Failure To Sign Robinho Will See Petulant Posturing Triumph Over ‘deplorable’ Diplomacy

[Dorset]

We all know there is precious little fair play and decency in the game as it is, but now the entire world knows there is none at all at the Bernabau and that Ramon Calderon simply doesn’t know the meaning of the words. What other reason could there possibly be for his entrenched position [on behalf of his club] over Robinho? Unless, of course, the whole shooting match is run solely for the benefit of massaging his ego and he wishes to make one player pay for his inability to get Ronaldo, a feat that would have involved showing Robinho the door anyway. Never was the phrase ’it’s all about me, me, me,’ more apt than with regard to Calderon in the dying throes of this saga and it does beg the question for those who might wish to do business with Real Madrid in the future - can they ever be trusted in either a buying or selling capacity if they are prepared to ride roughshod over their own in this way?

It does no harm to look back at this guy’s ineptitude in high office and he takes some beating when it comes to gobbledegook emanating from a supposedly sanctioned mouth. We are all used to Fergie and ManU, but what is it that makes the likes of AC Milan and Real Madrid think they can get away with bunkum as well? These three clubs in particular seem to become [deliberately] diplomatically obtuse [compared with Chelsea] and it is nothing short of scandalous that the sycophantic Media in the three countries concerned prefers slavish support and myopic favouritism of the ’chosen ones’ to honest reporting without undue influence. It is as if each of the individual clubs’ representatives can say what they like one day, repudiate it the next, reinstate it the day after, all in a continuous loop without receiving one word of query, criticism or rebuke from a Fourth Estate happy to print every piece of complete and utter b*****ks. I could go on…and I’m going to…

Speaking of Old Red Nose, his Mind Games appear to have merged into senile ramblings of late, as retirement beckons, and, unless you are the Monty Python parrot seller, you don’t fool anybody for too long by professing a certain player’s loyalty and coercing him into staying at a club that he so obviously wants to see the back of. Should you do so, you hardly have a leg to stand on when trying to drag a disgruntled Bulgarian out of a rival camp and you should therefore expect to be treated in a similar fashion by said rival club and newshounds alike. The fact that the British Media ignores the obvious hypocrisy gives the rest of us a good laugh, but in the long run it does nobody any good and certainly does nothing for one who can sulk for Bulgaria and another who can best be described as p****d off and Portuguese.

Turning to the cash strapped Galliani, you can’t help but notice the difference in tenor and conversational tone. Here is a man who is not used to being on his uppers and, whilst clearly being on a bit of a downer, is striving against all logic to maintain the impression of financial largess at every hastily convened media gathering. Whereas Ferguson is not afraid to call a spade a bloody English shovel, Galliani prefers a typically Italian approach to his Champions Leaguelessness and current lack of reddies - he blanks every enquiry on such topics and acts as if nothing at all is wrong in the Milanese camp - delusional or what? Perish the thought that an ex World Player of the Year should want to leave a club bereft of pretty much everything worth having this season. Why? Because for Galliani it is a plain as the nose on Ferguson’s face that they have a squad bursting with young talent to which has recently been added the additional expertise of Philippe Senderos. Makes perfect sense to me too, but then I’m nearing Fergie’s age and am just as gullible as those Real Madrid fans who thought Robinho never wanted to leave their club, whether Ronaldo walked through the door or not. Hence Kaka stays put for the moment and for the wrong reasons.

Back to Calderon and, sad to relate, this was actually (yes, really) a placatory argument put forward to the fans by him in one of his less lucid moments, occurring as it did once the prospect of Ronaldo arriving [and therefore Robinho going] diminished and the awful truth dawned that the Brazilian might be off without a readymade replacement coming in. Such is life in Calderon’s world of media supported and concocted tales, he can tell a newly crowned Wimbledon-winning Nadal that Ronaldo’s signature is ’in the bag’ one day, then expect the callow target to be braver than he was ever likely to be when faced by a Glaswegian who, yes we know (yawn), always calls a spade a bloody English shovel. Madness of the highest order at every turn by men who should know better and all the while Chelsea, in the guise of the much maligned Peter Kenyon, pursued the business of improving the club, both on and off the field, with as little fuss and flouncing in the transfer window as is humanely possible amongst this detritus.

The difference in approach is obvious to anyone who cares to look with one method embraced and welcomed by a Media that is always hungry enough to be constant dipsticks and bin dippers, be it in search of fact or fiction, whereas the other, quieter and measured, is treated with contempt for its standoffishness and unwillingness to play [gossip] ball. The former spawns the Galacticos image and Premiership hype, but the latter, if given some semblance of appreciation and understanding, could well accomplish the aims of the sensible big gun buyers and sellers in football - worldwide recognition and respect - without fuss or fabrication.

What of Robinho’s part in all this? Well, here is a twenty four year old who has that same ’dream’ as Ronaldo and Berbatov, except in the Brazilian’s case kowtowing and sulking hasn’t lingered for long, let alone lasted for a simmering Berbatov season at Spurs or a likely sabbatical one, which is clearly Ronaldo’s preference. No, he decides enough [of this Calderon spoon fed drivel to the Spanish press] is enough and he displays real courage in the face of unreal verbiage to tell the assembled sheep exactly how it is in Calderon La-La Land. Faced with reality TV at its best, Real Madrid can’t shoot the messenger while still professing to want to keep him so they have to trash Chelsea’s attempts to lure him away and ‘deplorable’ is the word used, without a shred of evidence to back up the allegation. Even their own people must have found this an almost impossible stance to take, yet to tell the truth, if they knew of the concept, they really had no place else to go and were lashing out at the only target left to hit, as Robinho had, in every sense of the words, already left the building. It will be a travesty if he is not allowed to actually do so, but acrimony seems to be the price Calderon is prepared to pay to bolster his own pride, which is surely destined for a heavy fall somewhere along the line.

[Backbiter]

Spot on for exposing both the shocking hypocrisy of Calderon and Ferguson and the pathetic sycophancy of the media. But....if we were chasing a world class player and failed to land him, would we then willingly part with another star forward with no time to sign a replacement? I don't think so.

[Mr Chelsea]

a great read as usual dorset

[ozboy]

However Calderon will have the last laugh as he made more money by knocking us back.

Well Scolari will just have to make Kalou and Malouda perform.

[nickwus]

Grant got us to two finals and close to the premiership, and got fired.

This Robinho screw us the latest of many from Kenyon...why is he Mr Teflon?

[PloKoon13]

Grant got us to two finals and close to the premiership, and got fired.

This Robinho screw us the latest of many from Kenyon...why is he Mr Teflon?

He got us Ashley Cole...

lol ;)

[Jimboola69]

Calderon is perfectly within his rights to do whatever the hell he wants. Clearly kenyon (not for the first time) pissed off the officials at another club.

Where does this leave us...still a good team and despite no pace we should still have a good season I guess.

[evissy]

..January is not that far away.

No but seriously we have a strong team but still lacking the left side attacking options.

[TheWestwayWonder]

Calderon is perfectly within his rights to do whatever the hell he wants. Clearly kenyon (not for the first time) pissed off the officials at another club.

Where does this leave us...still a good team and despite no pace we should still have a good season I guess.

Sorry, Jim, but Dorset is right: Calderon is a special kind of muppet that doesnt give a tinkers curse for what anyone on earth thinks of him or his club. I hate Kenyon as much as the next man, but im glad we held firm in the face of "los f**king meregues" when they tried to mug us. We lost Robinho, yes, but he may well be the biggest flop in history.

Ultimately, Calderon looks like a moron. Yes he got 32 million. But he failed to do what Fergie did with, allegedly, one conversation: tell his star player that he is staying. Robinho was agitating all summer and all calderon could come up with was "He is a good little boy but poorly advised". Hardly the attitude to endear him to Robinho.

Meanwhile Ronaldo comes back from vacation where he is off jetsetting with paris hilton on a gammy knee, and Fergie has one talk with him. "The player isnt moving anywhere, and thats the end of it".

Clearly, Calderon is the one who was embittered by his failure, and decided to heist us at the last second. He coudlnt have really been incensed, or considered what we did "deplorable" becuase he understands thats how business is done sometimes. He gets that better than anyone. And im sure he has the brains to figure out, too, that he is out next election becuase, aside from a few league titles, Madrid are still the same expensive circus who everyone hates.

[Killbill]

However Calderon will have the last laugh as he made more money by knocking us back.

Not once the new Man City owners finish the due diligence and find a problem with City's books and decide not to buy the club. :P

[Killbill]

It does no harm to look back at this guy’s ineptitude in high office and he takes some beating when it comes to gobbledegook emanating from a supposedly sanctioned mouth. We are all used to Fergie and ManU, but what is it that makes the likes of AC Milan and Real Madrid think they can get away with bunkum as well? These three clubs in particular seem to become [deliberately] diplomatically obtuse [compared with Chelsea] and it is nothing short of scandalous that the sycophantic Media in the three countries concerned prefers slavish support and myopic favouritism of the ’chosen ones’ to honest reporting without undue influence. It is as if each of the individual clubs’ representatives can say what they like one day, repudiate it the next, reinstate it the day after, all in a continuous loop without receiving one word of query, criticism or rebuke from a Fourth Estate happy to print every piece of complete and utter b*****ks. I could go on…and I’m going to…

The Sky presenters last night during the transfer market count down said of Fergie “He always gets his man that’s why he is so successful.†And you expect the press to criticise or rebuke Man U behaviour.

Edited September 2, 2008 by Killbill

[bonetti]

I do find it funny the way Levy was hushed and the complaint dropped though - who said that Premiership football is all about money and greed?