Fabian Delph - Signed for Manchester City

[clash city rocker]

From now on I will also regard the mirror as 'what's wrong with football today'.

[KRS]

I sincerely hope Man City win fuck all again next season and for all eternity just to prove these media clowns haven't got a clue what they're talking about...I'm sure he'd have spun the story as Delph being a disloyal glory hunting bench warmer had he completed the move.

[Clampy]

Is there such a thing as a sportswriters awards dinner where the worst column of the year receives a prize.

There should be. Bill Howell's 'send us the bill' article would win and then they'd retire the award. That one's not going to be beaten.

[kippaxvilla2]

He's let down one of the sky 4 he's not fallen at their feet.  That's why there is such vitriol.  No one can possibly accept that he had a change of heart for personal reasons.  He's just utter scum for not simply doing the decent thing and signing for them wothout thinking about it.

[kippaxvilla2]

This is in the day and age where skysports have the strap line 'more of the games that matter.' Proof positive that the rest of the league are just irritants.

[Louzie0]

They really don't have a clue, do they?

I genuinely think they do Louzie0...they are simply masters at creating a sensational story out of nothing...a story about Delph's loyalty to a bottom 5 club is not "big" enough to sell more papers for a publication such as the Daily Mirage.

Comparing a media darling with a gritty, down to earth lad is easy writing.
And totally based on a narrow opinion, not a measured, thoughtful response.

UTV!

That's what I wanted to say!
UTV!

[olaftab]

Interesting that nearly three quarters of readers who voted in that article think Delph won't regret rejecting Man City.

Yes clearly the football fans back his decision.

[PaulWinch again]

This is in the day and age where skysports have the strap line 'more of the games that matter.' Proof positive that the rest of the league are just irritants.

Thing is it's such a naive view. If only the top 6 existed and played each other football would be dead pretty quickly.

[cdbearsfan]

So instead of commending a player for decency and loyalty, the Mirror instead chose the slate Delph as a bottler.  Disgraceful article.


http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/raheem-sterling-backed-himself-shine-6059140

Nasty article. He talks up the guy who represents all that is bad about football now.

Begovic?

[Dave]

So instead of commending a player for decency and loyalty, the Mirror instead chose the slate Delph as a bottler.  Disgraceful article.


http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/raheem-sterling-backed-himself-shine-6059140

Nasty article. He talks up the guy who represents all that is bad about football now.

Begovic?

I didn't realise that it had changed from Robbie Savage.

[brian green]

Nothing much changes, other than the sums of money.   I watched Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy a couple of days ago.   The old, brilliant BBC version.   The cover of one of the British agents was as a football journalist.   It was brilliantly written and brilliantly acted.  The journalist/agent relates to George Smiley (Alec Guinness) the outline of the story he is covering. (Spreads his hand and describes in the air a banner headline) "Scottish thunderboots to join London champions now on the slide".   The paper for whom he works is not named but it clearly is the (then) Daily Mirror.   The period in which the story is set was a time when The Sun was still the Daily Herald.  The paper is referred to as The Comic.   I suppose I contradict myself because The Comic implies amusement and childish humout.   There is nothing remotely amusing or funny about contemporary football coverage by the media.

[Steve R]

There's a big contrast between that article and the one in the Grauniad about James Milner - 'When I’m older I want to look back and say that I became the best player I could ... I thought at times at City I won player of the month and then didn’t play for three, four or five games after'.

That from a player who the club wanted to keep and the fans liked. Nobody seems to be calling him a bottler.

[olaftab]

When Gerrard turned down Chelsea and Real Madrid it was an act of loyal committed to the cause player and described as captain fantastic who wants to make Liverpool great and reject greed however none of that applies to Delph because why would anyone commit themselves to Villa so he has no ambition or desire to improve! Fecking wankers.

[Tom_Mc9?]

The Secret Footballer has written a load of turd about Delph:

Fabian Delph finds his level and falls back into Aston Villa ‘comfort zone’


I have to say that it came as a terrible shock to myself and to many of my peers. A footballer turning down the opportunity to play for a bigger club, on more money, to stay with a club that has flirted with relegation in the past few seasons. What is the world coming to?

Last Saturday, though, Fabian Delph, of Aston Villa, appeared to do exactly that by spurning interest from Manchester City to return to his role of sliding around the Villa Park pitch for another four years.

According to Delph, even his team-mates were surprised that he didn’t move clubs. Maybe they should read on …

Let us now track the likely route that Delph’s career will take from this moment on. He is the captain of Villa, having replaced Ron Vlaar towards the end of last season, and the fans will revere him eventually – if they don’t already now that he’s turned down City.

And when he retires, his name will be used alongside the word “legend”, though nobody will quite know why, least of all the Villa fans.

But you and I know that, when that day comes, we’ll be talking about a man who probably won’t have won anything. He won’t be as wealthy as he could have been – if that’s a measurement that you like to use – and he won’t have any kind of name in football outside of Birmingham.

And only then because he works the executive boxes at Villa Park telling anybody who will listen how he once turned down Manchester City, who back then were a big club.

But there is an interesting point to consider here because this is something that doesn’t happen very often in football. The lure of a top club and the riches and promises of silver that come from that are usually too much to turn down.

Yet Delph isn’t an isolated case, even if he is at the forefront of something that is becoming more common in European football.

It’s a slightly different situation but take Turkey midfielder Arda Turan as an example of the lure of a big club
It’s a slightly different situation but take Turkey midfielder Arda Turan as an example of the lure of a big club with the chance of winning something consistently against the pleasure of playing regularly.

Two seasons ago, Turan’s former club, Atletico Madrid, reached the Champions League final and also pipped Barcelona to the La Liga title, their first in 18 years.

Atletico are now once more a premier European side thanks to a mix of hard work, set-piece superiority and counter-attacking talent. But then Barcelona cast their net towards the capital and paid £24 million to take Turan to the home of the current treble champions.

One problem: Barca are under a transfer embargo until January and that means that Turan, who, at 28, is at the peak of his powers, cannot kick a single ball in anger for his new club for six months.

I have never been in that exact situation but I can tell you that it is perhaps the most frustrating thing in professional football to be fit, healthy and sat in the stand in a club tracksuit.

And Turan isn’t the only player involved in what, thanks to the Financial Fair Play rules, will surely become a far more regular state of limbo for top players. Aleix Vidal, the former Sevilla right back, is in exactly the same boat at the Nou Camp.

But their new club isn’t just any old club, is it? Barcelona will be the favourites to win all before them next season and probably every year until Turan leaves the Catalan giants and maybe also Vidal, who, at 25, is three years Turan’s junior.

As is usual in tricky situations, it is always best to ask yourself what you would do before passing judgement on the next person whose personal situation you have not the first idea about?

Nobody in world football can displace Neymar, Luis Suarez and Lionel Messi at Barcelona for a combination of factors. Behind them, Andres Iniesta is one of the finest midfielders of all time while Ivan Rakitic was perhaps one of the form players of European football last season.

Sergio Busquets is a hero with brains and brawn while Sergi Roberto and Rafinha are two young players with promise waiting in the wings. Turan will play games but you have to conclude that Xavi’s departure to Qatar has simply left a space that needs filling. Nothing more than that.

But Turan has bitten the bullet nonetheless, even if he knows he may not play all the time.

You want my honest opinion? Fabian Delph knows his level
You want my honest opinion? Fabian Delph knows his level. Villa fans tell me that he wouldn’t get as many games at Manchester City. So, by definition, that means that they know that there are better players out there.

Much of what I’ve read on the subject this week has lauded Delph. Not for his loyalty – I think we all know that loyalty doesn’t exist any more, even in this case – but primarily for the fact that if he stays with Villa, he’ll play. Great.

There are two schools of thought here. The first I would call a jaw-dropping lack of ambition to improve oneself and truly test whatever ability Delph has with the best players in the world.

That has been backed up by two Manchester City players I know and have spoken to about it.

Let me tell you right now, when you play with better players, you find levels of talent and competitiveness that you never knew you had. But you have to want to do it, otherwise you fall into a category that we call “the comfort zone”.

So, forget the clubs at the heart of the matter, forget the money aspect, forget the player even.

I thought that you, the fans, had told me that the game should be about winning, about the glory? If that’s the case, then good luck Fabian, you’ll need it.

The second school of thought pertains to the fact that City need to restock their quota of homegrown English players to make their fighting weight in Europe with younger, updated versions. Nothing more than that.

At a reported £8 million buyout clause from Villa, and with City’s pockets ten times larger than a Greek bailout, Delph would have been loose change for them. Even so, business is business and there aren’t many 25-year-old England internationals out there who are available for £8 million.

The biggest shock to Delph, most likely, is that there was no other firm interest in his services from clubs bigger than Villa where he could have expected to play regularly and have a better chance of winning something.

Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool were rumoured to be interested but didn’t move a muscle.

And that is the crux of it. Delph is an average Premier League footballer who goes to ground too easily and who is lucky to have been afforded a huge amount of time to get a chance to play regularly in what has been a struggling Premier League team.

That’s it, those are the facts.

You’re right. Delph isn’t good enough for Manchester City because he’s barely good enough for Aston Villa. Not just my opinion, by the way, but that of most players who I know in the Premier League, across just about every one of the 20 clubs.

I’d be amazed if there was ever any genuine interest in Delph, the footballer, among clubs bigger than Villa where Delph would have played regularly. So for all that, perhaps he’s made a wise choice.

While the rest of us fight it out on the forest floor, desperately reaching up to the light with the other bastards, Delph seems to be only too aware that he has found his level in what is ultimately a futile pursuit for most players.

Who knows? Maybe we’re all missing a trick.

[Nastylee]

How controversial, there’s a lot of inaccuracies there though. Delph has matured into an England regular and has been the driving force in keeping us afloat for two seasons. I also believe he only picked up 1 yellow card (it wasn't many anyway) last season which is contrary to the ‘goes to ground’ comment which could have been attributed in his younger days. Cast your mind back to the FA Cup semi – do you remember Gerrard and Henderson that day? Probably not because average Delph ran rings round them! Very easy to cast stones whilst hiding behind anonymity.