#player power

[muckles-survivor]

The more I read about the decision to cancel the La Liga match in Miami the more this is looking like a clear win for organized dissent by the Association of Spanish Footballers.

I can’t tell you how excited I am that player power is emerging as a relevant force in decision making. You can see the leagues are scared to admit it but they caved.

More of this please.

[coachtfd]

Yeah I’m Bitter…But Not About Ten Hag

I do find it a bit hilarious that people love to talk about how the levels in the Eredivisie or at Ajax aren’t that high compared to the Premier League or Manchester United, but I was just reading an article that alleged complaints from the players about how Ten Hag’s trainings were too demanding. If the Ajax level is too much for our Premier League players who swear they want to win the league by toppling a Pep-led City team, then we really have a problem and, as I’ve been saying, it’s way bigger than Ten Hag.

Do our players really think Amorim is going to be any less demanding? I’ve been tracking a couple of teams in Portugal, Sporting is one of them, and their possession stats typically range in the mid-60’s to low 70’s depending on the opposition and their pass accuracy typically sits in the high 70’s to mid 80’s range, sometimes higher. People don’t realize how active, fit, skillful, and disciplined you have to be to play that way every game. But by all means, please go get another demanding manager for our players to complain about, it’ll be fun. Maybe they’ll finally accept being held to such a high standard if the manager isn’t Dutch, Portuguese, German, or Scottish. Oh wait… 😬

I like Amorim, I actually would’ve liked to see him at Spurs personally, you would see even more from Pedro Porro under him. But if he comes let’s have it. I’m just not putting much faith in how successful he’ll be once the players start complaining again about how hard he’s pushing them. We put 5 past Leicester today, congratulations. If I’m bitter about anything, it’s about the culture that’s formed at this club since Sir Alex left and I put that on the Glazers. We bring everyone who comes here down to our level and we’ll oust anyone who tries to combat it. May our latest new manager bounce continue all the way through 2026, cheers. 🥂

[adam1992-blog]

Player power in football?

The emergence of player power in the dressing room has been a major talking point within football for some time. Recent stories of Ashley Cole shooting a teenager, who was on work experience, with an air rifle further fuelled this concern, as well as the contract disputes of players such as Wayne Rooney.

The story of England international Ashley Cole seems to confirm the theories that there is a big problem with player power in the Chelsea dressing room. In recent years we have seen arguments on the pitch between players such as Didier Drogba and Michael Ballack over who should take a free-kick, surely this should be a managers decision. Reports suggest Cole has had his wrists tapped by Chelsea however this is surely not enough punishment for bringing a gun into work and shooting someone!?

                                                     (Ashley Cole lines up for Chelsea at Stamford Bridge this                                      season. Picture:Amarhgil)

Just recently Wayne Rooney shocked world football by putting in a transfer request stating a lack of ambition at the club despite being the most successful team in Premier League history and being top of the league. The outcome was Rooney signing a new five-year contract on a significantly increased wage packet. This furthers the belief that players have the power and do what is necessary to get what they want whether it affects the club and fans or not. Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp is disgusted by the amount of player power in football. On the Rooney saga he said: "They've got their feet under the table; they can go and do what they want; they're getting plenty of money" (Independent.co.uk). 

Causes

One of the main factors behind player power is the role of agents. They have the power in clubs because they represent the players who are key to the future of the club. There are arguments for and against agents in football, on one side they look after the players financially and try to make sure they are happy whereas on the other side they are searching for personal gains and put that over the history of a club and at times undermine the manager in charge.

Newcastle United captain Kevin Nolan denied any player power at his club despite a players' committee being established and he insists players don't even have much power there. But what can be done for player power? The high wages that players have today is not going to change and are likely to increase rather than fall. People earning hundreds of thousands of pounds are going to think they have power and importance in a club as they are paid so much. The area of football which I think will be worst affected will be the team spirit at clubs. Some players may be earning £100,000 per week more than another player and although they have the same power in a club the one earning the higher wage will think they have that power and more worryingly that they can get away with anything. 

It is very difficult to see what can be done to change things. A wage cap could possibly be introduced? But how far would this go and players will be extremely unhappy for a short period of time but they would have to get used to it. However in modern day football it is clear that players are becoming more and more dominant in the dressing room and it is time for change.