How much or how little do we read in today’s offering from our friends at the Ghanasoccernet website?
They quote Asamoah Gyan as saying the following:
“Of course I’m a big fan of Manchester United and will like to play for them if the chance comes my way.”
As far as the first part of the statement goes, that is surely just par for the course. I am not saying no one in Manchester or its vicinity supports United, but they do seem to have an awful lot of fans who could barely place the city on a map. Has Gyan even been there other than to play for us?
Again, the second part of the statement could easily come from the mouth of a good 90 per cent of the men playing football around the world. United is a glamorous club known to all and an overwhelming proportion of players, like loads of fans, are gloryseekers.
And to be fair to Gyan, he went on to say:
“But at the moment I’m at another great club and will want to concentrate on that and help repay the faith the club and the fans have reposed in me.”
So I pass on the quotes with the usual health warning. The Ghanasoccernet story will grab an enormous number of hits simply because the headline links our striker and United. Sunderland fans will read it because of that dangling of alarm bells the headline provokes (even in phlegmatic old M Salut); United supporters will be curious, though they’d probably never admit as much.
Otherwise, it is a complete non-story, except that it reinforces our oft-stated demand that if and when Sir Alex Ferguson comes calling for any of our players, the Bruce/Quinn/Short triumvirate plays Daniel Levy-standard hardball and politely requests the earth plus Danny Welbeck in return. Or no deal.
And memo to Asamoah: Ghanasoccernet also tells us: “The World cup star signed a US$130,000 a year deal with giant telecommunication network Glo as their brand ambassador on Wednesday.” Would you have got that sitting on the bench, as often as not, at Old Trafford instead of banging in goals for Sunderland and attracting so much attention that poor Darren Bent went scurrying off to a team of strugglers in the Midlands?
* see full story at Ghanasoccer.
Monsieur Salut
Every club is a stepping stone to somewhere else, even Man Utd
themselves who have sold on their superstars to (the footballing
equivalent of the Harlem Globetrotters) Real Madrid (Van Nistelrooy,
Beckham and Ronaldo).
The trick of course is to reduce the gap “between the stones.” We are
doing precisely that right now. In the past twenty years we have seen
players leave Sunderland for what they saw as greener pastures at
places like Crystal Palace (Marco Gabbiadini), Millwall (John Byrne)
and Southampton (Superkev). Thankfully that is no longer the case, but
the fact that our players appear attractive to the biggest clubs of
all, provides us with a yardstick of the real progress that we’ve made
in a very short period of time.
We’ve come a long way since missing out on Peter Eastoe and Alex Sabella.
Our current status is what mystified and angered so many of us with
the Bent fiasco. Bent is a mercenary of the highest order. Embarrassed
by the extent of his own mercenary tendencies and self reflection
doesn’t seem to be at the forefront of Darren’s psyche, is what led
him to promote the comments which he attributed to Capello regarding
his “enhanced” chances of international recognition by being at Villa.
That move was not a stepping stone on to a bigger stage, but it was
clearly an opportunity to further stuff his well lined pockets. It’s a
shame that he didn’t just confess to moving for money, rather than
disguising his motive in a thinly veiled manipulation of the media (by
“blaming” Capello). Just admit it. Tell us you just moved for the
money. We might despise your motivation but at least we’d respect your
honesty. I’m relieved that he hasn’t mentioned silverware as Villa
Park has been devoid of any almost as long as we have.
In Africa only Man U Liverpool & Arsenal were known, now with the advent of sattelite TV everyone has access to the EPL and most clubs are known Africans will have black players as their hero with Drogba and Henry being massive, but Ghana are well loved and Gyan and Mensah are known throughout the continent and who they play for. Sunderland are fast gaining a huge reputation on the dark continent
I personally hope there is no truth at all in this:
“Of course I’m a big fan of Manchester United and will like to play for them if the chance comes my way.”
After losing Bent the last thing we need now is for a number 1 to be dreaming of bigger and better sights.
We’ve got on of the best squads we’ve had in years at the moment, should be more than enough to keep the lad wanting to play for us??
Your totally right mate, all his Man U dream would be is a bench warmer. If he wants first team football and to be praised and loved by the fans then he should wake up and realize what he’s already got!
Like it or not, we have to accept that clubs like ours can often be seen as stepping stones for players. We need to make the most of the time we have with players like Gyan. Two seasons of improvement from him will earn the club a huge amount of money. That’s the way it is – unfortunately.
Comments, within reason, always welcome from SAFC and non-SAFC supporters alike.
But first-time posters must expect a short delay for moderation (part of the anti-spamming fightback).