After The Spoiler’s visit to Stan’s talkSPORT studio, the gulf between blogs and former players is wider than ever.
Dear Stan,
Oh dear. That didn’t go too well, did it? Not radio’s finest half hour. Still, thanks for having me.
There seems to be some confusion over my comment that players can’t be fans, not least because it was so poorly articulated, so let’s clear that one up. You say that fans cannot have the same appreciation of the game that players have. “Have you ever been in a professional dressing room?” you asked. (Of course I haven’t - why would I?) And only an imbecile would attempt to argue that this doesn’t give you an exclusive perspective on the game. So I agree - as players you have direct, first hand knowledge of situations that spectators can only watch and speculate about.
My point was that by the same standard, players cannot have the same experience of the game that fans have. Yes you can have supported a team since childhood, yes you can still put your scarf on and go and watch them. But the fans’ experience is one of identifying with their team at one remove - we don’t score the goals ourselves, you do it on our behalf. We don’t save the penalties with your own hands, you do it for us. Fans spend years of their lives meditating on football and develop immensely sophisticated and emotional theories about the game, but we don’t know first hand what the pressures and personalities are that shape play - we can only guess. So you can either know what it’s like to play professional football or wonder what it’s like to play professional football, but not both. (And this is not to mention players being unable to physically participate in the fans’ experience of following the team, week in, week out or the contradiction of having to wear the colours of one team while supporting another.)
So when you set out your credentials as a fan - you mentioned the time when your drove to see England with your home made flag - I don’t doubt your passion for the occasion, but when you sit in the stands, you are Stan the ex-pro, not Stan the fan. People want to talk to you because you were a player, not because you are an anonymous face in the crowd. And what did they want to know about? Life in the West Midlands? Of course not - they want to suck as much of your football experience out of you as possible, in an attempt fill in that unbridgeable gap in knowledge between the player and the fan.
The point of this rather tedious argument is to counter your assertion that only players are truly qualified to talk about the game, that fans’ opinions are less valid than professional opinions or however you choose to express it. They’re not. Players know what it’s like to play, fans know what it’s like to be a fan. And never the twain shall meet.
As for your “one man mission” to become Nicklas Bendtner’s biggest fan, and your bringing Arsene Wenger in as support, has it occurred to you that M. Wenger is unlikely to publicly express anything other than support for Mr Bendtner, and that sometimes his comments to reporters and his private thoughts may be two entirely separate things? (See his comments on Arsenal’s second goal not being offside last night, for example.) Not sure that one would stand up in court.
Anyway, before you die of boredom, perhaps we could settle this one if you could just clarify exactly what your criteria are for choosing your “Hero of the Week.”
Best,
Ed Needham
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13 responses so far
1 Mwepu_Llunga // Mar 18, 2009 at 3:37 pm
I think his criteria for ‘Hero of the Week’ is which player will ellicit the most controversy. Apparently next week he’s putting forward Heurelho Gomes as player of the season. On a more serious note if ‘Stan The Man’ was to get out of shock-jock mode a little more often, as he does for the most part on his non-TalkSport media work he’d do himself far more justice. Despite presuming on his entry into punditry that he’d be garbage he’s actually pretty damn good!
2 Jack // Mar 18, 2009 at 3:40 pm
Make it two men mission in supporting Nicklas. I think he is ace!! His penetration led us to the equaliser with 7-2-1 formation Hull and it was just one example. He works his socks off. Maybe he is not as precise as Henry, not just yet, but he still works as hard as ever… When Henry was 21, he was at Monaco, played 105 games and scored 20 goals.. and couldn’t settle in a position.. Nicklas already scored more than that already… Give him some time…
3 p1tsy // Mar 18, 2009 at 3:57 pm
Jack. Wash your keyboard out with soap lad. Bendtner should never be compared to Henry. Henry was a legend. Bendtner is a poor Arsenal player. Better compared to Hartson or the like. Bendtner will never be in the league that’s 3 leagues behind the same league as Thierry Henry
4 Mr. Chopper // Mar 18, 2009 at 4:10 pm
Bendtner is too young to a legend, not good enough to be ace and too up his own arse to ever be a hero. You need to show humility to be a true hero.
Which is why my hero of the week was Andrea Dossena. Poor chump. He’s been shite since he came, retrained as some sort of Rafa-esque winger ( see Kuyt, Babel, Aurélio, etc - i.e. NOT WINGERS) and scored two cherries to place upon the cake that was our week.
Still, Nicklas is only 21. He has plenty of time to learn he’s not as good as he thinks he is, have some respect and come back as the new Jon Dahl Tomasson. Or eat shitloads of cakes and pies and become the new Tomas Brolin. That would be awesome.
5 gamblos // Mar 18, 2009 at 4:27 pm
You’re right about this getting a bit tedious. Who’s Stanley’s team anyway? Should be the mighty wolves for a Cannock boy like him!
6 McRib // Mar 18, 2009 at 5:16 pm
“perhaps we could settle this one if you could just clarify exactly what your criteria are for choosing your “Hero of the Week.””
- Duh! It’s obviously the player who fluffs the largest amount of chances in a single game.
Anyway, as a player Stan still isn’t more qualified to give his opinion of Bendtner because he hasn’t played for Wenger nor has he been in an dressing room with Bendtner. And if the average footy fan’s opinion doesn’t stand up to his, why does he host a show asking for them to call in? Why not just get ex pros to call in so we can all learn something from the people who REALLY know? I’ll record the show and take notes, maybe then I’ll truly be qualified to have an opinion on football.
7 Upminster Iron // Mar 18, 2009 at 5:27 pm
McRib, are you aware that he read your brilliant comment where you called him a journeyman (and far worse!) live on air at the end of his show last night?
8 Tony, Portsmouth // Mar 18, 2009 at 7:14 pm
Why didn’t you say any of this to him personally? Your sardonic wit seemed to have left you when you were in the studio.
9 McRib // Mar 18, 2009 at 7:26 pm
No, I stopped listening when Ed left. What did he say about it?
10 Upminster Iron // Mar 18, 2009 at 8:33 pm
I guess during ads he must have checked here to see what people were saying and then he said “McRib says” and read out your comment about him being a journeyman who won nothing (minus the swear words) then said “I scored in this competition, got a hat-trick for this team etc” before calling people that have a go on the internet keyboard warriors. I’m guessing a podcast will be available at some point, maybe now even, so be sure to check it out!
11 Matt // Mar 19, 2009 at 11:47 am
Is there a clip of the tuesday interview on the net somwhere?
12 Ryan Bailey // Mar 19, 2009 at 11:58 am
@Matt - We think talkSPORT will be releasing a podcast at some time this week, if not already.
13 jls // Mar 19, 2009 at 1:09 pm
@Jack - I am so with you on that, so I think that makes it about a three people mission now. He will be great, he just needs a bit of time. And if the Arsenal fans keep getting on his case, some more time and a better club.