Manchester United started the league, very poorly. Losing a string of matches to Bolton, Chelsea, Man. City and some poor draws too but got good marks for being consistent and resilient. Man-U as they are popularly known, went into the league as defending champs, having won the Premiership title nine times before. It was Arsenal, through Emmanuel Adebayor who came out smoking from the blocks, scoring his first Hat-trick against Derby.

Needless to say, Christiano Ronaldo was a revelation this season, banging in thirty one goals and a few more in the champions league.

Recently he has been embroiled in a transfer tussle with his club.

Granted, no club wants to loose its best player, especially when he is a world footballer, the best of the best in the whole “ball-round” world!

On one hand, we have players who are clamoring for contracts of a minimum of two years. Take Kanu for example. He has been on a one year-rolling contract for some time now. He has done well, still doing well for his club, Portsmouth. He might not have strength or age on his side but he delivers the important goals, when they matter and his contribution to the only Silverware they won this season, is there for all to appreciate but right now, he is saying to his club: If l am that good and important, then l deserve more than a single year, renewable contract. You cant use me, get the best of me and then just leave me in the lurch, when you feel like!

It’s like the club is saying well…..we think you will be a bad long term investment, ....too much risk, we need to play safe with you! A kind of wanting to eat their cake and having it.!

At the extreme end of the stick, we have the likes of Ronaldo. Five years contract with a few years left, he is at the top of his game and has been valued at around 85Million pounds. He has a contract in place but the Spanish champions think the best players in the world belong in their camp and are pulling all levers, including a packet of carrots at Ronaldo. Despite his contract, he seems to be coyly intent on leaving Man-U and Sir Alex has said he would rather confine him to the bench (or even the stands!) than allow him abandon his contract.

Does a player has the right to refuse a year-long rolling contract and demand for something better, if that is the level of risk the club, a business enterprise, is ready to expose itself to? Does the club have the right to keep putting him under severe anxiety and uncertainty, even as he has consistently delivered since this strategy was put in place?

Fifa President, Sepp Blatter, has described Renaldo’s situation as “soccer slavery” based on the assumption that only a slave is “forced and bound” to his paymaster.

The legendary Pele, who is yet to come to terms, considering that even Renaldo’s skill is still a far cry from his own, with the valuation of such players, has said equivocally that “a contract is a contract, you sign it, you see it through”.

Football as a profession is fraught with dangers and it is a high stakes game. The player can only make as much hay as when his sun is shinning. When Bolton ditched “the double magic” Jay-Jay, (yes, he is that good you got to say it twice) Okocha, they did not bathe an eyelid and did no give a hoot about what he has done for them in the past. Same goes for Arsenal, when the “Professor” ditched “Igwe” Thiery Henry, the calculation was that he was getting past his prime and its time to cash-in on his name, before people start referring to him as “in those days”! The clubs don’t just give a hoot, when the chips are down. Its all about money so, should we blame Ronaldo, if he decides his “Oliver Twist” wants more?

What if in error, he scores into his own net or commits a foul that results into a penalty, in his own 18-yards box? Sabotage, some would say but that’s not difficult for a player who is pissed-off with a club!

On a final note, if for example, an I.T geek working for a company feels he has had enough, he puts in his resignation letter, serves and observes the minimum period of “notice” and he is free to work where his heart lies, why cant the same apply even more to a footballer whose “football playing” life expectancy is even comparatively smaller”

And Ronaldo himself plasters his face with a “baffled and amused” look, like “please stop, l did not say l want to leave”!

Should players be forced to respect signed contract even if they do not wish to “work” (play) for such clubs anymore? Is the contract “absolute and binding”? How does the employee rights to “move his services” (resign) if he no longer finds fulfillment with a particular employer come into all this?

Does FIFA have the right to pock nose and legislate on the affairs of national F.A’s?

So many questions but the Portuguese himself is not saying much but his ‘parrots’ are chapping-away.

Robot  Villager

# 1 Should players be forced to respect signed contract even if they do not wish to “work” (pl...Read the full article. Posted by Robot| 16.07.2008 01:49