Are Football fans hypocrites?

The English Premier League and other important leagues of Europe are about to start in a fortnight and fans everywhere are excited about their team’s prospects in the coming season. Every fan wants his/her team to perform well, which is but natural and in the process wants the best possible players in his/her team. And now the subject of transfers crops up. Humongous amounts of money are spent on player transfers nowadays. Take for example; Cristiano Ronaldo was transferred from Manchester United to Real Madrid for a fee around £80 million.

Transfers in football mainly occur due to two reasons – The club wants to buy/sell their players and secondly, the player himself wants to seek better opportunities. Football fans generally don’t grumble much about the first type but what irks them is the second type of transfer. When a player submits a request to seek exit from the current club in order to play for a bigger/better club, immediately that player is labelled a traitor. The issue becomes more serious when he desires to join your arch-rivals. Currently, Robin van Persie of Arsenal has submitted a request to leave the club for better pastures. Let us have a look at such matters from both ways – the player’s and the fans point of view.

From a player’s point of view, he would always like to play for a bigger club than his existing one and excel at the highest level. This is a natural human tendency as everyone would like to achieve a higher position, earn better salary and gain recognition. It is also important to note that the shelf life of footballers is very short – about 10 years, out of which he may be able to perform at the peak for about 5 years. Thus, footballers would like to win maximum medals in their lifetime. So, a move to a club which promises hope of a medal seems logical.

Looking from a fan’s perspective, at first, it may seem unfair that a player leaves his old club for a new one just to earn a few dollars more. But tell me honestly, how many of us fans would not leave our current job and move to a new one if we are offered better opportunities of growth and a huge hike in salary. Obviously, majority of us would jump ship. The same is the case for footballers. For footballers, it’s all part of their job. Then why do fans apply a different logic when it comes to them and expect their idols to behave like saints and be loyal to one club? Thus, according to me, fans should have a realistic view when such things occur.

One thing which players could do to alleviate the pain of fans is to state the facts as they are. They should not pledge loyalty to their club and next week sign for another club. And the least they could do is to not join their cross-town rivals or arch-rivals.

And above all, the law of karma applies to these things. When you sign a great player from another club, you angered those fans and when your best player signs for another club, those new fans will anger you!!

There are no bad ideas. Just the lack of courage to follow them.