The player who left thread | Page 204 | Vital Football

The player who left thread

I think it might hit home to some of these dicks when a young fit footballing mate dies from it, rather than thinking it's some sort of game.
Jack just doesn't get it does he you can tell from the wording it's like he's been caught doing 33 in a 30 ffs

The problem is all these knobhead footballers like Luke McCormick and the Derby lot drive big range rovers which - when they plough into the average car - means that they don’t come off as bad.

I agree though, one of these footballers needs to stack it into a tree. So many footballers get caught, even some of my hero’s like Dean Saunders and Merse.

Since I’ve become a dad I think about things like this, I’d hate the thought of someone rear ending me with a child in the back. All the mature, ex players have kids but are so up themselves they seem to have no regard for anyone else’s lives.

Just to clarify for legal reasons I’m not accusing Jack of drink driving :grinning:
 
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As for Jack on the pitch, as good a player he is technically I’d recommend he use his downtime to think and watch back his game and see where he can improve.

If he wants to be elite, for me he needs to learn when to speed up or slow down the game better. His decision making is a lot, lot better but if he has big dreams of playing for Europe’s elite he needs to go on a step further.

I don’t think he’ll get that coaching at Villa to improve his game to that next level. That said after all this and the Leicester game, I don’t really care too much anymore.

SJM is an all round better player for us (note the for us), and will be invaluable next season whatever division we’re in. He’s the man we must keep, not Jack.
 
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Jack Grealish has done wrong. Lapsed into teenage problems of old. Hypocritically broken important Covid 19 requirements at this terrible time.
Got that. It's happened. He's been fined and pilloried for it, and it can't be undone.

But his behaviour, demeanour, effort and performance have been exemplary for the last few years. There is no reason to presume that this lapse is only that, and he will take it on board and do everything right again. So he still has my support, because of the other facts - because he is the best Villa player other than the Lord McGrath that I have seen in 60 years of watching Villa.

I am judging him as the footballing talent, entertainer, crucial asset, and fan, to boot, of Aston Villa FC. Providing he ticks those boxes and gives 100% to AVFC, then that's it. He's a great player for my club, and I'm a Villa fan.

The other stuff is for the club and authorities to deal with. I'm not at all excusing him, but if my support of AVFC depended on players doing the right things off the pitch as well as on it, I'd have given up years ago.

The wages players get, the poor attitudes of too many, the 'me me me' detachment from normal life and reality, Sky TV, zillions for agents, pundits, and relative nobodies, whilst others give their all in their jobs all year for the equivalent of half a day's pay of some of our superstars is all wrong. It stinks. But I can't stop supporting my club, for football reasons alone - its in the blood.

Comparing Jack's lapse with the behaviour of the isolated few, like Marcus Rashford, does nothing for me either. A drop in the ocean. He's asking for contributions from the public, with £100,00 raised last time I read - just peanuts, when he's loaded and gets more than that every week. Players offering to only 'defer' their pay for 3 months is pathetic too. Every established Premier League player could easily to give a million quid each to the NHS, say £300-400 million. But that will never happen. The entitlement and 'the more they get the more they want' philosophy is staggering.

And to close, I do also get - they don't set the wages. Not their fault etc etc.

But I can't do with all this condemnation - there is so much wrong with what once was the people's game, it is beyond me to lay in to Jack. I just want him to never do stupid things again, save us from relegation, and be the Jack he has been for the last two seasons, That's who he is to me. The rest of his and the wider game's faults, I may not like, but it's not for me to sort.
 
That's all well and good Stenny but he's shown no change in attitude since the 1st time, still comes across like he's better than everyone else and I've just learned he verbally abused a disabled person in a club on a night out (theme here with clubs) I want him gone to whoever will pay the highest, I'll tell you now if he'd abused my disabled family member Villa player or not he would be getting a broken jaw for his troubles.
 
This is a serious issue which requires extremely strong management, SAF wouldn't be putting up with this, that's for certain.
Sirchewalot bailed Roy Keane out of jail from memory and kept playing him for years. He also had some issues with the law in SA didn't he? Let's agree that football and a load of people associated with it (Sepp Blatter) is broken - not everyone of course but a sizeable proportion.
 
Sirchewalot bailed Roy Keane out of jail from memory and kept playing him for years. He also had some issues with the law in SA didn't he? Let's agree that football and a load of people associated with it (Sepp Blatter) is broken - not everyone of course but a sizeable proportion.
Not interested in debating the example I used, immaterial, he needs to be punished and strongly managed, if he's beyond changing he can go.
 
You blame the players for that? Don't know if you're aware but they don't set the price structure and wage structure in football. They just play football and get paid what the clubs decide. The best ones get paid the most because they are the talent that attracts billions in TV income. It's not their fault they are overpaid - it's ours. If, like me, you pay £500 for a season ticket and regular TV subscriptions then it's your responsibility, not Grealish or any other footballer.
What ! You blame us for how much they get paid, following that argument its our fault NHS staff are vastly underpaid. A players Agent negotiates the players wage and tells the club what he will or won't accept or he will go elsewhere. Leaving the paying public to pay more and more to watch their beloved club. Admittedly not all players are on thousands of pounds per day but it filters down through the leagues.
 
Not interested in debating the example I used, immaterial, he needs to be punished and strongly managed, if he's beyond changing he can go.
Then don't use unresearched examples to prove your point :lol:. Think you have to go back to Ron Saunders for a disciplinarian. Different era where players weren't king.
 
Just in case any young people under the misapprehension that the disease is safe for them are reading, or thinking Jack and his ilk are ok, so why should they worry.

A 13-year-old boy has just died from it. The other day a 19-year-old and before that a 21-year-old.

Sorry to be like a cracked record, but in my life, I have had to do far harder things than just stay at home for a few weeks, or even a few months.

I am assuming the club won't be using Jack as captain hereon in. If they do, I'll have no respect at all for any of them.
 
As i have said before he should not now be captain. Even if only for not sticking to the rules after telling all others to do it. Thats ignoring what might or might not have gone on as well.

Is everyone at Villa self isolating and cannot reach a phone? What message does dilly dallying send out about the required standards to captain our great club?
 
Let Those without sin cast the 1st stone , if there is no proof that our captain and 2nd best player was drink/ drug driving then apart from being bored and a bit stupid then it’s sorted . We don’t know what happened, he’s been awesome on and off the pitch and until it’s proven I’ll stick by him . Too many fannys on here wanna get morale high ground, wait for the facts
 
Being captain of AVFC brings with it responsibilities. Something Jack has failed miserably at. If posting a vid to tell people to stay at home to save lives and then doing the exact opposite is not enough to lose the captains armband I am supporting a different club to the one I hoped. Following the guidelines saves lives no matter who you are or what you earn. It really is that simple.
 
I think a lot of people criticising Jack on here are doing it because they want him to succeed. There's plenty of examples of players of great skill who could have had a stellar career and a reputation which would have set them up for life, who when it came to it failed to make the grade. They may be great players in their own eyes but not in the eyes of the real world. There is one word for it; maturity. You have to have the strength of character to stand up to the pressures and make the right decisions.

Take Gabby. What a waste. We don't want Jack to go the same way. And every excuse we make for him increases the danger of that. Look at the really great players in this country, like Aguerro. Maybe it's not a coincidence that the best players in this country are not British, with the odd exception. Jack could be one of those exceptions. But he needs to grow up.