Good luck to him. It’s unfortunate we couldn’t use him purely as a backup because I think he would have been a very capable and reliable deputy, just not good enough as a starter. I think Conte should shoulder most of the blame for the abuse he got when he kept picking him week in week out even when he was having bad games.
I've seen Conte get a lot of stick for all sorts, some of it vaguely plausible but flak for showing confidence in someone resulting in them playing in to form is a surprising take! And the person to blame for "abuse" is the person dishing it out - Whilst admittedly not going to many games, I didn't see any abuse, just the usual moaning from less than exemplary athletes in the stands / on the sofas expecting absolute perfection.
That said, definitely a likable player / personality and I echo the general sentiments posted of wishing him well, he'll smash it over there.
*Hope it doesn't seem like I'm picking on you, I just respectfully disagree and whilst I doubt we'll see eye to eye it's potentially worth a discussion but all good if not
Maybe “abuse” was a poor choice of words. There were a few boo boys and the odd groan when he made a mistake. I’m not against a manager sticking by a player and showing faith in them but there are limits to that. When something isn’t working eventually you have to change it and he didn’t help himself by sticking with Royal for so long IMO. more often then not, fans will go in on a player who is underperforming but my point was that sometimes the manager makes things worse by being to loyal to players. Poch was the same with Alli IMO although Alli was always a crowd favourite.
Good luck to him. It’s unfortunate we couldn’t use Maybe “abuse” was a poor choice of words. There were a few boo boys and the odd groan when he made a mistake. I’m not against a manager sticking by a player and showing faith in them but there are limits to that. When something isn’t working eventually you have to change it and he didn’t help himself by sticking with Royal for so long IMO. more often then not, fans will go in on a player who is underperforming but my point was that sometimes the manager makes things worse by being to loyal to players. Poch was the same with Alli IMO although Alli was always a crowd favourite.
Maybe “abuse” was a poor choice of words. There were a few boo boys and the odd groan when he made a mistake. I’m not against a manager sticking by a player and showing faith in them but there are limits to that. When something isn’t working eventually you have to change it and he didn’t help himself by sticking with Royal for so long IMO. more often then not, fans will go in on a player who is underperforming but my point was that sometimes the manager makes things worse by being to loyal to players. Poch was the same with Alli IMO although Alli was always a crowd favourite.