Footballers Ego's (a little rant! sorry!)

[FXBlade]

So the question I pose, is where does a footballers ego stop being an ego, and turn them into a cunt?

I will get there, here is my back story.

So as I have publicised, I had tickets for the friendly at Villa Park on Saturday for Villa vs Malaga.  Last warm up before Arsenal and set to be a good day.

Infact it was a GREAT day.

I went with a fellow Villa fan from work, and his two kids.  Unfortunately I felt that at 4, mine wsa  bit too young for it this year, but there is always next season!

Anyway, They put a fun day on in the indoor academy from 12:30, Indoor inflatables, face painting, competitions for the kids.  They don't have to do this, they just do.  they are also doing it for the first game against Liverpool.  I like that as a club as it is a way of giving back for the young fans.   Quality, makes me proud to support a nice club.

Anyway, it was my mates Kids first games.  We took them to this because it was a cheaper game and at least if they got bored we hadn't wasted the money as it only cost a fiver fore them.

Usually I sit in the Holte end (YIPPPEEEE-EIIIII-OOOOOO) because the atmosphre is phenomenal, it is the true die hard villa fans that sit there.  But with taking two kids with us, We sat in the trinity road stand next to the dug outs.  A little plan to try and 'autograph hunt' as the players came out and also after the game.  Good seats?



Yeah, I was happy with that view! and so were the kids.


So now I get to the ego's!

At half time, we went down towards the dugouts with the match programs, looking to get an autograph for the kids.  Anyway, I understand that it is not in their contracts and it is a privilege if we manage to speak to some of them, however, some went up in my estimation, and some went down.

Paul Lambert, Mark Albrighton, Leandro Bacuna and Yacouba Sylla all came over and signed the progams for the kids that were there ( I understand there can be 100 on some days, but yesterday there were 5 max!  They had a chat with the kids and got on with the game.

That was awesome, a real treat for them to show how much that appreciate the fans.


HOWEVER!

Nathan Baker (who I speak highly of) Looked at us, looked the other way and went and sat down on the farthest seat so he could hide away.

I know its not apart of his job to do it, but he could have at least smiled.  CUNT!

The worst thing was, all the way in the car and at the kids fun day, and as we sat down in our seats, my mates Lad who is 7 kept on asking if Nathan Baker would be playing? would be see him?

The fact that he couldnt even muster a smile really fucked me off.  The lad was upset, but on with the game.


Final result



Icing on the cake really!

Anyway, I know this is a Baker bashing post, but he has no right to have a huge ego and has really gone down in my estimations.

HOWEVER!!!

There is one player who stood out for me.

One player who went above and beyond his call of duty.

This man



3 guys across in the orange Vest.

ROQUE SANTA CRUZ

76 minutes he was subbed off.  My mates daughter went 'daddy, do you think i can get his autograph?'

She ran down the the barrier and smiled at him. he came over, patted her on her head, smiled and opened the program.

This was the result



He didnt have to do that, He had just played 76 minutes and played for Malaga.  He was sat next to the Villa fans, but he still did that.

That was awesome, and no matter the result, and how good the day was, Santa Cruz doing that made the day.  The kids never shut up about it on the 30 minute drive home. and when i saw them today, they were still gojng on about what a good day they had, and how good that man was.

Santa Cruz, you are a true Gent!

Okore signed autographs on the way back to teh dressing room, the only Villa plyer to do so.  He didnt understand me when I said, Nice one mate, great game, happy you signed.  Kind of a language barrier!  But he did that and is one of our new signings.  He looks happy to be at the club!

How can one player who is a villa player through and through be so harsh and cold to the fans, yet a brazilian who seemed to just love the atmosphere make or break the day?

Nathan Baker, you are my Cunt of the season!

[Cory]

Man I had the same kind of experience, and might shock some of you. When I went to Manchester to go to their soccer school for a few weeks, one day we actually got to go to the training ground and watch them practice. The practice was cool, but we were all standing off to the side, probably 50 meters away and kinda HOPED someone would come over.

25 minutes went by and aside from Van Der Saar who said hi, the players kept away, UNTIL Christiano Ronaldo drop kicked a ball over to our direction so he could leave the group to retrieve the ball and say hi. Since then tho the media blows him to bits at times, Christiano Ronaldo GETS IT, and I'll always have respect for the guy, created a memory Ill never forget.

Then when the practice was over, we stood in a line and got the players to sign jerseys, scarfs, what have you. Ronaldo was BY FAR the happiest to be there, Rio, Van Der Saar, Giggs and Scholes were all awesome, BUT....

Rooney just walked from the pitch, didnt stop to even wave, just had a cunt look on his face as he walked to the locker room. Everyone else took 10-15 minutes to sign stuff, talk with us, and Rooney was a fucking cunt bag.

Theres a chance these guy might have been having an 'off-day' or personal shit, but theres cunts who'll always forget where they came from or let their success inflate their egos to the point where they're the biggest pieces of shit.

[FXBlade]

I can understand the media pressure.

I can understand the off day.

But to look at us and look the other way kinda pissed me off.

Look back through my previous threads, especially the 'one player you would sign'  I always thought he would be a future england CB.

Teh guy had attitude.  Why?  He started his career with us.  He signed when he was 13 for Villa.  He is now 22.  Give something back to the fans?

Benteke, Gabby, Guzan, Vlaar etc were obviously on the pitch ready to kick off the second half, the fact that Baker was warming up infront of us the whole game made it worse.

Some players have it, but for a Villa player from the age of 13 to forget the fans was a cuntish move.

[Dorling]

A few years a go now (well, over 12 years) my Nan was at one of the London airports ready to go on Holiday and she saw Graeme Le Saux – turns out the Chelsea team were getting ready to fly up North for an away game. She got chatting to him and she bought a little notebook which he signed. She thought that was nice of him but then he said 'come with me.'

He led her around the airport after making a call and introduced her to Frank Leboeuf, Gianfranco Zola, Marcel Desailly, Didier Deschamp, Gianluca Vialli, Roberto Di Matteo, Gus Poyet, Dan Petrescu, Dennis Wise and some of the backroom staff. She got to have a chat with all of them and they all signed her autograph book for her. He didn't have to do that.

Footballers get a bad rap I guess; it's hard tuning in to being community leaders and role models and all that 24/7, especially when some of them are really young (and let's not forget a lot of these guys are just normal fellas). I think in all honesty there are many, many more decent blokes playing football than bad guys, but the papers like a bad guy. If you ask a non-football fan to name some players, they'll probably name guys like Gazza, Rooney, Suarez and Terry, but fail to mention the hundreds of thousands of good honest pros around the world who do charity work, help their clubs with community action and just play football, enjoying their lives as they do it.

[Rob]

Wanna know a footballer with an ego? Neil Ruddock.

Cunt walked into me when I was about 8 and I fell over, he just fucked off as quick as he could. Useless fat twat got a red card that game too, so he was probably pissed off about that, but he is still a human and he could've taken the courtesy to apologise for bowling me down

[Adam Wrong]

Best way to interact with players is at open training sessions. Couple of seasons ago I went with the girlfriend as my dad who was meant to go couldn't as mum was really unwell and Dad said he'd look after her. Players did the training and then spent a good hour posing for photos, signing everything. Clint Dempsey came up and signed my book and I asked him to sign something for my dad and explained the situation. He turns to me and says, can you call him up man? Phoned him on my mobile, Dad answers and Clint asks for the phone. Dempsey then spent a good 5 minutes chatting to my dad, telling him he was being missed and said about next time. Never heard my dad such a wreck. Top bloke shook my hand and off he went.

Schwarzer then comes up and with my gf being a Middlesbrough fan, was keen to meet him. He recognized her accent and she said about Boro, chatted about the area and took the time with every fan. I saw Dempsey take off his boots, sign them and hand them to a couple of kids and every player took time with the fans that turned up.

A lot of the attitude is personally down to the player but there is part of it, the club has to take responsibility for.

And Rooney is a massive twat

[Rob]

Fulham have small club syndrome though, they'll always be a Sunday league side

[Adam Wrong]

Rather stick to reality than end up like Portsmouth, QPR and soon to be Cardiff.

Palace on the other hand, will never know that feeling