Are All Footballers The Same?

There's a brilliant interview with Harry Redknapp in the Radio Times this week.

He basically says all modern day footballers are complete arseholes who hide behind their agents, none having the balls to say things to his face.

He tells a funny story about Darren Bent. Bent missed an open goal in a match and in the Sky interview straight after the game Redknapp said "my old woman would have scored that". Rather than approach Redknapp directly, Bent called his agent who called the Spurs Chairman to inform him Bent wanted a transfer. What a fecking ponce.

Redknapp goes on to say footballers can't take any form of criticism anymore and he has to walk on eggshells, even with the younger reserve players.

When a no-nonsense manager like Redknapp is saying these things, it must be even worse at clubs like Bolton who have soft managers. How did this happen? When did players stop being employees who do as their boss tells them?

I blame the fans. They are too quick to idolise these twats and treat them like Gods. We should be booing these players at every opportunity, are you with me?

Oh great, an interview with Harry Redknapp where he discusses Darren Bent and the attitude of modern players, and you turn that into a criticism of Owen Coyle. This is one of the barometers I use for whether you're making a genuine attempt to have a sensible discussion.

largehat wrote:Oh great, an interview with Harry Redknapp where he discusses Darren Bent and the attitude of modern players, and you turn that into a criticism of Owen Coyle. This is one of the barometers I use for whether you're making a genuine attempt to have a sensible discussion.

Shut it Largehat you bellend, I didn't even mention Coyle.

I was asking at what point did these players stop becoming just footballers and turn into Gods? You yourself are always defending these fannies, so I am genuinely interested as to why you think they are better than everyone else.

It's the society we live in, too many people live their lives through the pages of Heat & Hello.

Even z-list "stars" like Bolton players seem glamorous to your average Bolton chav.

I read it as anyone under the age of 35 is a precious self-opinionated twat.

I agree, i hate football and footballers.

Hipster_Nebula wrote:I agree, i hate football and footballers.

It would explain why you know so little about the sport.

Natasha Whittam wrote:

Hipster_Nebula wrote:I agree, i hate football and footballers.

It would explain why you know so little about the sport.

yep, I'm clueless.

Hipster_Nebula wrote:

yep, I'm clueless.

You've become much more agreeable since you came out as Kyle.

I've just decided it's not worth arguing with people who haven't been in any good films like me. Even if they are richer than me.

Natasha Whittam wrote:
Shut it Largehat you bellend, I didn't even mention Coyle.

You mean, you didn't refer to Coyle by his name. What other Bolton managers did you mean? The kit manager? The ticket office manager? The sodding canteen manager?

Natasha Whittam wrote:
I was asking at what point did these players stop becoming just footballers and turn into Gods? You yourself are always defending these fannies, so I am genuinely interested as to why you think they are better than everyone else.

Dearie me, what happened to you today, Natasha? Did you break a nail? What's with all the venom straight out of the traps?

Your attitude is confusing. I've never defended the greed and selfishness of modern PL footballers. I do sometimes defend players when halfwits like yourself make unreasonable comments about their ability as players, but that's a completely different thing. From your posts, I wouldn't be surprised if you hadn't been to a Wanderers game in ten years. You're completely out of touch anyway, so why are you so agitated by the attitude of footballers? It doesn't affect you.

largehat wrote:From your posts, I wouldn't be surprised if you hadn't been to a Wanderers game in ten years. You're completely out of touch anyway, so why are you so agitated by the attitude of footballers? It doesn't affect you.

Out of touch? No one is more in touch than me.

I'm agitated as you put it because Bolton Wanderers used to be a team of hard working guys prepared to give their all to the white shirt. Now it's full of ponces who would jump ship quicker than I can say bellend.

Natasha Whittam wrote:
Out of touch? No one is more in touch than me.

I'm agitated as you put it because Bolton Wanderers used to be a team of hard working guys prepared to give their all to the white shirt. Now it's full of ponces who would jump ship quicker than I can say bellend.

I think it's because you can't pull PL footballers these days, you're too old.

I hardly think 32 is too old.
Nat can't pull PL players because very few of them think of a wild time on Saturday night as involving parking their ass in front of a film and troughing a Pepsi and a Wispa.
My gran is more of a party animal than that and she died 30 years ago.

No their not all the same, just like in every aspect of life there will be idiots and good sensible people. Just like at school, work or at the pub, even in the crowd watching the game. Theres always going to be some dickheads, maybe more in football than other sports but anyone who thinks all footballers are the same and they are all stupid, selfish, wimps with no loyalty is just as linear and small minded as the footballers they are insulting.

The idiots in football make headlines because its interesting, the normal down to earth ones don't, but that doesn't mean there aren't plenty of them out there..

The people at my school who were good at football were pretty much all the same sort of humans, and I think most people would say the same thing about the schools they went to.

So I believe there's a relationship between people being good at football and being a bit laddish and dense.

There will be plenty of exceptions but I think most footballers will have been the playground knobheads at their schools and not many will have improved as people, thanks to being spoilt with money.

doffcocker wrote:The people at my school who were good at football were pretty much all the same sort of humans, and I think most people would say the same thing about the schools they went to.

So I believe there's a relationship between people being good at football and being a bit laddish and dense.

There will be plenty of exceptions but I think most footballers will have been the playground knobheads at their schools and not many will have improved as people, thanks to being spoilt with money.

I think that's a bit harsh. I played and there was always a broad mix of personalities in the teams I played for with enjoyment of the game the common factor that brought us together.
I think there may be something about becoming part of a "system" when signed young though. Focussing one's life entirely on a future career in the game largely at the expense of a rounded education, rubbing shoulders with/looking up to very rich people in the club and being influenced by their lifestyle and aspirations and generally having little life experience outside of football will inevitably increase the chances of growing up with a narrow world view.
What chance do those kids have of growing up to be "normal" when they are raised in such a unique environment and don't get to do the things or experience the same issues as normal kids? It would take an exceptional individual to break the mould as it would mean going against the social norms of the peer group to pursue something different such as reading etc - and any variance from the social norm would leave the individual open to criticism of not being 100% focussed on the task in hand i.e. becoming a professional football player.

Natasha Whittam wrote:There's a brilliant interview with Harry Redknapp in the Radio Times this week.

He basically says all modern day footballers are complete arseholes who hide behind their agents, none having the balls to say things to his face.

He tells a funny story about Darren Bent. Bent missed an open goal in a match and in the Sky interview straight after the game Redknapp said "my old woman would have scored that". Rather than approach Redknapp directly, Bent called his agent who called the Spurs Chairman to inform him Bent wanted a transfer. What a fecking ponce.

Redknapp goes on to say footballers can't take any form of criticism anymore and he has to walk on eggshells, even with the younger reserve players.

When a no-nonsense manager like Redknapp is saying these things, it must be even worse at clubs like Bolton who have soft managers. How did this happen? When did players stop being employees who do as their boss tells them?

I blame the fans. They are too quick to idolise these twats and treat them like Gods. We should be booing these players at every opportunity, are you with me?

Yes and harry is right.

Clubs employ sports psychologists, fitness trainers, and a vast array of professionals to get these kids right to compete. You'd think it wasn't too big an ask to provide them with "reality check" trainers whilst they're growing up.

wanderlust wrote:I hardly think 32 is too old.
Nat can't pull PL players because very few of them think of a wild time on Saturday night as involving parking their ass in front of a film and troughing a Pepsi and a Wispa.
My gran is more of a party animal than that and she died 30 years ago.

I have never claimed to have pulled any Premier League footballer. If you're going to attempt jokes at my expense at least make them relevant.