What
price loyalty
One Club players
a thing of the past
(John Campbell)SINCE
HIBS PLAYED CELTIC AT EASTER ROAD last Saturday there has
been a more than lively debate regarding the treatment of
Didier Agathe who had a brief three month spell in
Edinburgh before packing his bags and heading West to join
Martin O'Neill's outfit in the east end of Glasgow.
Sadly,
elsewhere on this Network, you will find the ill-informed,
inaccurate and ill-advised ramblings of a Celtic fan
seemingly hell bent on causing controversy where none
exists and one wonders at the motives of his webmaster, a
man so desperate, it seems, to attract hits to his site
that he really would stoop so low as to allow one of his
writers to wrongly accuse a whole support of being racist.
I say no
controversy can be caused here because everyone connected
with Hibs is well aware that an element of unacceptable
racist behaviour has crept in on certain occasions but all
are equally aware that it will not be tolerated and are
working towards stamping it out for good. Lets not
bury our heads in the sand here; Hibs supporters reported
hearing racist taunts from amongst their number and so
they do occur, despite how abhorrent the thought of that
fact might seem. Equally, however, lets not over
emphasise the magnitude of the problem; Hibs are not a
racist support.
But I
don't really want to concentrate on that element of the
reasons why Agathe gets the bird every time he faces
Hibs. The main and real reason is nothing to do with
the colour of his skin, it is entirely to do with the way
he behaved at the time of his move from Hibs to
Celtic. Agathe had been given a chance to prove his
ability at the higher level of the SPL, having played
previously with Raith Rovers in Division One. He was
given a three month trial and after a shaky start at
Tynecastle, proceeded to prove he can play a bit.
Meanwhile,
allegedly, he was 'chatting' to others
trying to find the best deal possible
Aware of
interest from elsewhere, Hibs entered into negotiations
with the player and his Agent but every time they thought
they had a deal, Agathe upped the ante. Meanwhile,
allegedly, he was 'chatting' to others trying to find the
best deal possible and it was no real surprise when he
signed for Celtic. What stuck in the throats of the
Hibs fans was the bare faced lies he uttered about wanting
to stay at Hibs and being happy in Edinburgh and then
after he'd defected, saying it was not him on trial at
Hibs but that Hibs were on trial for him.
A host
of other utterances could create a few paragraphs of their
own but, really, what's the point in saying them as it
would make no difference to the fact that Agathe is, like
99.9% of football players these days, little more than a
commodity to be bought and sold and to go where the
biggest bucks can be made.
You will find no
shortage of examples of players who've taken the money and
run. And why shouldn't they? Football is their
job, their livelihood and if they get the chance to better
their lot why shouldn't they? I can't think of many,
no make that any, people who would say "No
thanks" if someone offered them twice the money to do
the job they are doing now.
In Pat Stanton's
column recently, Pat explained how he was hurt when the
time came for him to leave Hibs and join Celtic. He
hadn't asked away, he didn't want to go; he'd been at Hibs
man and boy but he had no real choice in the matter.
Nowadays, players go where the money is and simply pose
for photographs at the press call, holding aloft a
different colour of scarf.
What chance have the fans got
of getting back the loyalty they demand?
With the vast
majority of supporters, being a fan of a specific Club is
unconditional. They would never dream of stopping
supporting one Club so as to go off and support another
but that's supporters - we cannot expect the same from
players. Sure, we want to hear our heroes say they
love the Club and they want to stay and often those very
same heroes will oblige but they'll also move on if the
timing and money is right, only to utter those same words
to the next bunch of starry eyed fans waiting to adore
their new hero!
Going back to
Didier Agathe, I firmly believe the time has come to stop
giving the man the treatment as it no longer serves any
other purpose than to make him try all the harder to shut
the fans up by turning on the style. His comments at
the time of his move were well out of order and he may
well regret uttering them but for the sake of the game and
of our self respect we should let this whole thing
drop. If we don't, we simply offer up fuel to those
ill-informed individuals mentioned earlier to accuse us of
all sorts of vile behaviour.
Lets
face it, loyalty to one Club is a thing of the past so
enjoy watching your heroes whilst you can because next
week they might be someone else's!
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