I was referring to the standing ovation he got at Upton Park on his return when playing for Manchester United.

If a player gives fans respect, he will receive it in return.

I do agree with fans being far too over the top though. They are effectively saying, “How dare someone go to another place of work for either better conditions or a higher wage.” The wage is a key reason why there are less one-club players, because the demands for teams in high divisions are so high, they cannot afford to rely on local players, but must get players from overseas in order to meet these demands

On the other hand without that tribalism element there would probably be no supporters in the first instance, just interested spectators. There mightn’t even be competitive sport, just play.

Be careful what you wish for.

Again, you too have missed my point. It shouldn’t matter what circumstances the player leaves under. Tevez left Man United and went to cross town rivals for more dosh, so what? He is a professional footballer and he owes nothing to Man United, he went there from West Ham and was on loan, United had 2 years to tie him up and didn’t so I don’t believe the fans can be bitter, why shouldn’t he go where the money is especially when he feels like he’s not getting enough game time (I think he was but that’s another matter)?

Players only last a decade or so at the top level, they’ve got to make their money while they can, I don’t begrudge them the opportunity to do this and I’m sure clubs don’t mind the massive profits they can make (Adebayor is the case in point) by selling players on.

Olof Mellberg? Agreed a contract at Juventus 6 months before he left, and got a standing ovation.

I think it is more about the circumstances under which a player leaves, and usually all the media bulldust that gets created. Look at Craig Bellamy. In his last game for West Ham against Portsmouth our fans were chanting “Don’t Leave Craig Bellamy,” only at the beginning of our next game to be chanting “F*** off Craig Bellamy,” simply because of a news report that stated he refused to play for us. 5 months later the newspaper issued an apology.

As for one club players being a dieing breed, that’s a statement that can only be disproved in time. We won’t know until 5 years down the track if players like Mark Noble or Gabriel Agbonlahor will still be at their respective clubs.

I am a football fan first and foremost and if Man United had of held on to Cristiano Ronaldo – in my opinion the best player in the world – I would have been extremely happy but £80 Million, well that can buy a new team and the next Ronaldo who might be a tad happier to be at Old Trafford, it’s a business decision first and foremost and there is no point United fans whinging about him when they get drawn with Real Madrid, he is a professional footballer, he whinged and moaned about but he also won a CL trophy a treble of EPL Titles.

By the way, I’m allergic to seafood.

“But the fans, it seems, haven’t moved with the times” you declare.

Why should they move with the times. They are football supporters.

Unfortunately, you want them to be, insipid football customers.

Football is all about passion. You, however, are all about money and rules.

Go and eat another prawn sandwich and leave us football fans alone.

As you can see no one agrees with you and most people didn’t bother to even post.

I am only trying to help you see the light. Break those chains

P.S – Interesting to note that as a Man U fan you have no idea of what Paul Ince had to put up with.

Check out his Sky Sports Profile

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QC2Ady-WfMA

The point of what I wrote and what no-one seems to bother reading about is that regardless of who it is or what they do, players shouldn’t be begrudged a career elsewhere. Clubs don’t mind making 21 million quid profit on a player but they don’t care if their fans abuse the ex-player with absolutely NO affiliation with the club whatsoever.

If Steven Gerrard went to Everton for a pay packet in his prime, MAYBE then fans would have a right to be aggrieved as he went through Liverpools academy etc etc but all of these examples of players moving between clubs for whom they have no passion for or history with, well its pointless, its business.

It doesn’t matter what happens when a player departs a club, fans shouldn’t be bitter about it, it’s a business as well as a sport and transfers are certainly as money orientated as they are to do with the squad

Have you ever watched a game when Ince visited Upton Park.

Fan message board were not around back then, because if they were, Paul would have received so many threats you would have been advocating the abolition of the football and the internet

Here is the link to the fan’s message board for Melbourne Victory. If you spend a day in here you will find so many threats of violents and insults, you will soon be advocating the abolition of the A-League as well.

Have fun!

http://www.melbournevictory.net/forum/index.php

I personally don’t care what is written on message boards but if it’s good enough for a Premier League Manager like Roy Hodgson to comment about in the press then it’s good enough for me to write about.

Also, supporters still don’t see themselves as customers of a business. The club to them is part of their family and family rows can get pretty nasty.

I leave you with the words of Dagenham’s own, Paul Ince.
I can’t think of a footballer who has copped more abuse than poor Paul.

Here is his version of events

“I spoke to Alex Ferguson and the deal was close to being done. I then went on holiday, and my agent at the time, Ambrose Mendy, said it wasn’t worth me coming back to do a picture in a United shirt when the deal was completed, so I should do one before I left, and it would be released when the deal was announced. Lawrence Luster of the Daily Star took the picture and put in the library. Soon after, their sister paper, the Daily Express, were looking for a picture of me playing for West Ham, and found the one of me in the United shirt in the pile. They published it and all hell broke loose.

“I came back from holiday to discover West Ham fans were going mad. It wasn’t really my fault. I was only a kid, I did what my agent told me to do, then took all the crap for it.”

Umm … but that’s the whole point.

Look at two examples set at White Hart Lane.

Sol Campbell spits on the club that made him a footballer and moves to it’s most bitterest rivals.

David Ginola is sold by his manager agains his wishes and is given a standing ovation on his return with his new club (Aston Villa, from memory).

I generally only follow Spurs in the Premier League these days, so don’t know how other clubs are treating their returned players, but I’ve heard no bad word about any returned player except where the players themselves have treated their club with contempt. I’m looking at you Keane and Berbatov. Even Michael Carrick is rarely booed and not subjected to any such abuse, and he made it quite clear he wanted to leave Spurs to further his career at a bigger club.

Fans only abuse ex-players when their move is seen as an insult to the club being departed. The article mentions only 2 of 100′s of transfers that happened in the off-season, and 2 that happened to involve some form of controversy.

Yes the stance of “I won’t play without a pay rise is wrong” but Fulham had an almost England international on their books who was at the beginning of 08/09 in fantastic form, they don’t come cheap these days. Look at the current central midfielders for the Three Lions, Lampard, Gerrard, Carrick, Hargreaves, Barry.

Do you think any of those are on less than £70,000 a week? Carrick perhaps but the rest are earning that and then some so why should Bullard, a player supposedly good enough to play alongside them settle for £20,000 (I think that was roughly his wage at Fulham) then?

As I said above, Bullard is a West Ham fan, he owed absolutely nothing to Fulham, for all we know he never wanted to play there in the first place but there may have been no better offers at the time so at the end of the day, why should anyone wish him to have his knees smashed in with a pipe, particularly when he was such an excellent contributor for the club?

Lastly, I’m not sure how close he has to be to a call up for it to count to you but he was invited by Capello, along with every other member who participated in England’s qualification for the WC 2010: http://www.sport.co.uk/news/Football/28174/Capello_invites_Owen__Bullard_to_Wembley_on_Wednesday_.aspx

Plus, while we are it as far as correcting your poorly researched piece, you might also want to change the bit in the article about being on the verge of an England call up. Everyone’s favorite cockney chappie was called up to the England squad just before he left Fulham.