Thank you @Erebus for this rant, spot on.
Jordan Henderson | New Athletic Interview: I strongly believe that me playing in Saudi Arabia is a positive thing
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Turned out to be thick, selfish and unprincipled. What a surprise
https://www.theguardian.com/footbal...ed-his-image-and-that-of-the-saudi-pro-league
“We can all bury our heads in the sand and criticise different cultures and different countries from afar,” Henderson said of the LGBTQ+ issue. “But then nothing’s going to happen. Nothing’s going to change.” Perhaps having inspected the sand from above the surface, he’s realised just how preposterous his position was, how there’s no way to reconcile wearing a rainbow armband while Liverpool captain with taking money from a club that greys out that armband in publicity shots.
“We can all bury our heads in the sand and criticise different cultures and different countries from afar,” Henderson said of the LGBTQ+ issue. “But then nothing’s going to happen. Nothing’s going to change.” Perhaps having inspected the sand from above the surface, he’s realised just how preposterous his position was, how there’s no way to reconcile wearing a rainbow armband while Liverpool captain with taking money from a club that greys out that armband in publicity shots.
It's a very social media age frenzy that he's getting so much hate.
He said some supportive things for LGBT people and then moved to a country with anti LGBT laws a while later. I don't really see the huge crime he's committed, in terms of footballers its very low down on the scandal scale.
It'd be easier to take the moral grandstanding more seriously if football fans weren't willing to continuously overlook far worse things if a player is good enough.
He said some supportive things for LGBT people and then moved to a country with anti LGBT laws a while later. I don't really see the huge crime he's committed, in terms of footballers its very low down on the scandal scale.
It'd be easier to take the moral grandstanding more seriously if football fans weren't willing to continuously overlook far worse things if a player is good enough.
Almost..
To say he just said some supportive things is downplaying the vocal support he initially had as an 'ally'. He went beyond what some footballers do and said things like they can speak to him and sent direct messages to people of the community etc. To then have gone to a country with anti-LGBT laws and come out with a bullshit interview about how he is going to try and help be a positive light for the cause in that said country only to leave with his tail between his legs after 6 months and doing feck all aside from looking like a complete plonker. It may not seem like a huge crime and scandal because it's not a crime of course, but what it is, is a big massive feck you to the face of those who are allies or are within the LGBTQ+ community who have to go through daily struggles from arseholes who are abusing them or don't accept them, let alone people who pretend to be allies when it suits them. Henderson has just shown to them and all that he isn't a real ally.
As much as I hate the guy, I do get a tiny bit of respect for him For backing out early and allegedly taking a 75% paycut. He could have just stayed there.
There’s probably a shitton of contractually things on what he can say legally about his ex employee after his break with the club, but it’d be nice to just hear something from him about it all. Just for the sake of damaging Saudi Arabia’s reputation and let all know it’s not glorious to go there.
There’s probably a shitton of contractually things on what he can say legally about his ex employee after his break with the club, but it’d be nice to just hear something from him about it all. Just for the sake of damaging Saudi Arabia’s reputation and let all know it’s not glorious to go there.
Even if there wasn't anything in the contracts to prevent him from speaking out I doubt he'd want to be too critical because we already know the Saudis have the occasional beheading in them.
1) You're downplaying what his initial stance on this was, when it was convenient for him to gain some brownie points
2) You're creating a strawman with this mention of "huge crime" - which nobody who's criticized him has said, merely pointing out the stupidity and hypocrisy
3) More importantly, you are minimizing the importance of allies (maybe because it's an issue not so close to you? Which is fine of course) and how damaging their flip flopping is to the cause
Naaahhhh
Stevie Me: "Nnnnyyeeehhhh of course Hendo is not a world class player he tried to imitate me but failed he said he supported LGBT but he does not have a gay friend nnnnnnnyeeaaahhh... greedy bastard not a captain fantastic no"
You can take the man out of Liverpool, but you can't take Liverpool out of the man.
An absolute clown. The only winner of this disaster is liverpool, who freed wage space and got money to get rid of an old player.
Wouldn't surprise me if he flops big time at Ajax. One of those players that Klopp made look miles better than their actual abilities.
A move that means he’ll probably start for England at the Euros
Didn’t last long did it..
When your missus says enough, you stop. It could be as simple as that.
You do know he wasn’t from Liverpool right?
Yeah but he’s been there long enough. There’s kind of an accepted nationalisation thing….a bit like residency rules. He’s been there long enough to qualify as a scouse bastard
Yadon'tsay.meme
Haha he joined a sinking ship in Ajax. Without ETH, Ajax has declined sharply.
Utter lack of character demonstrated. Go, stick with it, take the dough, feck principles
Whilst I don’t agree with that at least it’s a position.
Now, whilst actually being a money grabbing mercenary, who England fans despise, he cannot fecking hack it.
Deserves all the vitriol he will get. Pathetic
Whilst I don’t agree with that at least it’s a position.
Now, whilst actually being a money grabbing mercenary, who England fans despise, he cannot fecking hack it.
Deserves all the vitriol he will get. Pathetic
Perhaps he'd like to stay for the money but his family aren't happy, three young children.
must of been a huge shock for him when his young children didn't like Saudi Arabia
The biggest shock is he wasn’t quite the driver of change he suggested he would be.
I don't get it. The guy was already filthy rich before going to Saudi. He surely could afford turning them down. Therefore prior to signing a contract he should have made some research about the place, what working there would entail and whether his family would adapt there. What he did was unprofessional.
I'd be surprised if there were three old children.
I read an article one thing about the super wealthy, meaning the 1%, so another category or two above the average footie player. It talked about how human beings inherently trying to one up each other, but that the higher up in income some people go, the more sight they lose of reality. Not surprising to hear that im sure. But it went on to talk about the example of for instance the advent of the super yachts and how every one of these billionaires seems to be out there to have an even bigger or fancier ship than the other. A never ending cycle of keeping up with the joneses. Continuous hunger for more money, power and status. We obviously see it on a smaller scale in our own worlds. We probably all know people who have left the place they worked at chasing more money etc. Only to want to come back later.
What to me is messed up about a Henderson situation though is that we have people being used as commercial vehicles by a league or country, they get paid more money to in essence do less than they had to before, they willingly go along with it, and then they complain later as if we re supposed to feel sorry for them.
I happen to have met my fair share of Man United players in my time. That include players who were, at the time, in the academy (ex Lingard and Pogba). I am also related to people who were involved at the Pieta youth academy at the time when a kid with the name of Valeri Bojinov (former Fiorentina, Juve and Man City) dropped by. So I have my fair share of contact with these people.
Football is an unforgiving industry. Only 1% of footballers succeed to the very top and those who do will require a huge deal of talent, luck and total dedication to the game. We hear of young players losing their way but that mostly happen after they start playing at first team level. Those who lose their way before that are often discarded very swiftly and quite frankly brutally. Thus the player that succeed at the very top is often the guy who put every egg in the football basket. You only have to hear the likes of Rooney, Totti, Gattuso, Vieri, Beckham and Ronaldo talk to notice that they aren't the brightest bulbs out there.
In the past football was far simpler then today. The relationship between manager and player was very strong and the agent was often a distant man who will pop in at certain stages of a player career mainly for contract renewals, transfers and to iron out issues between the player and the club. These days players hire agencies which often include the agent himself, PR team and fitness people all dedicated to make sure that the player gets the most out of a player career. This creates friction between the manager and the player with the former wanting to win games and the latter wanting to squeeze as much juice out of his career as possible. That's becoming more and more evident at United for example were we keep hearing of managers 'training players too hard' and players fecking to Dubai to recover from injuries rather then stay in Manchester. That in turn create more distraction which means that its easier for rats to get close to the players and whisper the wrong sort of advice. As fans we are mostly concerned about those who create friction between the player and the club/manager however I assure you that these people will also speak about investment as well. I know of players who lost a great deal of money in a property project in the ME. This guy is a considerate and responsible person but lost like 15% of his wealth which is a bit of a problem considering that he had since retired. Luckily for him he's got other investments + he's still working in other areas. Others weren't so lucky (ex Gazza or Ronaldinho). I think Gaz was the one who said how important it is for players to surround themselves with good people both during and after the football career is over. There are many vultures out there who would pick on the vulnerable and nearly retired players (loads of money, not particularly bright, alot of anxiety at facing the inevitable etc) make easy picking. Players need professional people that can trust to help them separate the wheat from the chaff.
Having said that I expect better from Henderson. He;s been around for years and these days solid financial help can be fount quite easily. He should have done his homework rather then risking alienating a group of very rich and very powerful people with an ego the size of a small state and who don't like to be branded as fools.
That’s the dopamine molecule for you. Blessing and a curse. I’d wager footballers have an even higher dopamine baseline. Because otherwise how do you give 100% on a rainy day in Stoke after winning the treble and being a multi millionaire already.
Classy response
Sold out and subsequently found out. The reports that he might not even get paid and could owe them money shows how bad a situation he must have felt he was in, also obviously restricted on what he can say, saying he will be following their games closely. Hopefully a big warning to some other players considering it.
But fair
How have Ajax gone from winning European trophies and producing outstanding players to now drooling about signing Jorden Henderson, at his peak he was a bang average English footballer. Sad to
see a once great club reduced to this.
see a once great club reduced to this.
It seems that the great overseers they had are gone such as VDS and Overmars and potentially more.
Ajax have given a 2.5 year contract to a 33 year old midfielder whose best qualities by far were his engine and running.
Well done.
He's a good player. A better team player than Steven Gerrard and also better in defence. Does not slip.
Klopp stated that Henderson would not be a regular starter and that was one of the reasons he left. Will. He be good enough to start for Ajax.