Kissing the badge, and other inadvisable ideas

January 16, 2009

Score goals, kiss badge, declare love for fans, sign long-term contract, collect wages, change your mind and decide you want out a few months later; it’s becoming all too familiar.

Two glaring examples of this have hit the headlines in England recently with the opening of the January transfer window, starting with Jermain Defoe’s decision to follow Harry Redknapp back to Tottenham from Portsmouth.

Back in November, Defoe said the following:

“I’m a Portsmouth player and I’ll continue working hard for the club. I’m enjoying my time here. I’m scoring goals and I’m part of a good team. We’re pushing up the table so why would I think about leaving and anyway, Tony Adams is trying to build something here.

He’s a good manager and training has been fantastic all week. I am playing with good players and for me that is the most important thing.”

Less than two months later Defoe is back in a Spurs shirt.

Less then a year ago, England winger Stewart Downing was “delighted” to have signed a new five-year contract with his hometown club Middlesbrough:

“This is what I’ve wanted all along,” he said in February. “I know it’s gone on for some time but I’m delighted we’ve finally reached agreement.”

The club now have a letter from Downing saying he wants to quit the club.

Middlesbrough have vowed to dig their heels in and have rejected the player’s transfer request but who wants to keep an unhappy player?

More minds were being changed in the close season, with Tottenham describing Robbie Keane’s move to Liverpool, a year after signing a five-year contract, as an ‘enforced sale’, after the player said he wanted to join the Premier League leaders.

Real Madrid don’t seem to have been deterred too much in their bid to sign Cristiano Ronaldo by the fact that he is under contract until 2012.

I don’t suppose there’s anything much that can be done about this; I just think players should think twice before kissing the badge.

PHOTO: Tottenham Hotspur’s new signing Jermain Defoe is presented to the crowd before their English League Cup match against Burnley Jan. 6. The deal sees him returning to the club he left under a year ago. REUTERS/ Eddie Keogh

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