Loyalty Means Nothing - and Lamps Is The Worst Of The Lot
“I understand why Manchester United fans booed me,” Rio Ferdinand said after the last game of the 2004-2005 season. “I’ve heard I’m being greedy but some of the figures thrown about are ridiculous. I was accused of asking for £150,000 a week. I wouldn’t insult the club like that. I can assure everyone I will not be going to Chelsea and want to sign for United again.”
Still, this didn’t stop sections of United fans persisting to boo Ferdinand throughout the pre-season, up until him signing a contract just before the next season started.
It took years for most reds to finally forgive him, whilst many still don’t have much time for him. Playing for our club is an honour and if you can’t recognise that, you’re usually out the door.
What irked United fans more than anything though was that he’d missed 8 months of playing time due to his forgetfulness over a drugs test. How dare he stall on contract talks after being out of action for so long, in a season that saw us crumble away to finishing third and empty-handed.
Ferdinand’s situation wasn’t helped any by the fact the Glazer takeover had just gone through. We felt like the soul of our club had been ripped out and replaced with the ever-looming presence of commercialisation and money making ploys. Rio’s decision to push the club for more dosh couldn’t have come at a worse time for the fans, who were already sick to the back teeth of hearing about money in football.
Still, Rio has redeemed himself somewhat since then, showing great commitment to the club, as well as excellent form. If nothing comes of the incident which occurred following the Chelsea game at Stamford Bridge towards the end of last season, Ferdinand will rightly be named captain of England in a couple of months time, following a long stint of high praise from the media, who not so long ago were ripping him apart.
In April, Ferdinand put pen to paper on another contract extension which will likely see him to the end of his playing career.
“Manchester United is a fantastic club and I am delighted I have signed a new contract,” said Ferdinand after signing. “It is a great honour to be part of this trophy winning team and to share in the success, which I am sure, will continue for many seasons to come.”
Now, the topic of player loyalty is close to many football fans’ hearts at the moment, with United’s Cristiano Ronaldo, Chelsea’s Frank Lampard, Arsenal’s Emmanuel Adebayor and Alexander Hleb, as well as Aston Villa’s Gareth Barry, all making frustrating comments in the press about their futures.
It seems as if all the above players are seeking moves away from the current clubs this summer and have used a wide range of tactics to ensure their transfers go through.
According to reports in Portugal, Ronaldo likened himself to “a slave”, following FIFA president Sepp Blatter’s insane comments last week. Hleb has tried a more gentle approach, not wanting to be a hated man, by claiming London is too busy for him (in contrast to the quiet life Barcelona has on offer?). Adebayor has apparently claimed he deserves the top wage Thierry Henry was on before he left, following one good season with the club. After dedicating his career so far to Villa, Barry wants to taste Champions League football, but in the process, again to avoid being a hate figure, has blamed Martin O’Neill for not making enough effort to keep him as the reason why he’ll be off this summer.
The player, above all, that I’ve really taken an issue with though is Frank Lampard, in his disgraceful handling of renewing his contract with the club he supposedly loves. For three years he has been telling the club he is going to sign a new contract, yet now, with time running out, he is stalling in a big way.
Every summer for the past few years, Lampard has been linked with a move to one of the top clubs in Europe, and every summer he was quick to insist he wouldn’t be going anywhere. Now it appears as though he was just biding his time.
“Don’t let there be any confusion - I am at Chelsea until 2009 and, in a few months, I’ll knock at Mr Abramovich’s door again,” Lampard said in November 2005. “I’ve got everything I need at Chelsea - it’s a big club with big targets and magnificent fans.”
Months later, Lampard again reiterated his desire to stay with the club past his current deal, claiming he was “very loyal” to Chelsea.
“When I began my career I wanted to get to the top and I left all my options open,” Lampard said in December 2005. “I didn’t want to think my career would go one particular way or another. But now I am a Chelsea player. I’m very loyal and concentrate 100 percent on the team I’m with.”
It was announced in May 2006 that Chelsea would be opening contract talks with the midfielder still having a further three years remaining on his contract. Following Chelsea’s title parade, Lampard insisted he had no intention of leaving the club. “No chance of that [him leaving],” Lampard said. “I am very happy and days like this makes me realise just how happy I am at the club.”
A few months later, Lampard cited his relationship with his teammates and the fans as the reason why he was going to stay on.
“I am very content,” Lampard said in August 2006. “I see myself staying at Chelsea. I have too much of a relationship with my teammates and the fans. I also have a high regard for what the club have done for me. I’ve got three years left on my present deal so I’m not going to batter the door down.”
Months later, with still no deal signed, Lampard reassured the fans that he wasn’t going to leave. He even had a dig at the clichés that come with being a modern-day footballer, insisting he wasn’t that type of player.
“I want to stay at Chelsea,” Lampard said in March 2007. “I have never wanted to leave the club and I don’t intend to. I have everything I want in life where I am right now. For the past six years my life has been my family and Chelsea Football Club. Some players can say that and it sounds clichéd or fake. I can say it because it is absolutely true. I am very proud I play for Chelsea and of what I have achieved as part of the team. I’m very happy at Chelsea, they’ve been the best days of my career.”
A year closer to Lampard’s contract needing renewal and still nothing has been signed. Days before the Champions League final, Lampard was insistent that he was happy and that he would be staying.
“I’m very happy at Chelsea, they’ve been the best days of my career,” he said. “That (new contract) will be sorted out in the summer, hopefully.”
Yet here we are, three years after Lampard claimed he’d be knocking on Roman Abramovich’s door asking for a new contract, and he still has come nowhere near agreeing a deal with the club.
Losing out on the title to Manchester United over the past two years, as well as the Champions League final last season, coupled with Jose Mourinho’s departure and Lampard’s eagerness to be one of the world’s highest-paid players, has seen the player’s “loyalty” dwindle.
In contrast to players like Paul Scholes, who have no agent, yet willingly commit their future to the club, Lampard is willing to leave the club he’s professed to love for the past few years in order to get a larger salary elsewhere.
Whilst the rumours have come in thick and fast linking Lampard to a move which will see him reunite with former boss Jose Mourinho at Inter Milan, the player has chosen to keep surprisingly quiet on the matter. It seems the fans that he claimed meant so much to him before now don’t deserve to be kept informed about where he intends to play next season.
“Inter? Let’s wait and see,” he said at the end of June. “For the moment I am here on holiday with my family, my future at Chelsea? I don’t know anything yet.”
Frank Lampard’s agent, Steve Kutner, has claimed that Lampard is holding out for a five-year contract at Chelsea, which the club are unprepared to offer.
“What Chelsea fans have to understand, is the club has refused to offer him the five-year deal he wants, and he has always said that if he could not finish his playing career at Chelsea he would like to try his luck abroad,” he said.
For a 30-year-old at one of the top clubs in Europe to make such a request seems pretty outlandish. If you are to take this request seriously, you’d have to assume Lampard rates his importance to Chelsea far higher than he should. If you were to be more cynical, you could say Lampard is asking for something he knows he won’t get, therefore hoping the blame for his leaving will be placed on Chelsea’s shoulders, not his own.
Whilst they are just reports in the paper, the club is apparently offering Lampard a 4-year-deal worth £140,000 a week, however his ego might be too fragile to contemplate earning £40,000 less a month than pal John Terry.
Like the want away players at other Premiership clubs, Lampard is happy to play the blame game too, not wanting his desire to leave Chelsea to reflect badly on himself.
“Frank has had seven wonderful years at the club and does not want to sour relations with Chelsea fans,” continued his agent. “But he fears if he is forced to remain at the club he is going to be given a hard time by some supporters because of the breakdown in talks.”
United and Arsenal fans may grumble about their less than committed players this summer, but there is a striking difference between their situation and that of Chelsea fans.
As a red, I never expected Ronaldo to see out his career with our club. Whilst he claimed he was “delighted” to have signed an extension last April, that would see him at the club until he was 28, nobody truly expected him to see it out. At best, we hoped we’d hang on to him for a few more years, but we all knew he wasn’t going to stay with us forever, as he has made it clear throughout his time at United that he one day wanted to play in Spain. It is my opinion that he owes us at least another season, after he has enjoyed just one season, out of the five he has spent developing at United, as the best player in the world. However, I can’t claim to be surprised that he is talking of a move away from the club now.
In contrast, Lampard led Chelsea fans to believe he was one of them, a true blue, who has gone from the average player he was at West Ham to, at one stage, the 2nd best player in the World (according to FIFA). For years, he has led them on, telling them he will sign a contract, claiming he loves the club, that he loves them, and couldn’t ever envisage leaving them.
Last summer, before this commitment issue really started to spiral out of control, people were beginning to notice that Lampard was happy to talk the talk, but wasn’t able to walk the walk (or, sign the contract). There was an article in The Daily Mail which caught my eye.
There was a moment the other evening when it seemed that Frank Lampard had forgotten his script. The ball was in the back of the Reading net and the Chelsea player was reeling away in celebration. Then he stopped and remembered what celebrity footballers do on such occasions. He grabbed his shirt and kissed the club badge.
Badge-kissing demeans both the kisser and those who are, by patronising implication, kissed. In short, it gives insincerity a bad name. Some will tell you that this tasteless flamboyance is explained by Lampard’s reluctance to sign a new contract.
It is reported that Chelsea are currently paying him around £115,000, that they have offered him £130,000,and that he believes he is worth £135,000. These, remember, are his weekly wages, and should not be confused with lottery winnings.
He has repeatedly insisted that his failure to sign has absolutely nothing to do with money, yet there are those who continue to doubt him. So he strives to demonstrate his loyalty by giving the badge a great, slurping smacker at every opportunity. And the more he does it, the less convincing he seems.
Chelsea have already turned down two bids from Inter Milan for Lampard, but it surely is now more a question of when, rather than if, the midfielder will leave the Premiership. I, for one, am intrigued to see how an English player will cope abroad, following limited numbers of our nationals making the move to other European leagues. However, if I was a Chelsea fan, I’d be pig sick.
They have stood by him through thick and thin. As the fickle England fans have berated him time and again, even resorting to booing him on occasion, the Chelsea fans, who often are supporters of their country to the core, have defended him. When questions first started to rise over whether he was as committed as he’d like to make out, they confidently stood behind him, positive he’d sign a new contract.
Whilst part of me enjoys seeing the disappointment of Chelsea fans, as well as the decrease in popularity for possibly my most despised player in the league, I am too much of a football fan to delight in this situation entirely. We have slowly become accustomed to foreign players using our clubs as stepping stones to greater heights and though this is still not pleasant, it is understandable. Didier Drogba will probably leave Chelsea this summer, but that is accepted, as he came to Chelsea for the money and success, and he will leave for exactly the same reasons. It is a different story for players like Lampard though, who was born on just the other side of town from the club he has just spent the past 7 years playing for.
Sadly, with the direction in which football is headed, we’ll see far more stories like Frank Lampard’s, and no matter who you support, you cannot take any delight in depressing predictions like that.
Excellent article, and this is from an Arsenal fan. The money involved in football has become sickening and I know many fans are becoming disillusioned with the game we all love. It’s difficult to see what Lampard’s motivation is here. If he really wants to join Inter, he could say he wants to work with Jose and I imagine most Chelsea fans would understand accept it. So why make these ridiculous contract demands? If he really wants to stay at Chelsea, surely he’d take the obscene £130,000 a week for four years, an offer far superior to anything he’d get at Inter? I really hope he won’t argue it’s about the ‘principle’ of not getting a five year deal. Either way, he’s gonna be this country’s most hated player of all time if things go on like this. Already loathed by all teams except Chelsea, whose fans have always loved and defended him, even they will turn their backs on him soon.
I for one I’m tired of endless speculation based on rumors. We really don’t know what is true and what isn’t these days. Wait until the lampard position is sorted out and then we’ll talk
Whilst I can understand why the world and his wife feel they can slag off Frank (bitterness perhaps), I personally feel that if Frank wants a 5 year deal instead of 4 then why not give it to him - he’s earnt it,along with the respect & love of the Chelsea faithful.He’s been our most consistent player for at least 5 out of the 7 years he’s been with us.How will 1 more year be detrimental to the club.It’s not as if he’s had prolonged periods of injury where he gets paid for nothing is it? Half of the comments quoted were so long ago it’s laughable to suggest that he was planning to leave way back then.There was no need to go looking for a new deal.At the end of the day I believe Frank did & still does want to end his career at the Blue’s.As for his agents comments (claims)- since when have they been the bastions of truth? They’re more interested in getting some kind of fee no matter where it comes from.As for the point that he will get paid more at Inter,apparently they are offering less wages than Chelsea are,so,if he does go there then it’s not about the cash but perhaps a new challenge,and whilst I’d be gutted to lose him I would, never the less, wish him luck & thank him for all he’s done in a blue (and 3 lions - so far) shirt.I for one,however, really do hope that Frank and the club reach an agreement, but if not Frank is & always will be a Chelsea legend.
Unlike some of the ‘want aways’ mentioned, Frank Lampard has given Chelsea loyal service for 7 years, plus scored well over 100 goals. For this, he deserves to have whatever he wants whether it is ending his career at Chelsea (at age 35) or going on to try a new challenge elsewhere. The club owes it to him and the fans to accommodate his wishes with as little fuss as possible.
As Paul C says, there is a lot of irrational anti-Lampard feeling; I would guess emanating from bitter supporters of other London clubs (you know who you are) and Liverpool supporters’ justification for Steven Gerrard. All abetted by a press where these same sentiments are prevalent. Given these circumstances a career abroad would be tempting to demonstrate once and for all what a world class player Lampard is.
Just wonder where are goals are going to come from …
For as long as fans keep saying “Give him what he wants, he deserves it” then players will feel free to keep holding their club to ransom. There are sections of United fans saying the same about Ronaldo, after the phenomenal season he just enjoyed.
Ronaldo is set to earn £125,000 A WEEK (what it would take the average United fan 6-7 YEARS to earn!) for the next four years. If that’s not enough to make him want to play for United, then so be it, ta ra. If £140,000 a WEEK for the next four years isn’t enough (you know Inter won’t be offering him a five-year deal!) to make Lampard want to play for Chelsea, I find it astonishing he would be supported by anyone on this.
Scott - Perhaps you don’t understand why anyone would support Frank on this because you don’t understand what it means to be a Chelsea fan. You don’t choose to be a Chelsea fan,you’re born one!After all the years of mediocrity on the pitch & financial hardship off it we love the players that have gotten us to where we are now,including those that came & went before our success who are equally admired & respected.Suffice to say it’s our club that we care about & ours only.We don’t need to write drivel about the Red’s (any of them) to make us feel better about our club, nor do we require the ok from other fans to feel the way we do about the club,players or fellow fans of Chels.We may be the most despised club in England right now but so what - bovvered!!
chelsea was never mediocre, they just werent good enough. Unlike many of the cashed up clubs chelsea was where everton is now, on the verge of greatness but missing a couple things to get there. When roman came he set right the finances of the team and reorganized the whole structure.
The players we bought were bought at inflated prices because clubs knew we had money. I think the big problem was we have had too many managers, we need a stabilising force that can make a team and create it slowly and carefully. The best example is wenger and SAF who basically have very little left over trash and are able to make a coherent team. I think as its going lampard should go, he is a great player and will always be welcome but he is of the old guard and for a midfielder that makes you nearly redundant if the team doesnt play to your strengths.
Also get rid of drogba, those two are the most obvious remnant of mourinho’s reign and till they leave the team will always play a boring style of football. Bring in a fast early service type striker and deco will treat him well(eto’o is the player im talking about)
I cant understand how we are letting our best player in the last year, the soul of the team, the peoples champ go. I think he is feeling frustrating about the thing that they dont want to give him a 5 year contract. HE DESERVES IT! and also he can deserve a more salary…. look at ballacks and shevas contract THEY HAVENT DO ANYTHING FOR THE CLUB!!!! if there is someone that deserves this is Frank Lampard… plz Roman dont let him go.. I cant imagine a Chelsea Inter in champions league with mourinho on the bench and Frank Lampard controling Inter midfield…
£130,000 a week is lidicrous - itd take most people well over 6 years to earn that. We all love football, but do the players really deserve such inflated salaries for essentially kicking a ball.
I for one think not!
Paul C, you are born a Chelsea Fan? that is taking football a little too far, come on dude!
Frem, I believe Chelsea paid more for players because they wanted to make sure that they got the player. Chelsea is the reason why this money thing has gootne out of hand. Pay crazy fees for players, put them on the bench to make sure other couldnt buy them, ie SWP, what the hell is up with that.
Anyway, this is just what is expected to happen to Chelsea as they have messed up the market for buying players. Is it surprising that the same chickens would come home to roost.
Salary cap is the only way to fix this. It’ll also make for much more interesting title fights. I have no idea how you’d ever implement such a thing. It would obviously have to come from FIFA and be enforced across the globe (but in the main that would mean Europe for the forseeable future).
In the end the whole thing’s driven by market forces and that’s why it gets so lopsided in the league tables. A salary cap seems to be the only way to change that.
So what happens if Chelsea gave in and gave him his five-year cotnract, and he gets the itch to go somewhere next year? How would Chelsea fans feel about that?
Scott,
I really like the article but the Lampard scenario (I am sure you will laugh being a red) is like Richard Dunne. It is not exactly the same, obviously Chelsea challenge in competitions and for trophies which is not the case with City, but he probably saw his partner Distin leave last year and win the FA cup. The reason I liken it primarily is because the appointment of Mark Hughes changed his mind, for me Scolari’s appointment has perhaps caused Lampard to stick rather than twist. But a great article.
there is no difference between pigs and piglets, they are all swines. its not only lampard, its also adebayo, hleb,ronaldo and barry that should be criticise. if u are slating lamps, then do the same to the others. I personally don’t see the difference between him and the rest. they are all classical cases of club disloyalty in my opinion.
Hey Scott. First time I see you stoping by here. In any way a good post as always from you.
Agreed with Fateh (#3) on this one. The sums being talked about are a bit ridiculous. IMO Lampard wants respect, and Chelsea aren’t giving him that respect. It’s a bit like what Robert Green is saying to West Ham - you brought in new players on higher wages but i’m doing better than them so pay me the same or more.
While i think this article brings up some good points, i feel that you could argue that chelsea has shown a lack of loyalty too lampard. The signings of Ballack and now deco, both whom play his position, indicate that chelsea feel that Lampards play is on the downside.