Where's the loyalty gone?
The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence, right? How many of us, when fed up with what are doing  and perhaps a little disappointed with the hand we've been dealt have cast an enviable eye elsewhere and thought "if only..". No matter the walk of life, I think this is a fact of nature. It's one of the things that make us human. Well, football is no exception.

"A contract is not worth the paper its written on" is a sometimes over-used phrase these days but I think its one that still carries weight. A case in point is Joe Ledley at Cardiff City. Every time the fabled transfer window creakily opens Ledley's name is linked with a move to the Premiership. Now we are led to believe that Cardiff are clearly no fools. Reportedly, they persistently try to negotiate a new contract with the player just so they can demand more money for him if he is signed up with them for 5 more years rather than just the one. If that's the case, then why bother with drawing up a contract in the first place. Why not just scrawl it on to the back of a bus ticket and be done with it. Clearly, no sooner would the ink be dry than Mr Ledley would be hotfooting it away to pastures new, leaving  Cardiff with a nice little sum to perhaps invest in more paper.

I feel its a sad indictment on the modern game when some players relegated with a club waste no time in trying to engineer a move away. Granted this has worked in Spurs' favour twice in the past. Pascal Chimbonda and Jermain Defoe (the first time he signed) made no secret of their wish to leave their previous club, with Chimbonda reportedly handing in his request whilst still in full kit. But it has also worked against them with Robbie Keane, and more pertinently, Dimitar Berbat"i'm off" (Berbatov for those who understandably might not grasp that bad pun.) Berbatov was a great player at Spurs and it was thought that he could be the figure head for the good times that looked on the cards at the Lane. But rather than roll up his sleeves and commit his heart and soul to building up the club he moaned and whined and spat his dummy (or was it one of his 40 cigarettes he consumes a day) out until he slithered his way to Old Trafford, where delightfully he has gone backwards in his career (but that's for another time). Martin Jol plucked him from Bayer Leverkusen, tripled his value and made him one of the most desirable forwards around. But instead of owing Jol a debt of gratitude he proceeded to sulk like a child that had been denied an ice cream. After being unceremoniously dumped by Spurs, Jol said "I am proud of the job I did there. It was a great place to be and the sun was always shining. The only person who moaned was Berbatov."

As Spurs prepare to head to Portsmouth on Saturday, if we believe what we read in the papers Harry Redknapp will have his own SAS trained team of bodyguards in tow, understandably cautious that the only things being beaten are the Pompey drum and his former team, rather than his always immaculately groomed head. To be fair I see Pompey's point. Here's a man who, granted, put them where they are today, in both a good and bad way. He took them from the championship to the premiership and bought a host of good footballers and good football with it. Getting the chance to see the likes of Muntari, Diarra, Defoe and Crouch would have been hard to foresee for their fiercely passionate crowd and for that they should be thankful. What they shouldn't be thankful for is the fact that he walked out on them twice, bought such players with money that they probably didn't have and then bought most of their better players for his new club. He was quoted as saying, "they're in a mess. They seem to have sold their best players. I don't know what's gone on." YOU'VE BOUGHT THEM HARRY!! Whilst I wouldn't condone any physical backlash against H, I can certainly understand their grievances as Harry did seemingly jump ship...twice.

But when it's all said and done I certainly wouldn't complain if Crouchy or JD pops up with an injury time winner at the weekend which perhaps pinpoints the fickleness of football. Us supporters are the most loyal factors in the game, whilst these days footballers and managers seem to be guns for hire, regardless of how many noses get put out of joint.