking through at Neath, obviously Neath are never going to play at the highest level so in that situation you´d do the best by Neath you could while still furthering your career. Players at the Swans though now know we are big enough to get to the Premiership, so unless someone reckons they can play for a Champions League contender, there´s no reason for them to want to move on surely.
Good article and right on point with DP's leaving. For me it's not about loyalty because as Bangkok says it is first and foremost about business and career and emotional vestment tends to get in the way in such matters. However, it is about good faith and acting in that way on both sides of the equation. And as long as that is the way business is conducted on both sides then things are what they are and have to be accepted as such.
I can see your view point Scotty, and to a large extent agree, though things can't always be as cut and dry as, it's 'a Job', take for example Alan Tate, and Leon Britton, How long have they been here? are they contented? are they Happy with they're salary? is money everything? which is what is underpinning your argument, Jager states that if he was offered a better Job in Manchester with triple wages, he would be gone, would he have though made the best decision? well he may say yes, until he finds that it wasn't all that it was cracked up to be, I've turned down in the past lucrative contracts, that would send me all over the country, it might be ok for Jager, but for me it was not, I weighed up all the other cost, that are not monetary, such as up rooting your family, losing a better location, going to a part of the country not so beautiful as Wales and Swansea to live, so there are many factors involved in this issue. I have no problem with Pratley as he's been a good servant of the club, and now wants to move on, but I do have an issue with Taylor, who has hardly settled here and wants to move, well chasing money does not answer everything, and Leon found that out, and sometimes comparing what any Pro footballer receives, with contemporary occupations is not really a good parallel. As fans this issue of Loyalty is a bug bear, and I understand that, but we are entitled to look at say Pratley and say well yes, he's been loyal, but now wants to try a new challenge, or bigger pay day, yet Britton did that at the end of last season, and I can tell you that he regretted it, why because he missed Swansea, he missed his girlfriend, and other friends too, but more importantly he missed his club, and he realised that money was not everything. If we look at the example of Taylor who has only just arrived as a Pro in the game at Swansea City, well I have to say this is the ugly side of the game, and if he does go, then good riddance, we don't want those players in my view. I have never known a poor footballer in this day and age, some will put down roots at a club and be contented, with they're lot in life, some will never put down roots or be contented, because they never had them to begin with, and will never know what it means and feels to belong to something special, they are just travelling merchants passing through!................ please log in to view this image
what you have to accept is there is no such thing as loyalty, a footballer is in a job that is his lively hood and he will do the best for himself and his family, players who you think are loyal for example tatey and monk are only classed as loyal because no other team better than us has ever come in for them, if they had then they would go if it meant a better future. with qpr coming in for ash i would say that we are better than them and even though the are suppose to be the third riches club in the uk the have never shown that when it comes to players...loyalty is a myth and every player has a price to be poached and whether we like it or not thats the way it is....
Phil in my previous occupation I got offered a job 4-5 times my then salary, I was in that job within 2 weeks I made the right choice as I met my wife there. Still a football career is a short one, and the kind of money on offer to players is obscene IMO , and no matter which way you look at it, money is a huge motivator and decisions are made on it, if Taylor goes and starts earning £20k a week he is set for life
Dragon Phill - some goods points but just because Leon made a mistake doesn't mean everyone who leaves is making a mistake. Maybe he didn't think things through properly, or maybe he did but things didn't work out as planned. It can also work the other way. What if a player turns down a big move and stays at a club and then a new manager comes in and he's out of favor. And by then he missed his big chance. Players should take everything into account and then make the decision they think is best. If you are from Swansea or have been there years and have family there, etc, then it's a bit different to someone who came on a 2 year contract and maybe didn't settle in Swansea and have more friends in another town. Those players also get accused of being disloyal. If you think players who leave are disloyal, then we'd have to give up on buying new players, because you think they should be loyal to their existing clubs. Are you saying we shouldn't have signed Danny Graham because he should have been loyal to Watford? While you make some good points, your argument just doesn't stack up in parts. What exactly is loyalty? When do you think a player should be allowed to leave? Pratley wanted to sign a new contract last season but the club said no. So from his point of view why should he stay? And what about the players who are loyal but are being kicked out because the club don't want them? You have left many things unanswered. Not all Swansea players are Swansea fans. Maybe their true loyalty is to the club they support. Maybe their loyalty is to their family and they put them first.
Now here's a bit of old-fashioned loyalty... "Over the last two years the chairman has been very supportive to me and loyal, and now I feel I need to be loyal and supportive back to him," said Martinez, whose attractive brand of football at both Swansea and the Latics has won him many admirers. LOL.
