Ciftci moving on

It would appear that Nadir Ciftci has played his last game for Pompey, well if not he will be leaving at the end of the season.

Steve Cotterill has told The News today that the teenager has informed him that he will not be signing a new contract with Pompey when his current one expires at the end of the season.

So, he will be free to move onto whatever club he wants without a fee, just some 'training compensation', which history has proven is not much...

'Perhaps' Ciftci's head has been turned by people 'whispering in his ear' and 'perhaps' Ciftci is not as good - at this point in time - as he might think he is, although I cannot help but think had he, and many other youngsters, been treated a little differently by Cotterill the outcome would have been different?

A 'divide' between the senior pros and youngsters looks quite evident - you only need to watch the guys warming up before a game, during it and at half time to see an almost 'them and us' kind of thing. Then again I guess that this is not uncommon in football, in fact all walks of life.

To be fair to Cotterill I can occasionally see where he is coming from with some of his thoughts about Ciftci, as it seems quite evident that he still has a fair amount to learn and needs to be told sometimes, although there are ways of doing this and I do think that some comments that have been made about him, and other youngsters, are uncalled for and not required.

It does not seem as though Cotterill has a good relationship with the youngsters, and by all accounts does not handle them very well. Word on the street is that Ciftci has basically told him to 'stick it' and others are of the same opinion, some of these senior players?

Cotterill most definitely MUST start to be a little more diplomatic and MUST cut out this constant need to talk about people in the way he does. The talking about 'his signings' being better than other players that are available but without the experience, or the benefit of being brought in by him, does grate and it seems these can do not wrong not matter how much wrong they do - this reminds me very much of a manager from our past...

Joel Ward, 'close' to signing another contract extension by all accounts, could quite easily have followed the same path as Ciftci as Cotterill quite clearly did not fancy him.

Maybe the fact that Wardy is local and has that undoubted desire to make it him prevented him from giving in and wanting to prove Cotterill wrong, perhaps something Ciftci was not as up for that though?

As said though Cotterill MUST start treating the youngsters a little more fairly as his criticism of them in the public eye often does little to help - a diplomatic approach seems to be something he lacks, but he needs to find it where ALL are concerned, not just some.

At the moment I would 'suspect' that Tom Kilbey will follow him out the Fratton exit gates at the summer, although hopefully he can be given a little bit more of a chance - like Ward was - and can prove to Cotterill he is worthy of a longer-term stay.

I suspect that Ciftci has had agents and the like giving him misguided advice, and if he is proving a mercenary like others before him good riddance to him leaving, although I cannot help but think had he been handled a little differently, and his fairly obvious talent nurtured a bit better we could have seen a good player for us over the coming years that we 'probably' would have received a decent transfer fee in the end.

Now we get next to nothing...

Hey ho, what can you do eh!

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