NEVER GO BACK?
What a summer it is turning out to be for the romantics. First, David McGoldrick decided to head back to his boyhood club Notts County after leaving Derby and now Aaron Ramsey is set to rejoin Cardiff City, the club he left as a teenager for Arsenal. Theirs is a well-trodden path with mixed results for brave boys coming home. If Ramsey wants to review the history of such transactions, we have had an admittedly minor delve through the archive to see how others have done by going home. From Robbie Fowler to Billy Sharp, completing the journey, however circuitous, can be a appealing notion … but the realities can be different.
Fowler, the boy from Toxteth, was incredible in the 90s at Liverpool. He was the golden child coming through the ranks, someone earmarked for the top, and he backed it up with goals in the Premier League to become a hero on the Kop. A tricky relationship with Géd Houllier resulted in him being sold to Leeds, but five years later God returned to Anfield, although he had lost some pace and dynamism. “I honestly feel like a kid waking up on Christmas morning every day now,” Fowler chirped. He was a bit-part player for 18 months before packing himself off to Cardiff with his best years long behind him.
Then there is Willian, who was rather unhappy at Arsenal so decided to cheer himself by booking a flight to São Paulo and rejoining Corinthians a mere 14 years after leaving. “I want to thank the fans for their love,” he parped. “I will do everything to make the Corinthians fans happy.” He left a year later after a desperately poor time, which even resulted in him receiving threats. “The authorities tolerate this. I have learned one thing, that we cannot complain about what we tolerate,” Willian sighed. “I am here to say we are outraged by this situation. We have to join together to combat violence in football.” At least Fulham got a good deal out of it.
Carlos Tévez went full circle too, coming back to help Boca Juniors win two titles before calling it quits. Sharp, meanwhile, has spent most of his career at Sheffield United after they originally deemed him not good enough. There is plenty of joy to be had by going back. Ramsey need not fear, however, because Cardiff are at a pretty low ebb after finishing 21st in the Championship last season, so it ought not get too much worse. He could have taken the easy option and headed to Saudi Arabia to pocket a load of coin, but went for the idealistic choice, the one that could fill his heart with warmth or, equally, break it.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“It’s not something I have spoken about that much but there were a few incidents that give you an understanding. At six I was molested by my mum’s friend who was at the house at lot; my mum was an alcoholic. That happened at six. I was sent to Africa to learn discipline and then I was sent back. Seven, I started smoking, eight I started dealing drugs. An older person told me that they wouldn’t stop a kid on a bike, so I rode around with my football, and then underneath I’d have the drugs – that was eight. Eleven, I was hung off a bridge by a guy from the next estate, a man. Twelve, I was adopted – and from then, I was adopted by an amazing family, I couldn’t have asked for better people to do what they’d done for me. If God created people, it was them” – Dele Alli opens up on his traumatic childhood, part of a candid account as to why his career has declined in recent years.
FOOTBALL DAILY LETTERS
Liverpool charging £75 for a replica shirt (yesterday’s Football Daily)? Ha, amateurs. Tottenham are charging a princely £125 for an ‘elite home shirt’ and £80 for a ‘stadium home shirt’. I’m sure there’s some subtle difference, but I can’t see it on a quick glance at the club shop. Differences from the previous design? Well. it’s all white, has the badge, Nike logo and ‘AIA’ in red, all very similar to last year, but it has blue cuffs, which I think is a change. The global price of polyester must be astronomical” – Adrian Riley.
Re: Brentford adapting their kit to have red and white stripes with a stronger presence of black (yesterday’s Football Daily) could be a nod to De Stijl, a Dutch art movement based around the power colours of black and white plus primary colours such as red. De Stijl was the idea behind the White Stripes, who featured black, white and red on their artwork. There may also be a clever reference to the material of Brentford’s shirts, as De Stijl is also known as Neoplasticism. Anyone know of any other tenuous art references in footie kits?” – Bernard Clark.
On the subject of kit launches, the new Kilmarnock away strip is inspired by penicillin” – John Brady.
If Football Daily wants to jump in on the fad that clubs are doing with their traditional-yet-modern kits, it could just republish missives/drivel from its formative days. Then again, each daily missive seems to be a rehashing of drivel” – Nigel Assam.
Does Phil Hawkins (yesterday’s Football Daily letters) not understand that if all the tired old jokes and lazy stereotypes were removed from Football Daily, all that remained would be links to Big Website articles?” – Michael Hann.
Send your letters to the.boss@theguardian.com. Today’s winner of our prizeless letter o’ the day is … Adrian Riley.
This is an extract from our daily football email … Football Daily. To get the full version, just visit this page and follow the instructions.
