Yes I am going to talk about Torres, so before you say “Get over him”, I am already over him, he is gone, betrayed our club and burnt the bridge. I don’t care how many goals he scored or what he did while he was a Red, the way he left disrespected his loyal fans. Kids, please don’t follow this fool’s example, this is not a good way to part, very unprofessional. The list of the so called “Judas” players is growing, Fernando Torres has now joined Michael Owen and Javier Mascherano. I feel I have to vent because this behaviour is unacceptable. Why am I writing this now, Three weeks after the transfer window closed? A certain event in Amsterdam today made me realise how professionals do it right.
First of all I am not bitter because they left to seek “glory” with another club but rather on the manner in which they left. We have had many players who have left us to join other clubs in the past however the vast majority left a part of them at Liverpool FC. A recent shiny example of this is Xabi Alonso, we all loved him and were gutted when he joined Real Madrid however he did it in a professional way and respected our club in doing so. Since his departure he has even shown publicly that he still has a soft spot for LFC. I am not asking for all former players to do what Xabi did however a goodbye letter would be nice. Ryan Babel wasn’t always the most liked person at Anfield however he left with class tweeting a nice message to all of us Liverpool fans. Luis Suarez is another shinning example of how to get things done, he flew to Amsterdam today to say his goodbyes to the fans and his former team-mates, now that is pure class.
When I left my previous job I departed in good terms, I was unhappy there however I still gave them four weeks of notice and trained the one who was replacing me. I have since stayed in touch with my former coworkers and bosses and even allowed them to call me if they had any questions on something I had knowledge about. It is called being professional, can we get a little courtesy from these players as well? After all it is the fans who pay their wages by buying the shirts with their names on them and spending the money to go to games.
Torres left many kids brokenhearted, they had bought his shirts, hung his poster above their beds and idolised his every move. The way he left was shameful, not even a letter thanking all the fans for the memories, for all the bouncing, the standing by him when his performance was lacking. Is that too much to ask? Instead he went to Chelsea and rubbed further salt in our wounds by claiming that they are a bigger club (a comment he later retracted).
Javier Mascherano has gone to Barcelona and found out how comfortable their bench is after claiming his dream had come true by joining the Catalans. This was a player that was rescued from West Ham and was given the opportunity to play the best football of his career with us. He left, insulting our club with these comments, we are still waiting for the goodbye letter from him.
And then of course there is Michael Owen who left Liverpool to join a ‘bigger club’, his quest has taken him to Real Madrid and then to Newcastle who he dissed when they got relegated. Then he chose to go to our arch-rivals on a free transfer. His time at United has been marred by injuries and bench sitting, even if United win the league title this year Owen will not be eligible for a medal as he hasn’t played enough games. Now the word is that Owen might end up moving to Everton at the end of the season and if that happens he would have won only one medal (Carling Cup) since leaving Liverpool.
If you are going to quit, quit professionally.
End of rant.
YNWA
-Antoine