Taken directly from an Aussie article-
Pim Verbeek (Australian Manager) recently said in reply to the age old question of when is the right age for an Australian player to head overseas.
His reply was: "It is not when he goes but where he goes that’s important."
Good advice when you think about it.
There are a number of prominent and talented Australians currently abroad who are suffering not because of the timing of their move but where they chose to go.
Nick Carle is the most prominent, our most individually gifted creator, who is hardly getting any game time at Crystal Palace because his primitive manager thinks that a midfielder with his level of flair is a luxury.
It rather reminds one of what the great Danny Blanchflower said on the subject. In retort to a suggestion that the highly skilled Glenn Hoddle was a luxury in the England midfield, he said: "No. It’s the bad players who are the luxury."
The hard Nick Carle lesson is that he chose to leave Turkey, presumably because of lifestyle and money, and go to a part of the football world where mostly they beat the ball with a stick and where the ability to create something with the ball is seen as a secondary quality.
Now Carle, at 28 and in his prime, is at a critical point in his career, a career that deserved to reach much greater heights.
If he fails to make the cut for the World Cup squad, as is surely possible, it will be down not to his ability, nor even to Verbeek’s assessment of him, but to having chosen a club destination that is a burial ground for players with creative gifts.
The next Nick Carle to emerge in Australia, and especially his agent, should learn from this and note the words of the national coach.
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Comments
LoL
Unfortunately the poster has a good point about flair players in England........ but then the English game is all too often all about survival at all costs.
Rumours now that he may move on loan to a club in China.
Not everyone's cup of tea I agree.
I don't think that's quite we mean, Floyd!
;o)