Lucky Escape For Chelsea
There’s been plenty of occasions I haven’t agreed with Tony Cascarino’s opinion but having read what he’s had to say on Robinho, this time I think he’s spot on.
Having seen Robinho’s departure from Citeh following their Carling Cup exit, Cascarino says “Goodbye and good riddance to the worst signing in Premier League history. Not the worst player, of course: Robinho is hugely talented. But if there was a statistic that linked cost with commitment, wages with workrate, he would be right at the bottom of the value-for-money table.”
Now obviously when I read that, whilst I was agreeing with the former Chelsea man, the old alarm bells were ringing in anticipation of the ‘Shevchenko’ shout going up. But Cascarino answers that one by suggesting “Other expensive flops failed in England because they were not good enough, not managed properly or failed to adapt to the life or the style of play. Juan Sebastián Verón? Just not suited to the Premier League. Andriy Shevchenko? A player in a sharp physical decline. That’s forgivable. He did his best. Robinho failed because he was uninterested. As a former player who tried to work extra hard to make up for my technical limitations, seeing someone so gifted yet so lazy disgusts me. To me, he seems to love the lifestyle but not the game. Maybe he felt unhappy in Manchester, but is that a reason not to bother trying on the pitch? Anyway, his problem is attitude, not location. It wouldn’t matter whether he played in Manchester or on the moon.”
Again, I think Cascarino has it exactly right. Because let’s be honest here, what did Robinho know about Citeh before he signed for them? Well, apart from the fact they had ridiculously rich owners, he knew absolutely sod all about them. Embarrassing at the time that Citeh were trying to announce their ‘arrival’ by signing a player who, for days before had insisted his heart was already at Chelsea, but even more embarrassing that his total lack of interest in the club he ended up at was so blatantly obvious on the pitch. A point Cascarino also makes when he says, “The signing was supposed to be a statement of intent from City, but it hasn’t projected the image that they’re a big club — just a naive one with more money than sense. Everyone in the game knew he was trouble when he was at Real Madrid, but City still jumped in and pinched him from under Chelsea’s noses. What a lucky escape for Chelsea.”
Too bloody true!
Filed under: Rants
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Or maybe his 15 goals last season might have been the difference between 1st and 2nd for Chelsea
I’m not entirely sure I agree, certainly what you say makes complete sense, however, as you say his heart was set on Chelsea with Scolari and I think if he came he would of been far happier here. At his first press conference at City he said that he was glad to be joining Chelsea! slip of the tounge most likely but we can see that’s where his mind was. He wanted to join Chelsea and Real Madrid did not want to sell him so he engineered a move by publicly stating he wanted to move making it impossible for Madrid to keep him, however Madrid still did not want to sell to Chelsea, partly as we are Champions League rivals and partly as they were insulted about the shirt thing.
If he had come I have not doubt he would of been fantastic for us, at least until Scolari left as that was one of his main reasons for wanting to join. When Scolari was sacked he came out and said Chelsea had made a mistake but Hiddink made him eat his words. Also if he had come, Malouda would of never come out of his shell at Chelsea and been moved on. With hind-sight I agree, missing out on Robinho was a blessing in disguise.
As a City fan I must disagree with Cascarino. 15 goals from 35 premier league games playing left wing is hardly a poor return. But if you read it in the papers every single day that he is no good then people start to believe it. There is an anti City agenda with these hacks. They’ve slaughtered Robinho and won. They slaughtered Mark Hughes when he was in charge, then slaughtered City when they got their wish and Hughes left. They did the same with Adebayor and his form has gone out the window. They are now in the process of trying to remove our ceo Cooke because they know that he is building the club up at a real rate of knots. I was wondering who the next target would be now they’ve rid us of Robinho. Today’s Sun tells us Barcelona want SWP. I guess he’s gonna replace Messi. I’m gutted Robbie has gone because he is absolute class.
martin – when City got their inheritance and you were all wetting yourselves, I remember saying it was a poison chalice – and lets face it, Chelsea knew all about that. People like Cooke with his loud-mouthed arrogance (just like Kenyon) really don’t do you any favours, pretty much like your supporters suggesting on here that players like Joe Cole aren’t good enough for your club. In other words, you reap what you sow and as far as I’m concerned, the way Citeh conducted themselves on the last day of the transfer window when the rich men arrived – they’ve got exactly what they deserved from the whole Robinho deal.
trueblue – I don’t dispute Robinho probably would’ve done a much better job at a club he had genuine interest in signing for (although whether he’d have hung around any longer is debatable). The fact is, he chose money over football and really is throwing his talent away. Give me an honest, hard-working and committed player like Joe Cole any day.