The funny thing about fans, is that they all assume players all love the game as much as they do.
In my experience nothing could be further from the truth, some of them see football as job - nothing more, nothing less.
Rory Allen walked out of Pompey to follow an Ashes tour around Ozzie, and I can tell you for a fact that he found the day to day life of a footballer positively draining on his mental health.
David Batty isn't a big football fan, and I think you'd find that Graham Stuart would much rather talk about speedway than footie.
I'd be interested to know if he regretted moving to West Ham.
He said recently he has no regrets.
How many years at £26,000 per week? Two? Properly invested, he should be set up for life.
Signed a 4 year deal in 2014, but left by mutual consent after 2 years so obviously got a decent pay off for the remaining 2 years.
No idea what he was earning but i'd guess he should've easily earned at least 3m during that time, which is the equivalent of someone earning 60k a year for 50 years. As you say, he should be set for life as long as he hasn't wasted it.
I really enjoy watching football but think I would have thoroughly miserable playing it professionally. Enjoyed playing casual football but couldn't stand competitive games.
Don’t know why so many people feel the need to play down how good he was for that half season with us, under Riga. He was as good as Cullen currently is and I doubt we’d have stayed up without him, after Stephens was allowed to leave.
Don’t have that much sympathy for him about what has happened since because he played billy big bollocks and made what was pretty clearly the wrong move by going to West Ham, but also doesn’t give me an pleasure to see such significant potential go completely to waste. It’s a weird story, but he’s not the first talented youngster to just drift out of the game and he won’t be the last.
Poyet was good when he first came into the team but I'm not putting him at Cullen's level, not a chance.
No one shed a tear when the club kicked Church out at the end of his completed contract, yet people were apoplectic with rage when Poyet did the same to the club.
It's a bit different when the club have trained you from a young age and given you the platform to earn the big move. Other young players have moved on to better things with a bit more class.
My view is that if the club trains you up you owe them a contract if offered one. Poyet signed one and fulfilled it, never had a problem with him. I am way more disappointed in the likes of Defoe, Abraham, Sarmiento etc who happily soak up our cash for their football education and then naff off without playing a game or fee to recompense the club that set them up for a career in the game.
It feels weird because it doesn't usually happen in football, but Diego's someone who has the talent but not the drive and has completely lost interest. We probably all know someone who could have really been something if they'd applied themselves but couldn't be bothered and ultimately ended up not meeting half of their potential out in the real world. Seems like Diego was pretty well marshaled when he was in the controlled environment of the academy but as soon as he was out on his own as an adult he was unable to apply himself and didn't fancy it anymore. He's basically a rich kid who can do whatever he wants in life, and he's decided he doesn't want that to be football anymore. It's a shame but I doubt he'll lose too much sleep over it in the end.
Happens all the time.
Players with talent, but not the application and desire. Ravel Morrison, Francis Jeffers, Billy Kenny, Lee Sharpe.
Adam Morgan was touted as better than Fowler and Owen coming through the youth ranks at Liverpool, 6 years after scoring for them in a Europa league game he's playing for Romford.
Someone like Adriano, one of the best players in the world at Inter in his early 20s, was out of the game within a few years as he focused more on partying than football.
David Bentley, playing for Spurs and England at the age of 24. He'd retired by the time he was 29.
Different scenarios in all of those, with the possible exception of Billy Kenny, though that was substance abuse related. In each of those cases you've listed the players lack the mental fortitude to make the most of their talents but still pushed or are still pushing in the case of Morrison to be footballers, just with diminishing returns. Diego has retired aged 24 uninjured just because he doesn't fancy it anymore. David Bentley is closer to a similar case but he made it to 29 having played in Europe and represented England. Diego has packed it in having never really got started, which is unusal for a player who seemingly could have gone on to play at Premier League level at one point. I still can't believe the difference we saw in Diego between his debut year for us and his sad failed loan return a couple of years later
Clearly an awful decision career-wise as it turned out but as above this seems more to do with his own mindset than a wrong career decision, and I think all this criticism of Poyet ‘walking out’ is unfounded cos it’s missing a crucial factor in the decision - Roland.
Poyet would’ve been a complete head case to sign a new, lesser contract with a bona fide circus after seeing what had gone on in the first 5 months of Roland’s ownership - selling our best players and signing a load of competition winners, replacing a superb manager who has blooded you and is revered by fans and players with random nobodies from the lower leagues of belgium. And you’ve now got a graduate solicitor from a foreign country wandering about the place all the time talking absolute shite, giving orders and negotiating your contract even though she doesn’t know what shape a football is.
I know many of our fans somehow couldn’t see it at the time, but maybe Poyet was one of the few with the presence of mind to see the bleedin’ obvious, that we were a sinking ship about to career downwards in spectacular fashion. As much as many of them pained me in departing, I didnt blame any player leaving under the Roland regime, from kermogant Stephens and hamer to bauer and aribo.
Let’s just hope this new lot are taking us away from that torrid era!
For all the weird decisions Roland made, we weren't a sinking ship at the time Poyet left us. And frankly, footballers aren't over bothered by the off the field stuff as long as they get well paid. Poyet can't have been that upset about Roland and Katrien, seeing that he was back on loan with us 18 months later.
His decline was really strange though. Before rejoining us, he'd been at MKD and it was Karl Robinson who decided to send him back, despite him playing regularly.
Don’t know why so many people feel the need to play down how good he was for that half season with us, under Riga. He was as good as Cullen currently is and I doubt we’d have stayed up without him, after Stephens was allowed to leave.
Don’t have that much sympathy for him about what has happened since because he played billy big bollocks and made what was pretty clearly the wrong move by going to West Ham, but also doesn’t give me an pleasure to see such significant potential go completely to waste. It’s a weird story, but he’s not the first talented youngster to just drift out of the game and he won’t be the last.
Poyet was good when he first came into the team but I'm not putting him at Cullen's level, not a chance.
They played a similar position, but had completely different strengths. I would argue that Poyet was probably more robust and stronger in the tackle then Cullen, and is actually an underrated passer of the ball - however Cullen is much better with the ball at his feet and can drive the game forward with his ball carrying ability (though we have not really seen that since he has come back from injury).
I was always shocked by how good his control was. He sat in front of the back 4 against opposition goal kicks and marked the space, then won the goal kick just by reading the flight of the ball. Quality. And his cutting passes from deep were superb
It's a great pity that Poyet left us for a bigger contract. We like to think if he had stayed with us he would have further progressed his career but who knows? Good luck to him. I thought he was very, very good.
Clearly an awful decision career-wise as it turned out but as above this seems more to do with his own mindset than a wrong career decision, and I think all this criticism of Poyet ‘walking out’ is unfounded cos it’s missing a crucial factor in the decision - Roland.
Poyet would’ve been a complete head case to sign a new, lesser contract with a bona fide circus after seeing what had gone on in the first 5 months of Roland’s ownership - selling our best players and signing a load of competition winners, replacing a superb manager who has blooded you and is revered by fans and players with random nobodies from the lower leagues of belgium. And you’ve now got a graduate solicitor from a foreign country wandering about the place all the time talking absolute shite, giving orders and negotiating your contract even though she doesn’t know what shape a football is.
I know many of our fans somehow couldn’t see it at the time, but maybe Poyet was one of the few with the presence of mind to see the bleedin’ obvious, that we were a sinking ship about to career downwards in spectacular fashion. As much as many of them pained me in departing, I didnt blame any player leaving under the Roland regime, from kermogant Stephens and hamer to bauer and aribo.
Let’s just hope this new lot are taking us away from that torrid era!
For all the weird decisions Roland made, we weren't a sinking ship at the time Poyet left us. And frankly, footballers aren't over bothered by the off the field stuff as long as they get well paid. Poyet can't have been that upset about Roland and Katrien, seeing that he was back on loan with us 18 months later.
His decline was really strange though. Before rejoining us, he'd been at MKD and it was Karl Robinson who decided to send him back, despite him playing regularly.
Sweet jesus. Even today people are still denying it!!!
The funny thing about fans, is that they all assume players all love the game as much as they do.
In my experience nothing could be further from the truth, some of them see football as job - nothing more, nothing less.
Rory Allen walked out of Pompey to follow an Ashes tour around Ozzie, and I can tell you for a fact that he found the day to day life of a footballer positively draining on his mental health.
David Batty isn't a big football fan, and I think you'd find that Graham Stuart would much rather talk about speedway than footie.
Taylor is not into football either.
Same with Claus Jensen.
I heard this but have since heard that he is now a pundit in Denmark. If he wasn’t bothered about football, I’m guessing he is now a normal bloke who hates his job!
Clearly an awful decision career-wise as it turned out but as above this seems more to do with his own mindset than a wrong career decision, and I think all this criticism of Poyet ‘walking out’ is unfounded cos it’s missing a crucial factor in the decision - Roland.
Poyet would’ve been a complete head case to sign a new, lesser contract with a bona fide circus after seeing what had gone on in the first 5 months of Roland’s ownership - selling our best players and signing a load of competition winners, replacing a superb manager who has blooded you and is revered by fans and players with random nobodies from the lower leagues of belgium. And you’ve now got a graduate solicitor from a foreign country wandering about the place all the time talking absolute shite, giving orders and negotiating your contract even though she doesn’t know what shape a football is.
I know many of our fans somehow couldn’t see it at the time, but maybe Poyet was one of the few with the presence of mind to see the bleedin’ obvious, that we were a sinking ship about to career downwards in spectacular fashion. As much as many of them pained me in departing, I didnt blame any player leaving under the Roland regime, from kermogant Stephens and hamer to bauer and aribo.
Let’s just hope this new lot are taking us away from that torrid era!
For all the weird decisions Roland made, we weren't a sinking ship at the time Poyet left us. And frankly, footballers aren't over bothered by the off the field stuff as long as they get well paid. Poyet can't have been that upset about Roland and Katrien, seeing that he was back on loan with us 18 months later.
His decline was really strange though. Before rejoining us, he'd been at MKD and it was Karl Robinson who decided to send him back, despite him playing regularly.
Sweet jesus. Even today people are still denying it!!!
Because we WEREN'T a sinking ship when Poyet left us in 2014. That summer we signed JBG, Igor, Buyens, Ben Haim etc and while there would be a managerial changes and ups and downs on the pitch, we finished 12th that season with 60 points, 19 points ahead of Millwall who were relegated.
Things only went seriously wrong on the pitch from 2015 onwards, lousy summer signings and then Karel Fraeye in the autumn.
Clearly an awful decision career-wise as it turned out but as above this seems more to do with his own mindset than a wrong career decision, and I think all this criticism of Poyet ‘walking out’ is unfounded cos it’s missing a crucial factor in the decision - Roland.
Poyet would’ve been a complete head case to sign a new, lesser contract with a bona fide circus after seeing what had gone on in the first 5 months of Roland’s ownership - selling our best players and signing a load of competition winners, replacing a superb manager who has blooded you and is revered by fans and players with random nobodies from the lower leagues of belgium. And you’ve now got a graduate solicitor from a foreign country wandering about the place all the time talking absolute shite, giving orders and negotiating your contract even though she doesn’t know what shape a football is.
I know many of our fans somehow couldn’t see it at the time, but maybe Poyet was one of the few with the presence of mind to see the bleedin’ obvious, that we were a sinking ship about to career downwards in spectacular fashion. As much as many of them pained me in departing, I didnt blame any player leaving under the Roland regime, from kermogant Stephens and hamer to bauer and aribo.
Let’s just hope this new lot are taking us away from that torrid era!
For all the weird decisions Roland made, we weren't a sinking ship at the time Poyet left us. And frankly, footballers aren't over bothered by the off the field stuff as long as they get well paid. Poyet can't have been that upset about Roland and Katrien, seeing that he was back on loan with us 18 months later.
His decline was really strange though. Before rejoining us, he'd been at MKD and it was Karl Robinson who decided to send him back, despite him playing regularly.
Sweet jesus. Even today people are still denying it!!!
Because we WEREN'T a sinking ship when Poyet left us in 2014. That summer we signed JBG, Igor, Buyens, Ben Haim etc and while there would be a managerial changes and ups and downs on the pitch, we finished 12th that season with 60 points, 19 points ahead of Millwall who were relegated.
Things only went seriously wrong on the pitch from 2015 onwards, lousy summer signings and then Karel Fraeye in the autumn.
We played some of the best attacking football I have ever seen at the Valley that season. Started the next season well as well, with 2 wins and 2 draws.
The key point here is ‘on the pitch’. Yeh we might have fluked a midtable finish that year but we were very much a sinking ship from the moment Roland came in and that was abundantly clear by the time Poyet left.
The funny thing about fans, is that they all assume players all love the game as much as they do.
In my experience nothing could be further from the truth, some of them see football as job - nothing more, nothing less.
Rory Allen walked out of Pompey to follow an Ashes tour around Ozzie, and I can tell you for a fact that he found the day to day life of a footballer positively draining on his mental health.
David Batty isn't a big football fan, and I think you'd find that Graham Stuart would much rather talk about speedway than footie.
It feels weird because it doesn't usually happen in football, but Diego's someone who has the talent but not the drive and has completely lost interest. We probably all know someone who could have really been something if they'd applied themselves but couldn't be bothered and ultimately ended up not meeting half of their potential out in the real world. Seems like Diego was pretty well marshaled when he was in the controlled environment of the academy but as soon as he was out on his own as an adult he was unable to apply himself and didn't fancy it anymore. He's basically a rich kid who can do whatever he wants in life, and he's decided he doesn't want that to be football anymore. It's a shame but I doubt he'll lose too much sleep over it in the end.
Happens all the time.
Players with talent, but not the application and desire. Ravel Morrison, Francis Jeffers, Billy Kenny, Lee Sharpe.
Adam Morgan was touted as better than Fowler and Owen coming through the youth ranks at Liverpool, 6 years after scoring for them in a Europa league game he's playing for Romford.
Someone like Adriano, one of the best players in the world at Inter in his early 20s, was out of the game within a few years as he focused more on partying than football.
David Bentley, playing for Spurs and England at the age of 24. He'd retired by the time he was 29.
Different scenarios in all of those, with the possible exception of Billy Kenny, though that was substance abuse related. In each of those cases you've listed the players lack the mental fortitude to make the most of their talents but still pushed or are still pushing in the case of Morrison to be footballers, just with diminishing returns. Diego has retired aged 24 uninjured just because he doesn't fancy it anymore. David Bentley is closer to a similar case but he made it to 29 having played in Europe and represented England. Diego has packed it in having never really got started, which is unusal for a player who seemingly could have gone on to play at Premier League level at one point. I still can't believe the difference we saw in Diego between his debut year for us and his sad failed loan return a couple of years later
I think at one point we were wondering if he would choose England, Spain or Uruguay!
Slightly different level, but Sanchez moving from Arsenal to Man U, Torres from Liverpool to Chelsea, Woodgate from Newcastle to Real Madrid, Coutinho from Liverpool to Barcelona, Andy Carroll from Newcastle to Liverpool. The game is littered with players who star at their clubs only to flop when they move.
In common with Poyet they all moved because the grass was deemed to be greener on the other side. In common with Poyet they all ended up as flops. In common with Poyet they moved for money and ambition?. The major difference is that Poyet's move was ultimately career ending ... oh (nearly forgot) and Sanchez is still picking up 350 grand a week.
Some players are suited to certain clubs and struggle to transfer their skills.
I think Poyet was suited to the club at the time. We were weak in midfield and needed someone in there with a bit of enthusiasm. He did really well and was well managed by Jose Riga but he was a quite a limited player (not in the same league, say as Connor Gallagher). I couldn't understand why West Ham would want him but their recruitment has been flawed for quite a few years now.
Clearly an awful decision career-wise as it turned out but as above this seems more to do with his own mindset than a wrong career decision, and I think all this criticism of Poyet ‘walking out’ is unfounded cos it’s missing a crucial factor in the decision - Roland.
Poyet would’ve been a complete head case to sign a new, lesser contract with a bona fide circus after seeing what had gone on in the first 5 months of Roland’s ownership - selling our best players and signing a load of competition winners, replacing a superb manager who has blooded you and is revered by fans and players with random nobodies from the lower leagues of belgium. And you’ve now got a graduate solicitor from a foreign country wandering about the place all the time talking absolute shite, giving orders and negotiating your contract even though she doesn’t know what shape a football is.
I know many of our fans somehow couldn’t see it at the time, but maybe Poyet was one of the few with the presence of mind to see the bleedin’ obvious, that we were a sinking ship about to career downwards in spectacular fashion. As much as many of them pained me in departing, I didnt blame any player leaving under the Roland regime, from kermogant Stephens and hamer to bauer and aribo.
Let’s just hope this new lot are taking us away from that torrid era!
For all the weird decisions Roland made, we weren't a sinking ship at the time Poyet left us. And frankly, footballers aren't over bothered by the off the field stuff as long as they get well paid. Poyet can't have been that upset about Roland and Katrien, seeing that he was back on loan with us 18 months later.
His decline was really strange though. Before rejoining us, he'd been at MKD and it was Karl Robinson who decided to send him back, despite him playing regularly.
Sweet jesus. Even today people are still denying it!!!
Because we WEREN'T a sinking ship when Poyet left us in 2014. That summer we signed JBG, Igor, Buyens, Ben Haim etc and while there would be a managerial changes and ups and downs on the pitch, we finished 12th that season with 60 points, 19 points ahead of Millwall who were relegated.
Things only went seriously wrong on the pitch from 2015 onwards, lousy summer signings and then Karel Fraeye in the autumn.
3 different managers in 6 months, Kerm and Stephens sold for nothing and some catastrophically poor players brought in during the January transfer window. I knew from the outside that it was going to end badly. Imagine being a player on the inside of that situation, watching Powell get told which players he should pick - that Thuram should play in goal ahead of Hamer and Alnwick, and then seeing Driesen turn up to watch training and pass judgement on them (don't forget it was the players that nicknamed him Mowgli). If I was a youngster trying to make my way in the game, that isn't the stable environment I'd want to continue my development in.
We did okay the following season, with the help of yet another managerial change, luck more than judgement though. Always going to end badly, and I don't blame Poyet for jumping ship before the inevitable happened.
Such a waste of talent who seems to have completely lost any real desire to make it in the game. Sometimes making a living is the motivation, there’s no need for that with him. Sometimes due to previous success of a relative, especially a father, they’re not totally in love with the game to make a right go of their own career. Probably a lot of factors come into it, but sometimes no matter how talented someone may well be, they just aren’t cut out for what the professional game requires.
Body builder is excessive. He's definitely weight training but I think he has already given up on the prospect of competition if what I've heard is true.
It feels weird because it doesn't usually happen in football, but Diego's someone who has the talent but not the drive and has completely lost interest. We probably all know someone who could have really been something if they'd applied themselves but couldn't be bothered and ultimately ended up not meeting half of their potential out in the real world. Seems like Diego was pretty well marshaled when he was in the controlled environment of the academy but as soon as he was out on his own as an adult he was unable to apply himself and didn't fancy it anymore. He's basically a rich kid who can do whatever he wants in life, and he's decided he doesn't want that to be football anymore. It's a shame but I doubt he'll lose too much sleep over it in the end.
Happens all the time.
Players with talent, but not the application and desire. Ravel Morrison, Francis Jeffers, Billy Kenny, Lee Sharpe.
Adam Morgan was touted as better than Fowler and Owen coming through the youth ranks at Liverpool, 6 years after scoring for them in a Europa league game he's playing for Romford.
Someone like Adriano, one of the best players in the world at Inter in his early 20s, was out of the game within a few years as he focused more on partying than football.
David Bentley, playing for Spurs and England at the age of 24. He'd retired by the time he was 29.
Different scenarios in all of those, with the possible exception of Billy Kenny, though that was substance abuse related. In each of those cases you've listed the players lack the mental fortitude to make the most of their talents but still pushed or are still pushing in the case of Morrison to be footballers, just with diminishing returns. Diego has retired aged 24 uninjured just because he doesn't fancy it anymore. David Bentley is closer to a similar case but he made it to 29 having played in Europe and represented England. Diego has packed it in having never really got started, which is unusal for a player who seemingly could have gone on to play at Premier League level at one point. I still can't believe the difference we saw in Diego between his debut year for us and his sad failed loan return a couple of years later
I think at one point we were wondering if he would choose England, Spain or Uruguay!
I never heard back from him again after he said he would let me know next time he was in the Eltham/ Orpington area and sign something for me that was back in 2018 lol, i gave up waiting after about 6 months and forgot about him till this thread re surfaced
His fall from grace is still to me at least, one of footballs great mysteries. I just don’t accept that he didn’t have it. I had him pegged as at least a very decent Championship player.
Shame and Lawrie Wilson should have won player of the season. He was a flash in the pan while Lawrie was solid and should have his name up there in Barttams
I'm sure something has happened here that the rest of us may never know. I can't believe that sitting on a bench destroys your footballing ability, even if he had to go back to L1 or even L2, he would have worked his way back up the leagues.
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No idea what he was earning but i'd guess he should've easily earned at least 3m during that time, which is the equivalent of someone earning 60k a year for 50 years. As you say, he should be set for life as long as he hasn't wasted it.
His decline was really strange though. Before rejoining us, he'd been at MKD and it was Karl Robinson who decided to send him back, despite him playing regularly.
Sweet jesus. Even today people are still denying it!!!
Things only went seriously wrong on the pitch from 2015 onwards, lousy summer signings and then Karel Fraeye in the autumn.
What happened next was a car crash.
We did okay the following season, with the help of yet another managerial change, luck more than judgement though. Always going to end badly, and I don't blame Poyet for jumping ship before the inevitable happened.
Must be bulking for those gains bro.
He's in decent shape from the last time I saw him 1-2 years ago.