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Beer swillers in trouble/Hull in for Nugent

Harry Redknapp has hit out at a group of 4 of our youth team players after their drunken antics at the victory parade following our FA cup win a couple of weeks back.

He has stated his displeasure at their actions and has put their futures with the club in doubt telling the Mail on Sunday: 'these four lads didn't play in the final, but they couldn't even put their beer down on the bus.

'We got back for the reception and the four of them just stood there until they were invited to go home.

'They're players at my club but they might not be for much longer.'

The 'drinking culture' was acceptable 'back in the day' but these days, not just because of the high expectations that are expected from these professionals but also because of the high profile nature of the game the right impression must be sent out - not to mention the fact that this was illegal when all is said and done.

All 4 are said to be English and Redknapp feels that this would not happen with 'the foreign lads': 'you get these 16-year-olds who think they have cracked it and aren't prepared to work and improve and put the hours in. You don't get that with the foreign lads.'

Whilst I do not condone the actions of these players could this not be a case of youthful exuberance - footballers or not? So would sacking them not be a tad too harsh, could it not be a case of cutting off your nose to spite your face? On the other hand once you are on the wrong side of the big man here it is hard to get back onto the right side as we know.

Yep, maybe they should be made an example of, but not to the strongest example - plus when all is said and done why were they allowed to have carried on drinking so long anyway, let alone be involved in the victory parade? Could a club official not have told them sooner that enough was enough...

==========

Virtually from the minute that Dave Nugent signed for Pompey he has been 'on his way out again' if you believed all you read in the papers...

If you believe it again with what the News of the World is claiming then newly promoted Hull are now chasing him and although he is happy where he is, as he has told us over and over, it is still claimed that Harry Redknapp maybe still is not and would sell 'if the price was right'.

Lets not beat about the bush Nugent did struggle last season, but on the other hand he was not really given much of a chance and was carrying an injury for some time. Although when he did return from having the injury operated on he was looking a much better player, even if he was still not given much of a chance.

I hope that he stays, as I maintain the thoughts that he will be a fantastic footballer in the future given time, and is also a footballer we cannot write off just yet, as we have not done this to others in the past.

When all is said and done though it will be Redknapp and the club that knows best, so whatever is decided we will have to just accept as being the right thing - and in fairness it usually is isn't it...

PLAY UP POMPEY!

Vital F1 Prediction League - Join now for Spain

Writer: pompeyrug

Date:Sunday June 1 2008

Time: 10:31AM

Your Comments

I think the Mail quoted verbatim HR's TalkSport interview.

ChrisW

Shocking letting them drink at 16, those in charge should look at themselves!

merlin

yep you are right with that - i was going to say that you had brought this to our attention a couple of days ago in the forum too, which you did.

pompeyrug

I have to disagree with Harry redknapp on this one. I was going to right an article about it, but it kept turning ito more of a rant, which i didnt thnk was apropriate... Every year...no, 3 times a year, harry has a go at kids not wanting to put the effort into playing football. He keeps on saying that kids just expect to do well - but in reality, playing football for a club, especially the club they have supported all there life is a dream for most kids. something that will nev happen, even if they have the talent, as finding the talent for clubs can be very hard. however just becuase you can't see it when it is glaring at you in your face, it does not mean it, and the willingness to succeed is not there. in the article in the daily mail, it went into how harry would ask kids of they watched a big european game, and how "9 times out of 10" they would say 'no'. This is simply unbeleveable. if i ask any of my friends if they watched it, 9 times out of 10, they will say yes. only if the game is being shown on sky will they not have watched it (because they dont have ky) and even then, mostly they will have found a way around it. what i would like to know, is which kids are these that he is talking too, becuase they dont sound like your average kid that i know!

pompeycarpet

and in regards to the drinking, i have a feeling that it must have been more than simply drinking too much. you can not sack someone for celebrating too hard, especially when they don't even have to come into work the next day as it is there summer break, and if they have just one the FA cup, i think they would be allowed t have a drink or two...or three..or five, or ten, or twenty or...

pompeycarpet

Rug, your last paragraph sounds like P.F.C. already own Vital.

007

...now onto nugent... i dont think he will leave. end of story.

pompeycarpet

and finaly (well almost) Harry also said that it was a culture thing (the heavy drinking). Has he never been to the october fest in munich? where they only sell beer by the litre? other cultures drink heavily too, its just that when taken out of your comfort zone (i.e. livng abroad), many people do not want to get too drunk and embaras themselves...

pompeycarpet

Carpet, HR did say in the same interview on the radio that in his day getting *****ed after the game was the order of the day - But, having heard the entire interview, I do think Harry is washing his whites with his jeans... seems to me that if the club had proper youth management in place then chaperoning would be the order of the day - and as for moaning in the same interview that the same kids don't follow soccer too closely on the box then who's fault is this? When I was 17 I didn't know my arse from my elbow and how I wish somebody had been around to show me the ropes. I'd say that if Pompey are investing in these kids them someone needs to look after their investment, after all bears ***** in the woods right? and kids will be kids...

ChrisW

007, nope not at all - i say what i say because i want to say it, not because i feel it is the way everyone should feel, or i feel i have to say it or 'i think portsmouth football club want me to say it!'
we dont always agree with what the club does, but lets be honest we didnt want to lose matty taylor, gary o'neil, benjani and so on but ultimately the club have been - or at least will do next season - proved completely right! as much as i wanted to keep taylor and o'neil - and we missed him more than anyone - you just have to look at the clubs they went to for the answers with them in all fairness...
so hence my final paragraph: 'When all is said and done though it will be Redknapp and the club that knows best, so whatever is decided we will have to just accept as being the right thing - and in fairness it usually is isn't is.'

pompeyrug

Club discipline must be sorted out obviously they got carried away with the occasion. The Nugent affair just rolls on and on.

eastneydave

As i've already said in the forum on this matter, I can't see this as being anymore than kids being kids. Personally I don't think it's worth anymore time spent discussing what Pompey should be dealing with in private and not washing our dirty laundry in public.

pentonpompey

just on the nugent issue surely if we let him go on loan to hull 4 a season give him the experiance and then a) we'll c if he can cut it in the premier league and b) if he does we got a better play 4 nothing. and on the drunks surely sackin em's a little harsh just a big fine would b enough if all they care about is money =)

pompeym@

You can't blame the kids - cos that's what they were. How the hell did they get onto the bus in the first place? Why didn't someone stop them drinking? If anyone - not just 16 year old aspiring footballers could have got on that bus and celebrated with the team as they paraded through the town - wouldn't you have done it - I would have when I was sixteen and I probably would have done it now. And they would have had to tell me to go home. Wot a jape! Come on Harry - you were young once, leave them alone - and sort the staff out!

Gandor

Oh and by the way - Nugent MUST MUST stay!

Gandor

Thank you Gandor my sentiments exactly.

pentonpompey

Guys, I don't know how many of you are involved in youth football, but discipline is a real problem. Kids see their role models on telly, the get exposed to all that wag ***** in glossy mags and seem to think that the high life comes hand in hand with football - immaterial of work ethic and skill. Redknapp well may have been wrong for saying what he did, but it's not just a case of policing the situation, you can't put club officials in homes and schools which is were most of the problems emminate from. It's a grass roots issue and it is largely a British grass roots issue at that.

ChrisW

Chris, my oldest lad is only 11, and already you can see the kids showing NO disclepline on the pitch. One lad ripped off his shirt and threw it to the ground when he disagreed with the ref. His manager didn't even tell him off. It's the way this whole football thing is going, isn't it! Wrong, but that's why it's all going to go tits up.

pompey4me

I agree with you Simon. My boy is almost 13 and half his team are useless prima donnas, f this, f that... I don't want this to sound like a class issue, but you can generally tell the good kids by looking at their parents, who also happen to be the gobby ones on the touch line. My daughter is 14 and plays for the same and with one notable exception (who happens to be an ex acedemtyplayer!!) , the entire team is a delight - a little too polite perhaps but no less skillful than the boys.

ChrisW

clarification, the gobby kids have the gobby parents.. I think :)))

ChrisW

Maybe it is a class issue chris, but it is the truth. They see Rooney (worst eg) on the tv berating / swearing at the ref, and to them it's the norm. and yes, sometimes I do feel very uncomfortable on the touchline, even more so when running the line. It needs stopping, and it has to start in the pro game first. I think there needs to be some sort of approach to the powers that be to sort this out, or personally I really do think this game could implode on it's self.

pompey4me

PLayers in question were 19 & 20 year olds not 16, if you here Harry's interview.

pompeyyong

Oh! on Nugent I also hope he stays, but as pompeym@ said loan him to Hull maybe with a call back clause or short term if they would except it which I would doubt.

pompeyyong

yong, that's my fault, I heard the interview in full and reported it incorrectly - blame the ears of a 75 year old.

ChrisW

I have played youth football since i could run, and have refereed youth football for the last year or two. Some teams go into games with an attitude of "win at all costs" - these teams are egged on by parents into stupid fouls, and disreispecting me, however in other games, i can go through the whole game awarding one free kick(that's my record so far!) - these teams turn up to play football, and have fun with there friends. But more than just saying "its a class thing" i would actually say "its an age thing". below 11, the kids are 99% of the time really nice, and don't question a decision, even when it is blatently wrong. over 11, and they question every decision, even when it is clearly right. and it just gets worse and worse and worse from then on...

pompeycarpet

...but this is almost certainly becuase people get more and more competitive as they get older, and have a greater desire to win, and a greater amount of frustration that big clubs and the FA are not putting any effort into encouraging them. oh, and the 4 kids who got drunk...i can't blame them, either they did something too bad or harry to say on talksport, or he is just going way over the top...

pompeycarpet

The lesson should be behave on duty, do what you think is right off it. Some will learn, some will never. Nugent may be given another chance unless a daft offer comes in. I'd like to think he will stay but may be sold come January. As always time will tell.

storagematt

ChrisW whatever there age it still not good for the club, but a strong slap on the wrist should do. I do agree we all make mistakes, & it wont be the last but to sack them is to strong

pompeyyong

Interesting Harry didn't name these kids - I think they have a chance to apologise. Although someone at the club should have taken them in hand. I did hear a rumour that they weren't just drunk but stoned as well. As for Nuge, I really really want him to stay, but fear he won't.

tracyc

Well if they were stoned then they deserve what they get - BTW Jamo had an hour long drugs test at the end of the Final...

ChrisW

btw Tracy, I believe rug owes you a Ruby no?

ChrisW

This has opened up a right can of worms....kids being kids?....adult supervision?....can't blame the kids?....There are arguments every which way on this. Generally, the kids in the game have it so much easier than 20 years ago and, in some respects, that's what's wrong. It used to be a tough school, being an apprentice or youth team player....I mean REAL HARD GRAFT (I'm not aying that was the entirely the right way....many a talented player spent too much time washing dressing room floors and cleaning boots than honing his skills). Paradoixically, whilst the "drinking culture" was far more prevalent then amongst the senior players, if a junior stepped out of line he was severely dealt with. It seems to have swung the other way now. Two of HR's problems though are 1) He makes sweeping generalisations and has done so again here about 9 out 10 kids not being interested etc and 2) He should deal with it internally - he's too prone to washing Pompey's dirty linen in public. On Nugent. I hope he stays and gets a fair crack at it.

NinjaTim

We can't let Nugent go, not yet. He needs one more season to prove that he can cut it at the top level of football and in a decent team!

sneakay

some reports say they were 16 yr olds, other youngsters... 16 yr olds i dont know, the youngsters could be any 4 from subotic, songo'o, cranie, duffy and begovic - but in all fairness, altho he played a key role how come it was ok for hreidarsson to get in such a state but not them even tho they didnt play a part in the cup run - they were still in our squad, but i would doubt they have a future now as once you cross 'arry you are in trouble...

pompeyrug

Rug, Talksport re-ran the interview yesterday and HR started off moaning about 16-17 year olds then went on to talk about the four 19-20 year olds on the bus..

ChrisW

I reckon Harry has just six Harryisms that he keep churning out. I only ever hear or read the same six quotes!

pentonpompey

Rug, the four 19-20 year olds were all English according to HR... do we have that many?

ChrisW

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