Andy Humble, SAFC-supporting Aussie exile and stalwart of the Blackcats list,, took the words clean out of our mouths after reading Darren Bent’s staggering comment that Fabio Capello had told him his chances of playing for England had improved because of his move from top-seven Sunderland to struggling Villa …
Having heard about this the other day, and just read more about it, I was surprised to see no further comments.
I was at least expecting Jeremy Robson to have passed comment. As no one has mentioned it, I thought I needed to vent my spleen …
Rent has come out and said that Capello told him his chances of playing for England were better now that he had signed for Villa (or words to that effect).
I would expect one of two things to happen in the next 24-48 hours:
* Capello goes to press and says he did not say such things about Rent and that it was a silly statement made by a silly boy and that it doesn’t matter where an English player plays he has full potential of playing for England on his own merits.
* Niall Quinn to demand from Capello, if he did indeed say this, an explanation of his words in full. I would also expect some sort of charge to be laid against him for bringing the game in disrepute!
How can anyone get away with a statement like that?
I’ll hold my actions for an answer. Is it a case of Rent being an immature spoilt brat and having a final dig at Sunderland AFC and its supporters? If not, then while Capello remains in charge, I will refuse to follow England to the point of contemplating supporting the opposition. Unless, that is, it’s Argentina, Germany or Scotland.
I’m sorry Jinksy (and that’s the only apology you’ll get from me), but who on earth is Ken Brown?
Birflatt Boy – have you got any jokes of your own or do you always quote Ken Brown? Jeremy back in your hole now there’s a good boy!!!
Go easy on him Birflatt Boy. I’m sure that it’s a thinly disguised Mark Eltringham. There can’t be two like this surely to God!
More tedium and drivel from the Jinksmeister! There’s a village in the W Midlands somewhere that’s lost its idiot.
Over here folks; we’ve got him! 🙂
Bit of a shame that the point of the post has got completely lost due to 1 person making 1 small point (oops, sorry Jinksy, your point is obviously bigger than mine, FACT, as shown by the fact that you were able to make that point 4 times and I have only made my point once).
The basic issue is not whether Villa are a bigger club than Sunderland but whether it is easier to get picked for England if you play within an hour’s travel of London or not. Clearly it is and that is a disgrace. Unfortunately, it was the case before Capello and it will be the case after. The England manager is virtually forced to pick the team that the press pick for him as otherwise, as soon as he loses, his job becomes unbearable.
Having said that, if Bruce’s argument about Capello only seeing Sunderland away games is true, it seems odd that he is paid £6m per year yet can’t afford to get SKY, so he could actually watch games up here and could have seen how well Bent was playing last year when he was the only player in a major league to score 20 goals and not go to the World Cup.
Pete Sixsmith – I agree with nearly every point you have made. But this piece was started by a Sunderland fan who couldn’t believe Darren Bent would leave Sunderland to go to Villa and his only reason for this was that Sunderland are above Villa in the table.
I have pointed out many reasons why he did leave and backed my argument with facts. The truth sometimes hurts but the facts are Villa are bigger than Sunderland in History, Success, Turnover and that is my point.
Our club is bigger than yours, Jinksy and if you say that yours is bigger than ours I’ll get my dad on to you and he’s heavyweight champion of the world!!!
I can’t think of any club in Britain that have had as many poor seasons as Sunderland and still attract attendances in excess of 38,000 to home games. I can’t think of many clubs in an almost permanently economically depressed area with such a weak playing record since the mid 50’s that regularly attracts crowds in excess of 38,000.
We know that our club is firmly rooted in its community and that is Wearside and (particularly) County Durham. The passion for football runs far deeper here than it ever will in the West Midlands because it’s all we’ve bloody got.
We all love our clubs. You have had to sell your best players to Manchester City and you will struggle to hold on to Ashley Young in the summer. You are welcome to Bent. He’s a decent player but a hypocrite and he will leave you if/when things no longer suit him. You are equally welcome to Houlier – a manager who heaps praise on his former club and ignores the fans of his current one. That would be a sacking offence in The Hotbed of Football.
Birflatt Boy I’ll put this simply. Your fans are using the fact that you are above Villa in the league as the reason you are a bigger Club and you say i’m drivelling!!!!!! Blackpool are above West Ham are they bigger…NO.
When making up an argument as to why a player wants to leave to go to a different club. Use some facts in that argument instead of idiotic blinkered rubbish.
The facts are he left to go to a bigger club on twice as much money…He bettered himself, He played for England he scored for England …I think Mr Bent made the right choice don’t you think?
Jinksy. You really ought to be on the BBC 606 board if this puerile and pointless drivel is the best that you can come up with.
This debate is the lame duck English manager who seems to be on a similar par to you in terms of eloquence and judgment.
Sobs – 1 bad season due to our previous manager leaving 5 days before the season started…we will still finish above Sunderland so get real. wake up open your eyes. Wolves beat Man Utd last week so does that make them a bigger club. Bent wanted to move his career forward get over it. How many £24M players you lot brought lately????
We bowelled up to your place slapped the guy on the door told Bent to get in the car. Bruce tried to say something and also got slapped. The big Irish fella was about to do something but thought better of it. Our man put a brief case on the table opened it up to show it was full of money he turns to Quinn & Says ” That’s for you big man” in his American twang turned and walked out!!! Deal done and your lot could do nothing about it!!!!!!
When you are a big club you might one day do that to some small team with a player you fancy. Until that day you’ll just keep getting slapped
I’m rather relieved that Mr Capello has come out and made it perfectly clear that he has a regionalist and biased mind.
Now we no longer need to speculate about it.
Where are Villa in the league? 150 miles closer to the Evening Standard and Crapello’s house.
These comments simply underline the witlessness of a man who should have been sent packing back in the summer. His views hold no stock or value to any reasonably follower of the game.
Pete Sixsmith – I was there in 2009 when Jnr Brad saved 4 pens. Our end of your ground was full and not kids and i can remember the Villa fans singing “your grounds to big for you”.
Look at the History of the Prem it’s self and you’ll see Aston Villa have been in it from the start, finished 2nd 1st year had a 4th & numerous 6th places….Now can you tell me what Sunderland have done??? Not as good as Villa and that is a FACT… Villa are 20th in the rich clubs list IN THE WORLD & that is also a fact. We had 5 players in the last England squad & have had more players represent Enland than any other team FACT..7 FA Cup wins, 5 League Cup wins, 7 League titles, European Champions, European Super Cup Winners…Do you want me to go on Pete you deluded fool….Sorry Sunderland fans you started this with your blinkered drivel…I work in Facts and the facts are Villa are a bigger club that Sunderland miles bigger in all departments. We were there at the beginning in fact it was our man William McGreger that bloody started it FACT!!!!!!!!!
Capello’s comments, while unforgivable for an international manager, just echo what all North-east football fans have known for years (just ask Kevin Phillips). It has been clear for years that Capello doesn’t pick the squad, London-based journallists do and they find it easier to get to Birmingham than to Sunderland. Anyone who disputes this need only look at the correlation between players being bigged up in the press and their subsequent selection. Does anyone outside of London seriously think that Bobby Zamora is more likely to score goals than Darren Bent? Yet Zamora was ahead of Bent in Capello’s thinking for the World Cup. Jordan Henderson played the whole of the season for Sunderland last year but was never mentioned in the London press and took a long time to even make the Under 21 team. As soon as he scored in a game the journos noticed (U21 game), he was suddenly the next big thing and gets an England cap. If he had been an Arsenal reserve he would have been picked much earlier first for the U21s and then for the seniors.
Calm down, Steff the Villan. Pete was speaking tongue in cheek and is really a teacher, which may be even worse.
Well said Andy. And Steff – we were having a pop at the source, but Jinksy was bound to upset a few folks with his News of the World type post
Jinksy – what on earth have you been drinking? Even Capello can look at a league table, watch match of the day, and decide which of the two clubs is playing the better football. That he chooses to ignore the evidence of his own eyes is another reaason he shoudl be on the next boat bakc to Italy. I’ve no problem with Bent playing for England – if they play to his strengths, he’ll score goals. He’s shwon already that if Villa do the same, he’ll score goals.
It’ll take some run from Villa to get past us in the league, and if they do, then good luck to them – but it doesn’t make Capello’s comment any less stupid. Also, the use of the word “FACT” – capital letters or not – usually means that it most certainly isn’t. Back it up with some figures, and real fatcs, and then you mght, just might, be able to make a reasonable point. Like Pete says, give it a year or two and someone else will wave a wad of notes under Bent’s nose and he’ll be off. I’m off to Ladbrokes to bet on us finishing higher than Villa.
I think we are all missing the point, i am a Villa fan and i like Sunderland, but i think what Caplello and Bent meant when they said the move was good for him was the formation we play, its not about bigger club this and bigger club that thats all rubbish, i believe its only about the formation we use as opposed to Sunderland, which makes me wonder as we are below you which one is better 🙁
Jinksy has stated “facts” If you can be bothered to do some research, as I would expect a journo to do (as we journos say) then you will find out that Jinksy isn’t far off the truth!
And “miserable turnouts” please, look at your own travelling faithful, before you have a pop at ours.
IF Fab C did make that comment, it is not our fans fault, so if you want to have a pop, stick with the source of the quote.
Great stuff Jinksy. Just what I would expect from a Villa fan. Years of delusion and U.S. money make you think you are a big club. Just look at the wretched level of support you brought to Sunderland for the last three league games; almost as embarrassing as the miserable turnouts we expect from the likes of Fulham and Wigan. You even had to pay fans to come for the League Cup tie you pinched in October 2009 – and that was mostly kids on half term from school.So there!!!!!
Enjoy Bent. He will do his runner when a big club like Fenerbache or Nandori Tirana come calling with a suitcase of money – as will Young when Spurs or Liverpool or Chelsea or Walsall come in for him.
As for Capello he is now a busted flush as we journos say. He has no right to make comments like this and if I was Steve Bruce or Niall Quinn I would be on to the FA demanding an explanation, an apology and Don Fabio should be told that one more outburst like this and he will join Luca Brazzi in “sleeping with the fishes”.
Quite the most disgraceful comment I have heard since the last disgraceful comment.
Totally agree. C#apello should go. Did he also lell Caroll to go, and what about Henderson? I thought he did OK v France, didn’t give the ball away unlike Gerrard whos pass completion is rank. Back to Bent. he needs to have a bit more respect for a club who saved his career. He still missed 3 v good chances v Denmark. Holloway for England !!!
Villa fan here, It does sound really off and if I was a Sunderland fan I’d be spitting feathers.
The only slant I can think of is that perhaps, due to the number of English players and also current England squad members, Cappello may spend more time watching Villa and thus Bent may get more of Capellos ‘eye time’.
Perhaps.
Usual health warning: all comments within reason are welcomed and you do not need to be a Sunderland supporter for that to be the case. But we are a regular target for spammers so please expect a short delay if you have not posted previously.
Hahahaha Don’t you mean he’s moved to the 20th biggest Football Club in the world? Blinkered mate that’s what you are. Villa are the 6th biggest club in the Prem FACT!!! And i’d still put money on us finishing above you lot….Wake up and take your Sunderland tinted specs off.