It just goes from bad to worse doesn’t it?
The Telegraph has come out with an article which suggests there is a major split amongst the players.
While it’s not exactly a new story, it does go on to name names and it’s basically the longer term players in Gabby Agbonlahor, Alan Hutton, Leandro Bacuna, Ciaran Clark, Brad Guzan, Mark Bunn as well as Joleon Lescott and Micah Richards versus the rest.
That’s something I find interesting, as most of those are the ones who are oft criticised and at first glance it’s easy to jump to conclusions and choose whose side we’re on as fans.
but if you read into the article, it states that the senior players have been moaning about Remi Garde not turning up in the dressing room after the Wycombe draw and the Liverpool pasting.
It’s a bit vague in this area, in that it doesn’t explain if he didn’t turn up at all or just turned up late, but I certainly recall stories of some manager or other deliberately leaving his team to stew before handing out the rollickings.
It’s certainly the way I’d expect Garde to be and it makes sense that he might want to calm down and gather his thoughts before coming out with any assessment.
If I was one of the players involved in those games, I think I’d have been glad that the manager didn’t come in, so I’m not really sure what there is to complain about.
But I’m also not sure if the players complaining about this, is a good or bad thing either.
There’s also a reference that says the same senior players have openly questioned how some of the things they’re doing in training are relevant to what they’re doing.
If they’re complaining about simple things, like passing a ball to a player in the same colour shirt, the answer is easy; They can’t get the basics right more often than not!
But I’m being facetious and the concerning part of this is that they seemingly don’t have much respect for the manager and his coaching staff. Which can’t be a good thing, however you look at it.
Even more worrying and it’s not something I’d had any inkling of, is the suggestion that Garde might have resigned after the Everton game.
Whatever I think of him as a manager, his resignation now would be an even worse disaster than what we’ve seen unfold already in this dire season. But it seems to demonstrate just how frustrated he is, especially after having been cast adrift in the transfer window.
The point here is that if he’d been offered anything decent in the discussions at the latest meeting, it doesn’t make sense that he’d be considering resigning. Hence logic tells me that he was offered very little in the way of support in the event of us being relegated.
And I suspect it’s only a matter of time before he does actually resign, leaving us odds on that we won’t see an injection of funds aimed at getting us straight back up.
The thing is, if you were in Remi’s position, what would you do?
Resign soon, emphasising how you’ve been put in an impossible position and try to salvage some of your reputation, or leave it until the end of the season so you can add “managed a relegated team” to your CV?
It would seem an easy decision.
And we face Man City next.
“It never rains, but it pours” springs to mind.
