Turning heads
The last round of Premiership fixtures featured a few high-profile individuals most notable for their absence. Javier Mascherano, of Liverpool, missed out on his team's totally clueless 3-0 spanking by Man City, while goalie Mark Schwarzer was admirably deputised for by stand-in David Stockdale as his team, Fulham, held Man Utd to a 2-2 draw.
Both players' managers cited tapping up as the reason for their omission, with the footballers apparently not being in the right 'frame of mind'. Mascherano's head has been turned by a paltry £12m offer from Barcelona (what did Liverpool pay for him? £17m was it?) while Schwarzer has been the subject of overtures from Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger, who has finally realised that making pretty patterns on the football pitch is all very well and good, but a bit pointless if you keep letting the ball go into your own net.
Now, I am not of the opinion that 'tapping up' is totally objectionable. The notion of a transfer list is more or less extinct, players don't tend to put in transfer requests unless months of agitating via an agent has proved fruitless for them. So how is a club to know who may or may not be available unless they put the feelers out and find out?
In a 'real life' context, we are all allowed to talk to potential new employers while in jobs, it's called an 'interview', but for some reason we don't believe that footballers should be allowed to do this. Jose Mourinho was fined a token gesture sum a few years ago for sitting next to Ashley Cole (presumably when the Special One wasn't busy hiding in hotel laundry carts).
However, unlike footballers, when we are looking for new jobs, we still have to turn up to work and do our jobs and behave professionally, whether we are in 'the right frame of mind' or not. What's my point? That even if Arsenal or Barcelona are trying to lure you away, you should man up and remember who pays your wages.
One more thing, Mark Hughes complaining about other teams tapping up his players? Does anyone remember how he came to acquire Joleon Lescott for Man City a year ago? Pot. Kettle. You know the rest.
