It's been way too long.
Vicente Rodriguez- a fond farewell
Now,
where do I begin on my return to football blogdom.. How about with El Puñal himself, the
quite wonderful Vicente Rodriguez, who has seemingly moved on to pastures new
following what has been a rough few months at my club, Brighton and Hove Albion
(more on that later).
Vicente
was, quite simply, the most gifted player ever to wear the blue and white
stripes. A player subjected to a £30 million bid from Real Madrid following
Euro 2004, which was rejected by his club, Valencia, at which he achieved
legendary status after eleven seasons of service. A UEFA Cup, two La Liga
titles, a UEFA Super Cup, a Copa Del Rey and 38 caps for Spain to his name,
this is a player that is simply too good to play in the English Championship at any stage
in his career, let alone when he is still only 29 years old.
Do you
have any idea what it's like as a fan of Brighton and Hove Albion, after
suffering mainly shit football in an even shitter stadium after a period in
which not many clubs would pull through, to suddenly be watching champagne
football in one of the top stadiums in the country, sold out to the rafters
every week and your club being linked to Vicente?!
You will
do if you're a Brighton fan, obviously. I remember first seeing the rumour
posted on the BHA board, North Stand Chat and dismissing it for what
it appeared to be. Utter nonsense.
After
pinching the signature of Craig Mackail-Smith (Poyet "basically hypnotised" him
into joining the club, according to Peteborough chairman Darragh
McAnthony) from under the noses of a host of Premier League Clubs from completely
out of the blue, the board had already gone into overload with one major
signing, but the thought of signing Vicente was just too much. No-one believed
it, not even when we first saw him holding the shirt with a grin in the
now-trademark 'stood on the Amex concourse' new signing photo.
There
were highs: that brace against Portsmouth, tearing Leeds apart at Elland Road,
the wonder-goal at Portman Road and that run against Derby:
If Lionel
Messi did the above, commentators would be creaming themselves. I remember the
first time he picked up the ball against Liverpool in the Carling Cup and you
just felt everyone hold their breath. He was one of those players that you just
knew was going to make something happen as soon as the ball was at his feet, you
know the ones. He won a penalty in that game as well in his short but sweet
debut appearance, which was converted by the man that still has Albion fans
divided, (nuuuuumber niiiine) Ashley Barnes.
But alas,
there were lows. The endless injuries that prevented him from becoming as
celebrated as he perhaps should have been as a footballer blighted him for most
of his Albion career, restricting him to just 29 appearances, with only a few
of those lasting longer than 30 minutes. He would play in a game or two, then
seemingly disappear off the face of the earth for weeks, even months at a time, with little information from the club. But what an impact
he had in the few appearances he made.
Vicente's
contract expired this summer and he was not offered a new contract by chairman
Tony Bloom and head of football operations David Burke, who took care of the
retained list after Poyet refused to have any part in it.
And as
The Dagger made his exit, he took a shocking swipe at the now ex-Albion boss,
calling him "selfish", "egocentric", before labelling him
as "the worst person I've ever come across in football."
 |
| Crocodile tears from Vicente's least favourite person as he gets the sack "live on TV" |
Vicente claimed that Poyet mocked
players in training sessions and forced him to stay at the club
against his will after triggering a clause in his contract for a second
season, despite supposedly promising the Spaniard that he would let him leave at the end of his initial one year deal as his four-year-old daughter was struggling
to settle in the country- something that many Albion fans had expected was the
case when the club site merely stated that they had "opted
to trigger a clause in the contract".
“For example, he deceived me when he said I could go and then he didn’t
let me," Vicente told the Argus.
"I was four months out injured and he wasn’t capable of coming up
and asking how I was.
“For me he is a selfish person, very egocentric. I say that because it’s
how I feel.
“I won’t talk badly about my team-mates, because they have been
fantastic with me. What I think is unacceptable is that the manager makes fun
of his players.
"I’ve seen things here that I have never seen in my career. If you
miss with a shot in training, he makes fun. For me, that is unacceptable in
football."
It's also believed that Vicente was fit to play in the play-off
semi-final second leg against that team from Croydon, but Poyet chose not to
select him. Defies logic if it's true.
Something was majorly wrong on that day, it was plain for all to see.
Rumours have been doing the rounds that Poyet turned up 45 minutes before the
match, that he fought with players in the dressing room and told them that he
wouldn't be there next season before the match. Not a clue if there is an ounce
of truth in any of them, but let's not lower the tone by getting into the now
infamous 'Poogate"...
 | ||
Tony Bloom also revealed earlier this month that Gus "I got sacked
on live TV" Poyet had called him up asking to leave the club just four
days before the crucial fixture against the Croydon side in the league back in
April. Presumably he had a Premier League gig lined up at Sunderland? Or
perhaps Fulham? Or Reading?
|
I'm not going to go into the whole Poyet debacle come to think of it,
that one provokes the same feeling as thinking of "Poogate" does.
Pretty sickening, but on a bit of a more emotional level than the
"dressing-room incident". I can't shed any further light on it that
than others have, so I will stick to my point.
It's a shame that it ended the way it did with Vicente, and it's a shame
that injuries once again prevented him from being able to display the true
extent of his talent, but by God am I grateful to have been able to see a
player of his calibre playing for my football club.
He's still without a club. Whether that is by choice or not I do not
know, but I really hope he does play again. When he is fit and ready, he is a
Premier League player without a doubt, even still I believe. But now, at the
age of 32, his days of being fit and ready are going to be few and far
between.
Cheers for the memories El Puñal, adiós y buena suerte. Here
is a rather emotional video of his best moments in his first
season with Brighton and Hove Albion:
At least I'm man enough to admit that I teared up at this.
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