Is a player pre destined to be a terrace hero or villain? When a player is signed, most fans will already have formed a opinion on him. We now live in a socialmedia world where its easy to get stats or clips on any player, meaning any fan can see what the player is like.
Depending on which club a player is signed from or what country he is from can mean a player is perceived as a good signing or bad. When Ashley Young was bought from Aston Villa in the summer people questioned his ability to fit in at United. Most felt coming from Villa he wasn't of the Standard required. Whilst Anderson was brought in from Porto with fans never really seeing him play (apart from odd YouTube clips) he came with a certain aura, being Brazilian has certainly helped his cause with how fans rate him.
Most English based players we buy never really come with the aura and excitement of a player coming from a foreign league due to the familiarity of seeing him week in week out. When Javier Hernandez was signed from Mexican side Guadalajara nobody had ever heard of him, his signing came out of the blue yet fans instantly took to him. Whilst a player like Valencia who came from unfashionable Wigan, who consistently performed week in week out, a player who was already settled into the English league was again met with the 'he's not United quality'.
Even youth players are not exempt from being type cast. From Kiko to Welbeck, Pogba to Tunnicliffe Welbeck was never good enough according to some fans before he went out on loan whilst Kiko lived or even is still living off 'that goal'. Welbeck has proved he is the more complete striker at this early stage in their careers. It is also more fashionable to want Pogba to succeed rather than the British born Tunncliffe.
Within the forum of social network sites fans can talk and share clips and opinions on players. Building them or knocking them down. Take Tom Cleverley for example whilst at Wigan he wasn't talked about much but after a few games this season he is our bright hope for the future. Whilst he has been injured he has become a Twitter legend with his status becoming bigger and bigger.
Value is another reason players are typecast if a price is paid that us fans feel is to high then we will always say "not worth the money". Carrick is a brilliant example of this when in reality its not the players fault a club pays slightly over the odds, especially in the English market.
In England we have players that are as potentially good if not better than their foreign counterparts unfortunately as they dont have the mystery of a foreign buy they will never be seen as the better signing in some fans eyes. English clubs always raise the price of their players as well, meaning fans are never happy or the true value of a player is met. One of Europe's brightest young stars is Shaquri from Basle, but is he any better than say Junior Hoillett of Blackburn? Fans would openly welcome one, whilst the other would be welcomed with a lot of skepticism because of the club he comes from. Just as Jones was in the summer and look at him now he is worshiped around Old Trafford.
Its a shame players cant be judged on just their performances rather than have their status pre judged. Unfortunately i don't see this ever changing.
This is a bit of a strange article to be honest mate. I can't say I've picked up on a lot of the things you've talked about here, and you've not factored in many of the other variables that affect fan perceptions. For instance, the Anderson signing, he was purchased at a price of £18million, so fans assumed he must be of a quality approaching, or having the potential to reach, top class. Also, in his first season at United, he was excellent, hence the status and the chant. People were excited over Hernandez due to his performances at the World Cup (well, I was) rather than because he was a 'foreign player'. On the other side, Ashley Young is a player a lot of us had seen quite regularly, and while capable of the odd moment of brilliance, his overall contribution is not up to the standard required. And so it has proved, Ashley Young has had a poor season, only excelling every now and again, but by-and-large, not being consistent enough with his contributions (his crossing this year has been abysmal). You may have a point regarding Macheda, the anticipation surrounding him was largely down to 'that' goal, but that's not to say people dismissed Danny Welbeck. The Pogba situation is largely down to his agent creating an aura around him, plus the trouble United had to go to to sign him in the first place, whereas Tunnicliffe has been much quieter about his business. Again, this isn't down to the fact that one is English and the other is foreign, it's largely down to the circumstances and context of the situation. The Carrick situation, again, I didn't pick up on the fact that United fans thought he was overpriced. We got him for £18million off the back of an outstanding season for Spurs, and in his first year at United he was brilliant, helping us to the league title. The year after, he made a huge contribution in helping United win the CL and the PL. It was only in the 2nd half of the 08/09 and into the 09/10 season, when his performances dropped dramatically that fans started to question his ability, and I'm delighted to say he's proved a lot of us wrong with his performances this year, which are recognised by many as having been fantastic.
ReplyDeleteGreat article.. Imagine if Carrick was say, Spanish or Brazilian, do you think that he would get as much (undeserved) criticism from United fans? I highly doubt it.
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