Feature: What is Loyalty?

Hello guys! Miss us? Yes, we missed you, so we are back. Remember we promised you something different? When we started the blog, we said ALL things football, therefore except news, photos, matches, here is something new, a feature. Oh, and you will continue to see more. Shall we?

Obviously, this is the best time to write about loyalty, when all the transfers going on, buying, selling, players asking to leave, submitting transfer requests, all kinds of dramas are going on, and all football fans started to question, where are these players’ loyalty? Let’s break it down here. What is ‘loyalty’? A player began his career in a club, and plays for this same club until he retires, this is the best example of loyalty. But we all know that in the contemporary football world, this kind of loyalty is hard to achieve. As football has become so commercialized, so business like, players are like products, some clubs sold their players for money, like Andy Carroll, he didn’t want to leave Newcastle, but Newcastle wants the money, and we all saw what happened. Some clubs were forced to sell their players due to relegations, clubs like Leeds, Portsmouth, and so on, these clubs cannot afford the high salary of some players, because they will earn less money in the lower league, so they have to sell them off. These kind of situations, football fans are usually being very understanding, and know that loyalty is hard to apply here. They are generous about their good lucks, all the bests and usually show warm welcomes when these players coming back to the home stadiums and play against their previous teams.

Another situation, when a really good player is playing for a not-so-good team, his departure seems to be acceptable too. But when I say not-so-good teams, it means teams that are out of Top 5 in the league. So if you want to go from Tottenham to Chelsea, or Arsenal to Barcelona, it is not really acceptable. Of course there are also money factors and history, but we will talk about that later. Therefore, fans can deal with Ashley Young going to Manchester United, but not Fabregas going back to Barcelona. If you are Fernando Llorente, or Stewart Downing, they will accept that you will eventually leave for a better club, and be thankful that you did not leave sooner. Except Chelsea and Manchester United, Barcelona and Real Madrid, other clubs did not win the league title in so many years, so what is the different if a player go from Aston Villa to Manchester United, or from Arsenal to Barcelona? History says Arsenal has the ability to win titles, trophies, but not Aston Villa, so Fabregas should stay with Arsenal because next year, next year Arsenal will bring some trophies home. In fact, how many years did Fabregas end up staying and yet, there are no trophies for him.

You see, loyalty, is a tricky word here. If you are good but in a so-so club, yes, you can leave, no, loyalty does not apply here, fans understand that you love the club deep inside your heart. Just remember, rule number one, do not go to rival clubs. Fair enough, because fans feel betrayed if their player ended up playing for a club that they hate, and well, other fans may also find it hard to accept the player, look at how United fans reacted when Owen joined the team. Rule number two, if a club already paid you high enough, do not go to a club that pay you higher. Why? Because in that case, you will be labeled as money chaser. This explained why Liverpool fans hate Torres so much, because not only he chose Chelsea, but Chelsea is paying lots of money to Torres, and of course Torres’ I-never-kissed-the-Liverpool-badge speech pissed them off too. It also explained why players that joining Manchester City recently are all being labeled, just because they pay so much money for their players. No, people do not buy their ‘I want to take on a challenge and see how far I can bring Manchester City’ talk. That challenge talk is only acceptable if you went from Chelsea to Blackburn, or like Kevin Nolan, from Newcastle to West Ham. There is one exceptional for this rule though, which is, if you were in Everton, Blackburn or Wigan, since this clubs can’t really pay ‘high’ salaries, their players can accept a higher salary if they leave the club. No, they are not money chaser, they deserve the money. Rule number three, if you got famous in this club, oh, you better don’t leave it. Again, not apply to ‘not so good’ clubs.

Best example is Owen, or C.Ronaldo and now Fabregas. Owen was a typical example, he started everything in Liverpool, started young, become famous, and fans loved him, but he chose to joined Real Madrid because of money, and I don’t know, maybe glory too? Liverpool fans cannot forgive him, and well, his career didn’t turn out to be improved, it only got worse after he joined Real Madrid. C.Ronaldo is a bit different, he was brought to Old Trafford when he was only an unknown guy. Ferguson trained him, and United changed him. He got his money, frame, everything in Manchester United. But, he never deny his interests in moving to Real Madrid, so I guess that is why he wasn’t so much a traitor when he finally went to Real, because some fans accepted that he would eventually leave the club for Real along the way, and United can survive without him. And now, let’s get to Fabragas, who has been the name on transfer marker for so many times. Not only once he had express his desire in going back to Barcelona, we all know that Barcelona is more than just a football club to him. It is the place he grown up, as a boy not as a player, and it is his home, so, I don’t see anything wrong about him wanting to go back there. He will not get higher salary going back, and will even need to fight for his place in the first team. A lot of Arsenal fans think that he is only loyal to stay in Arsenal, it is true that Arsene Wenger gave him chances and made him who he is now, but he already stayed for so many seasons, given almost everything he could for the club. Fabregas may be too important to Arsenal for the fans to let him go, but no one can blame a man who just want to go home and play football with the first club that taught him about the beautiful game, can you? We wouldn’t have problem if C.Ronaldo wants to go back to Sporting, or Lampard wants to go back to West Ham. People only have problem because it is Barcelona, so even the intension is pure, it looks skeptical.

Everyone has their own way to define loyalty and if I were to write it from every angel, this article will not end. =P To me, if a player can respect his former clubs, then I think he deserve the respect from fans, without being labeled traitor or anything. I can’t understand the point of attacking your former club after leaving, like how I cannot understand Torres’ speeches, as well as Tevez’s actions.

Feel free to tell us your definitions of Loyalty! And please share my articles if you like them =)