WELL, it seemed like a good idea at the time. Did I want to remain a bit-part player at Manchester City or take the chance of regular first-team football at Charlton Athletic?
To my mind, the choice was obvious. So as Christmas came in 1968, I swapped blue for red and set off for London.
It didnét take me long to realise that Iéd made the wrong career move. For a start, Charlton manager Eddie Firmani and I were like chalk and cheese.
He was a God-fearing South African who didnét drink alcohol and hated smokers. I was a heathen from Gorton who smoked for Britain and drank like a fish.
And then there was London itself. Living in that city made me depressed. No problems with the supporters down at The Valley. They were far more patient than I deserved. No problems with the neighbours. They were great.
No, it was London I couldnét take to . The sheer size of the place. The noise, the squalor and the traffic drove me mad.
The longer I stayed at the Valley, the more I missed Manchester. I would have killed for a pint of proper beer.
One day, I marched into Firmaniés office and told him I wanted a move to a club é any club é back in the North West.
Underwhelmed
Eddie was underwhelmed. In fact he didnét even look up. He just said: éNo.é I pleaded with him. I told him how homesick I was. I pointed out that I was hardly a key member of his senior side. More right outside than outside right. My pleas fell on deaf ears. I was staying at Charlton whether I liked it or not.
I could feel the anger and the frustration bubbling up inside me, so I let rip. I told Eddie that he had better not select me again for first-team duties because if he did I would deliberately play like a stump. Mind you, that wouldnét have been difficult. I played like a stump even when I didnét mean to.
Did I ever carry out that threat? No, of course I didnét. I did play first-team football at the Valley after that barney with Firmani and I never gave less than my best, even if my best didnét amount to much. It doesnét matter if you are playing in the Premiership or for the Dog and Duck in Wythenshawe Park. Football is football. Everything fades into the background once that whistle blows. You just want to play well for your own pride and satisfaction.
I will guarantee that in all the years since that disagreement between Firmani and myself, the same conversation - or one very similar - has taken place a million times between a manager and a player who wants to leave the club for whatever reason.
If what Iéd been reading has been reported accurately, the Chelsea defender William Gallas has had a couple of those conversations with his manger Jose Mourinho over the past few months.
All we know for sure is that Gallas was desperate to move away from Stamford Bridge.
He may have been after more money. He may have thought his career would be enhanced elsewhere. He may have simply fancied a change of scenery. His reasons are irrelevant. One thing is certain, Gallas wanted out.
There was a similar situation over at Eastlands. It seems that Andy Cole would quit not only my favourite team but football altogether if he wasnét allowed to move to Pompey. Another example of player-power or just the sort of thing players and managers say at the heat of the moment, who knows?
I am certain that Mourinho wanted Gallas in as much as Pearce would have loved Cole to stay.
Allegedly, Gallas initially refused to play in last seasonés FA Cup semi-final against Liverpool, although he did appear that day in Mourinhoés starting line-up.
Allegation
A second allegation is that Gallas refused to play in his clubés opening Premiership game this season against the Blessed Blues and is said to have issued a threat that if he was forced to play against City he would score an own goal or deliberately get himself sent off.
How much truth there is in those allegations which were laid against Gallas by Chelsea earlier this week I have no way of knowing.
The club insist the allegations are true, Gallas insists they are false. One of those occasions when you pays your money and takes your chance.
If Gallas had made those threats, would he have conceded a penalty or deliberately scored an own goal if he had been forced to play in that opening match against the Blues?
Again, I have no way of knowing for sure. But all my instincts tell me that he would have done no such thing. For 90-minutes he would have put his grievances against Chelsea in the pending tray and played to the best of his ability. We are back again to the mind set of any footballer once that whistle blows. Everything disappears bar the match itself.
What concerns me about this entire episode isnét the unsavoury war of word between Gallas and Chelsea. What does concern me is why the shakers and movers behind the scenes at Stamford Bridge would want to go public with their allegations about the French defender.
Chelsea, it strikes me, are looking for revenge in making public those allegations against Gallas. They are being petty and they should be above all that.
They have acted like a school kid in a playground squabble whoés just got to have the last word.
Big, big successful club with all the money in the world but not an ounce of class to go with it. Or, as we say in my neck of the woods, all fur coats and no knickers.
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"Big, big" club? How do Chelsea meet this description? Having an obscenely wealthy owner does not make them a huge football club. They are not even buying success, they are having it bought for them. Fan base and tradition are what make a big club and Chelsea's claims are pretty meagre on both counts. Measured by these real indicators Chelsea would be lucky to rank among the ten biggest clubs in England.
overlord - that would make them about as big as us then. Pointless article - can;t we have some proper journalism about City ?
hince - carefactor.
not sure why this guys tales of the mediocre qualify in the city section as it seems patently obvious that no city fans class this guy as one of our own.
An interesting, and rather sweet, comment on the way things have always been. Two things concern me though. First, is it really true that once the whistle blows, all other things are forgotten? I think that despite the probably sound sentiment this assumes a level of professionalism that seems to be sadly missing in some - even those who are not desperate to leave the club. Second, whilst this story is overtly critical of Chelsea, is it not also implying that City, too, without all the money in the world, should also be above petty sniping? I can't help thinking that SPs is being kicked form every direction. Like everybody else, I couldn't believe that he "let Cole go" and so, personally, I welcome the clarification because it shows that he was stitched up. If City had not accepted a bid from Portsmouth, how come Cole was aware that a 2-year deal on significantly more money was on offer? Isn't that meant to come when the player is given permission to talk to the bidding club? I don't buy into all the criticism aimed at Cole elsewhere, but it is a pretty sorry state of affairs.
When players "want away" then pride and satisfaction take a back seat. I recall Frannie Lee turning in some dismal performances once fed up with life at Maine Road. His form miraculously returned following his transfer to Derby County. Clubs cannot take a chance that a "want away" player will give his all, and a grumpy player in the squad will affect morale. Pearce cannot be faulted on how he handled the Cole situation. If the Chelsea allegations on Gallas are true, then they have every right to make them public. Gallas threatening to score an OG or get sent off is tantamount to throwing a match and potential future employers need to be made aware of what he is prepared to do when all is not well.
More auto ego-massaging from an past-it scribbler . The man should be put out to grass. Nothing new or insightful.
This has got to be Hince at his barrel scrapingly worst. Why don't you pop into see the Editor Paul and ask for a transfer to the Hebridean Times (or somewhere further if at all possible). I think you might find you get a different answer than the one you got from Firmani. Or are you in your playing like a stump mode?
Why bother with fixed-term contracts at all? Why not do what most employees do and have an ongoing contract with a notice period (say 3 months). Then if you really didn't want to play for your club you could give notice but the club could enforce gardening leave until the notice period had expired. At least everyone would know where they stood then.
If the allegations against Gallas are false then lets see if he sues Chelski... and do I care? Not really. Never mind Cole threatening to retire, what about Mr Hince?
YYYAAAWWWWNNNN. Write about City not Chelsea or Ex rags who are out to grass.
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Yaaaaaaaawwwwwwwwwwwwnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn. What a pile of tripe, but this confirms that less than average footballers make less than average writers. Surely Hincey is ready for the knackers yard. ED GET RID PLEASE
Once upon a time I started to write a comment on a news item on the MEN web site. I started off by saying how I used to write comments as a lad and how deep down all I wanted to do was yada yada yada.
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Hince - you're supposed to be a journalist not the next Barbara Cartland.
Sanctimonious tosh day after day. I prefer journalism.
I bet the person who moderates these comments is laughing his head off!
hince - you and andy cole should get together for a drink - now that he's left the club that you're ashamed of.
or maybe you could use your journalistic wiles and try and find a way that this is ben thatchers fault - maybe a twist on gulf war syndrome, andy cole has seen such atrocities on the eastlands pitch that he couldn't face playing there again this season and had to move on because of dastardly thatcher?
Go and read the latest article from Simon Hattenstone of the Guardian. Much more fun and it actually has something to do with City.
Do all us City fans a favour Paul and join the Torkington Park Bowls club....
When ah were a lad ant all you had to do to fetch up a world beating young un was to whistle downt pit I didnt have time to come up with s.....tuff like this......I were a forty pints a day man me.....and that were only fur breakfast
Come on MEN you can do better than this surely? How about some interesting articles actually about City. Interview a youngster and give us an insight into their expectations and goals for this season. Interview Steve Wrigley on his new role etc. Review what has happened to Croft, BW-P & Flood since their transfers. Get slightly controversial and speculate on the state of City's 2006 accounts due out next month. Catch up with an old player, what are they doing now, do they still follow City, what do they think of it so far etc etc. How about interviewing Franny Lee or David Bernstein two guys who we don't hear or see much of these days?
Typical blue - parochial, limited world view. Thank God for the prawn sandwich brigade. Seems like Gallas was City's best change of scoring at Stamford Bridge this season.
What do you do with your time for the other 39.5 hrs a week Hince ?
utter drivel, how desperate are the MUEN for column inches...surely there must be a 10 stone cat named Cantona stuck up a tree in Salford or sommat? tsk, tsk...thats the Pulitzer eluding you for another year Hincey!!
Rubbish article Mr.Hince. What exactly do you want as a reply to that. Nothing else to report as usual.