WHY JOHN TERRY SHOULD GO
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WITH the ink barely dry on a £17million cheque for a hit-and-miss right-back, Rafa Benitez decided to outline the evils of cash in football.
Gareth Barry, he claims, is little more than a money-grabber. The next instalment of Rafa's revelations? Forestry, bears and shocking toilet habits.
Liverpool - with their £100m wage bill - have more than played their part in sending players' salaries to stratospheric levels.
And, as usual, the hypocrisy of a so-called big club knows few bounds. But the underlying text to the Benitez berating of Barry was that he felt affronted a top player should snub the charms of the self-important elite.
Come on. How could any self-respecting professional resist the lure of Rafa's wonderful rotation policy, of an organisation with a mountainous debt, of two bickering owners, of a club whose plans to build a new stadium are in limbo? How could he?
Pompous arrogance has spread through the Big Four like swine flu. Which brings us seamlessly on to Chelsea and their indignation at the possible departure of John Terry.
Come on. How could any self-respecting professional desert a club that changes their managers and their nationalities with such regularity, that enjoys precious little affection from the neutral, that is a nest of player cliques? How could he?
Of course, any suggestion that Manchester City's largesse would have nothing to do with Terry moving to Eastlands could only be believed by the completely naive. And there is still something deeply unedifying in these testing economic times about watching a club with newly-found wealth throwing it around like a high roller at the roulette wheel.
Signing Robinho was a gesture intended to show the world they had serious dosh - not a signal of intent to carefully lay the foundations of long-lasting success.
And when Garry Cook held City up for ridicule during the Kaka affair, I honestly thought that Mark Hughes might be better off elsewhere.
But Hughes has remained and the balance he is looking for on his summer shopping list is promising - albeit extortionately expensive.
And his executives, it seems, are listening to him . . . rather than signing trophy Brazilians while he is contemplating a nine-iron to the 16th green. So maybe there are more than 300,000 reasons a week why the England captain would consider a move to City.
Sick
Maybe he would like to work for a young, yet old-fashioned, manager who shares the same work ethic and the same language. Maybe he would relish the challenge of achieving something at a club that has lay dormant for so many years.
And while this really is the most wishful of thinking, maybe Terry - like so many of us - has grown sick and tired of the dominance of the cosy Big Four cartel.
Don't you just yearn for the days when a Derby County, an Ipswich Town, a Nottingham Forest, an Aston Villa could win the title?
Sadly, those days are gone. For huge swathes of supporters, aspirations are limited to survival.
The route of developing your own talent has long been blocked. Ask an Everton club who failed to hold on to Wayne Rooney when one of the Big Four came calling. So reluctantly, it is the City route - one paved with lavish spending.
But such is the smug dominance of the same teams that we should now welcome any method designed to send a shot across their bows.
Fabio Capello might want his captain to play Champions League football - although the convincing counter-argument is that Terry would have to play fewer games ahead of the World Cup - but we should be more concerned about the growing monotony at the top of the Premier League.
And if City's pursuit of Terry - no matter how repugnant the figures attached to it - is eventually successful, they won't have just done themselves a favour . . . they will have done football a favour.
Now get the News of World print edition for more from Andy Dunn
This article has 20 comments
By Joseph Malma. Posted July 19 2009 at 12:18 AM.
"...implement a rule where a club can only spend what it earns and generates its self irrespective of the owners wealth."
Thanks Joseph, that seems like a really good way to make sure that only Man Utd or Liverpool can actually compete due to their global dominance of the game. And as for your other point about the spending of the big four, lets calculate what they've spent in the past decade compared to the rest. Utd have spent big to get their spine, as have Chelseaand the players that Arsenal "bring through the ranks" are mainly bought in foreigners. I'm loving watching Man City upset the ranks and here's to a competitve season!
By Leigh. Posted July 20 2009 at 3:45 AM.
The whole situation about City is very simple,the clubs arab owners could have chosen any club to invest in,Everton,Newcastle,Spurs even Liverpool. All these clubs would have been fast tracked to become the very best in the premier league by spending millions in fees and wages.But the hypocracy is,would the fans of another club invested in berate their own club the way they are berating City.
By Paul Green. Posted July 19 2009 at 11:28 AM.
Very good article but i dont think Man City need John Terry as with the amount of strikers they have i doubt they will even play a defence. Tevez, Santa Cruz, Robinho, Adebayor, Bellamy, Bojinov, Caicedo, Jo etc. There is obvious signs that Hughes has a list of targets and the owners have another!
By D Allan. Posted July 19 2009 at 10:52 AM.
I bet Andy Dumbo would say the same if Man City was a La Liga team... when would the bunch of so and so leave Chelsea alone, better still Man City should up the bid to £55m and they could have Terry..
By Ola Ray. Posted July 19 2009 at 10:10 AM.
A terrific article and it's interesting to read the different comments. Like the majority of sensible City fans, I'm delighted and excited with the talent we're bringing in, but realistic about how difficult it will be to break into the Top 4, particularly this season. My view is, Terry will decide to stay at Chelsea but it's clearly been a close-run thing. By buying proven Premiership players (Given,Bridge,Roque,Barry,Tevez and now Adebayor), Hughes is going in the right direction. He has two challenges left. One is relatively straight-forward: strengthen the central defence. The second is more tricky: to make the team gel and keep people reasonably happy. If he does that, we will definitely be challenging for that top four spot!
By Mark Schofield. Posted July 19 2009 at 8:50 AM.
Yes It may be good if the top 4 are different this season but I do not see anything good about some rich arabs getting into it instead of a team who did it the correct way and built a proper team.
By Joe. Posted July 19 2009 at 6:11 AM.
By Darren. Posted July 18 2009 at 6:07 PM. "... joining Arsenal in tha Champions League along with another club that has at the least stayed true to it's English heritage"
Really, you didn't just mention Arsenal and English Heritage in the same sentence did you? Dear me!
By Joseph Malma. Posted July 19 2009 at 12:18 AM.
i think the way city are spending money is discusting and even worse than when roman first arrived at chelski how much money have the big 4 spent this summer? NOT alot Arsenal around 10m Man utd around 30m.. chelsea? hardly a sniff. Liverpool 17m.. to make football a much fairer game where a suger daddy cant take over a struggling team and pump 100's of millions into it i think we need to implement a rule where a club can only spend what it earns and generates its self irrespective of the owners wealth.
By James. Posted July 18 2009 at 9:03 PM.
Funny to hear Mr Dunn decrying the Big Four when the press has taken so much pleaure in what they see as the so called demise of Arsenal and the suggestion that it's now a big 3.
Let's be honest, in the 80's is was pretty much the big one, and rarely better in the 90's (cue that club in demise, oh and another 2 in Leeds!! and Blackburn).
The reason it's four is purely down to Champions League qualification which is where Villa, Spurs, and Everton have been vying for.
Personally I'd be happy to see Spurs and Everton joining Arsenal in tha Champions League along with another club that has at the least stayed true to it's English heritage - not being jingoistic, just mindful of the history and tradition of the game in England.
By Darren. Posted July 18 2009 at 6:07 PM.
The comments from Benitez about Gareth Barry were appallingly ill-mannered, especially from a manager who so desperately wanted to sign him for Liverpool but who was incapable of making it happen. And now, suddenly, the same player is a pariah because he's signed for someone else. Doesn't that speak volumes for Benitez? A true hypocrite in a class of his own although to use the word's 'class' and 'Benitez in the same sentence is stretching things a bit.
By Peter Eccles. Posted July 13 2009 at 6:10 PM.
Absolutely brilliant article. Well done, Andy.
By Glyn Chadwick. Posted July 13 2009 at 5:43 PM.
Love the Dunn article, it's true back in the day the title was wide open and any team had a chance of wining and as a supporter of the blue side of Manchester our time hopefully has come, but I would also be quite happy to see any other team outside the big four to win the title, so like the famous drink its a re freshing change( hopefully)
By Clive . Posted July 13 2009 at 1:06 AM.
Fantastic Article. loved every word. its about time someone spoke out about the top 4 mafia moaning about little city spending some cash. Benitez thought he DESERVED Barry on the cheap because he could offer Champions League. Unlucky. Sometimes you have to impress in other ways. every dog has its day. maybe for 4 clubs them days are nearly over????
By Matman. Posted July 13 2009 at 12:46 AM.
Great Article.
Yes, we all know that money talks, but think of it from a players point of view.
Taking it as read that City really do have ambition and want to compete at the highest level, with the financial muscle they now have, any player with a brain would know that City should be a safe bet to be competing for the Premier League this year and Champions League qualification next year.
The recent Eto'o saga demonstrated clearly that City only want to sign players who want to play there. Yes, they could have thrown more money at Eto'o, but why should they? The offer was already incredible if reports are to be believed.
Liverpool have had over a YEAR to sort out the Barry deal, and it was well publicised that Barry wanted to go. But why didn't it happen? Maybe they wanted to get him on the cheap. Maybe they wanted to spend all summer haggling with Villa. Did they honestly think nobody else would be interested in Barry?
If Benitez wants to blame anyone, he should look at himself and his club.
By Vincent O'Connor. Posted July 13 2009 at 12:10 AM.
I am fed up with the whole "Big Four have it easy" cliche, being an Arsenal fan we do not have huge amounts to splash out on superstars or indeed pay crazy wages. What we have is a well run club that chooses it's players with care and sticks to a pay stucture ensuring the long term stability of the club. As for other clubs challenging the top 4, compare clubs like Villa and the Scum with Arsenal and the transfer money spent over the last 10 years and it makes funny reading.
By Steve. Posted July 12 2009 at 5:26 PM.
All Benitez had to do was pay the asking price, which was a reasonable £12 million. If he would have done this then Barry would be with Liverpool.
However Benitez would not pay this, for whatever reason, and now he is bitter about Barry going to a club that valued his talents and paid Villa what they were due.....how is this 'following the zeros' as Mr Smith stated above?
Man City are conducting themelves in a professional manner and showing great calmness and professionalism.
Personally think City will do very well next year, and if they finish ahead of that moaning Spanish waiter then all the better!
By Stephen Hopkinson. Posted July 12 2009 at 3:48 PM.
dunny - i don't believe part of barry's decision to ignore liverpool was because of the uncertainty surrounding the stadium and the owners. This so-called rotation you mention is not based on last season. You should acknowledge that last year rafa finally put to bed his rotation policy and we saw his 4-2-3-1 formation with the best XI for the majority of the year.
Gareth barry ignored the move to anfield cause city stumped up more cash. Like Robinho, city attract players, motivated by the zeros on the end of their pay-packet.
By mark smith. Posted July 12 2009 at 3:28 PM.
This is one of the best articles I have read for a long time regarding the top 4 and city, and its come from the News of the World...so well done.
By Chris. Posted July 12 2009 at 3:28 PM.
I agree especially with the Benitez bit. Benitez was hyper hypocritical calling Barry just because he did not sign for Liverpool. Good article.
By Dot Smith. Posted July 12 2009 at 2:49 PM.
fantastic article andy...What a refreshing change to read a story that has the balls to have a pop at the so called big 4...Dave
By Dave bones. Posted July 12 2009 at 2:12 PM.