Tag: Legacy
Opinion: A failed rebellion from the Labour MPs as the Members votes to keep Jeremy Corbyn!
The United Kingdom politics seems to have changed a lot since the Brexit Election. Theresa May thinks she the second coming to the Queen and tries to the Iron Lady while triumphant acts like a winner; even if she just inherited the honourable Prime Minister government and traded seats to loyalist for her. Well, other news has been the disgraceful and despicable attacks on Jeremy Corbyn and his allies in the Labour Party. The Main Opposition party that has been under fire for their activity and nativity under the Brexit campaign; that has backfired on the central leadership and ended is disarray in the socialist party.
There we’re very few MPs in Public who we’re behind Jeremy Corbyn like Kate Osamor and few other rare Members of Parliament that we’re silent through the storm after the Brexit.
This happens as the knowledge of the rebel MPs who fled the ship and wanted to axe their leader without any concern of how recently he was elected. These we’re the likes of Peter Kyle, Emma Lewell-Buck, Peter Glass, Chris Evans, Heidi Alexander, Steve Reed, Lucy Powell, Ruth Smeeth, David Wayne, Chris Bryant, Ian Murray, Jess Phillips, Andy Slaughter, Lillian Greenwood and Angela Eagle. All of these MPs wrote letters resigning from the Shadow Cabinet and later worked to do what they could to marginalize their leader. They even had a vote in Parliament where they Opposition voted no-confidence in Corbyn.
In a big party as Labour there would be natural that their more than one major wing. In the Labour Party of United Kingdom, you have the Blairites, the once that you cannot spot the difference between if they are Liberal-Democrats (Lib-Dem) or Conservative Party (Tories) as they acts are the same, but hints of collective consideration when they need too. Than you have the Right-Wing socialist and Labour Unionist that is core bases of the Party. These two wings are the ones that have fought for control of the party. The Legacy of Tony Blair and his New Labour is hunting the Party like a vindictive disease that it cannot kill off. Instead the internal squabbles strengthen the Theresa May government and her brash tone towards the world. While the looking non-member possible voter feels that Labour Party is not the first choice because they cannot control themselves.
There been enough scandals and wrong methods from the leadership under Corbyn. But he has been a backbencher and not a key player until late. The once behind him and the core leadership should have backed him and given him better advice and made sure that certain Anti-Semite slurs wouldn’t be associated with the party and some of the MPs who are loyal to Corbyn. As much as Corbyn should have used a stronger force in the Brexit campaign to gain momentum for what he believed in at that junction. But let’s be clear, the coup d’état that the Shadow Cabinet Ministers are not how to run a party; it is how to ruin a party. Some of these should just flee the Labour Party; ask for forgiveness in their role of disfranchising the Unions and Members of the Party. Or be noble and find a new home. The rebel MPs should beg for forgiveness for weakening the party and their causes. This has wasted time and efforts for the cost of Labour.
The Corbyn Administration better use the time wisely and enter a method of sending their message and making sure programs offered the public can be sold and understood in Brighton and in Swindon.
Certainly the rebel MPs are the key losers today, but also the party because of the internal destruction and maladministration that has led to this effort. The Labour Party can become vital if their principals are in order and if the leadership are true to their balanced message. In a big party as Labour if there weren’t fractions, we as followers of them should be worried. Than there would an authoritarian leader who demands what the rest of the party should think and have on their mind.
If the Corbyn Administration doesn’t handle the rebels, then the friction between them will continue until next election. Even if the Theresa May Cabinet postpones the Article 50 into oblivion as she really wants to and just having a Brexit Minister and having boy-scout Boris Johnson proud-cocking around Europe to ask for forgiveness for his previous insults of the past. Even with all this in mind Corby and his loyal leadership around him has to consolidate and get a clear message, while handling the men and woman who did what they could to oust him. They tried to have both MP Angela Eagle and MP Owen Smith instead of him. The reaction of the matter is now clear as the Members wish to have Jeremy Corbyn longer staying with the helmet.
Certain tabloids and media houses should ask mercy to Corbyn for their attitude and stinking press of slur of ignorance and fixation on getting him axed. Like they wanted to destabilize the party in the wish to strengthen May Government! It isn’t just me who see that clear vindictive attitude of British press towards Corbyn? It was factory made press of banality and obstructive behaviour that we’re out of this world. The only one getting as much bad press, but deservingly so is Donald Trump and he speaks venom; that is not the ways of Corbyn.
Let’s be clear, if the Labour Party wants to be serious contender and become a Party of the People again. Then they have to consolidate and retaliate with fierce precision against the rebels while giving them limited options. MP Owen Smith can now go back to his constituency and try to win over with this lobbyist smile and “make this election the most important in the party history”.
If Labour want to reign again, then they have to go internally and fix, amend and show progress of stature and credible socialist message that can bring belief of a better future for workers, households and industry. Not only trading the Blairites for getting voters now. Corbyn, congratulation on your second victory in Inner-Party Election; now it is time to work! Peace.
What do Jay Z and President Museveni have in common? They don’t want to retire!
Yet again, I go all in. This is another one and not a DJ Khaled comment. This here is similarities between people or characters that usually are not in the same league. Here I am showing fist how Jay Z talked about retiring and then backing down a dropping a project or LP. This is a proof of that the gimmicks or promotional tools that we’re from the Def Jam and Roca-Fella Co-Founder and now millionaire artist.
It is these days that I am tired of the President Museveni and his system who just uses the state funds and institutions for own wealth than creating and developing society. President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni who has promised since taking the office with a brutal civil war in 1980s said he would step down. At each point, he has backtracked and given in. That means he has seeking more time in power and used more excuses to empower himself. Always if the Party wants him
2003 Jay Z after the ‘The Black Album’:
“It’s not like it was with Big and Pac” (…) “Hip-hop’s corny now” (…) “There’ll be no more full-length Jay-Z albums. I might do a soundtrack in a year or two. Maybe a collaboration. But only after a year. I want to let it alone for at least a year” (…) “Well, like Jordan said, ‘I’ve got to leave myself a window” (…) “If people take it back to when we were making hot albums and I’m just totally inspired and I’m like, I want in, then that could happen. But I don’t foresee it” (Toure, 2003).
2005 Jay Z Q&A in the XXL Magazine:
“Just from making albums. I still make songs. It bugs me when people say, “I thought you was retired.” I clearly said—and I also said that I’m human. So maybe one day if I’m on the corner and it’s calling me—I don’t wanna just box myself in where I can’t make another album—I’ll do it anyway. But it bothers me when people say, “I thought you was retired,” if I make a song or if I do a verse on somebody’s joint. I never said I wasn’t making anymore music. I should’ve shut up. That’s what I should’ve did. Me and my big mouth” (Bry, 2005).
2006 Jay Z with the ‘The Kingdom Come’:
“the worst retirement in history” (…) “”I believed it, yeah. I believed it for two years” (…) “Something, when you love it, is always tugging at you and itching, and I was putting it off and putting it off. I started fumbling around to see if it felt good” (…) “If I wake up one day and the best material has passed me by — and that’s going to happen, then it’s time to move on. I’ve said what I wanted to say” (CBC Arts, 2006).
2007 Jay Z with the ‘American Gangster’:
“LOS ANGELES, Sept. 19 — Jay-Z, the rap superstar and president of Def Jam Records, has quietly returned to the studio to record an album of new songs inspired by the forthcoming movie “American Gangster,” his first “concept” album and second CD in less than a year” (Halbfinger & Leeds, 2007).
And we know that Jay Z has released albums ever since and also features. So it is not like he ever retired only talked about it. The big bang with ‘The Black Album’ we’re just a fade that didn’t really go into Black as the artist went back into studio time and time again. Let’s take a look at President Museveni and his long time stay in the role of Executive.
Museveni in 2002:
“When he took power in 1986, Yoweri Kaguta Museveni said he considered the idea of a Head of State clinging to office for “15 or more” years ill-advised. Although it is now 16 years since Museveni made this statement he is still comfortably lolling in office and has just embarked on his 17th year as Uganda’s Head of State. In last year’s filthy elections that he won by 69 per cent of the votes cast, Museveni took a high moral ground by claiming that had his votes not been stolen he could have garnered more than 75 per cent. However, his supporters were contented with 69 per cent, which they interpreted as a resounding endorsement for Museveni to rule for life” (…) “In his usual idiosyncratic meddling way and new role as Africa’s peacemaker, elder statesman and continental unifier, Col. Muammar Gadhafi, while attending Museveni’s inauguration, urged him to be a perpetual leader. While addressing a national conference of Museveni’s ruling National Resistance Movement on May 11, 2001, he urged Ugandans to allow Museveni to rule for “as long as possible.” “Revolutionary leaders should not have expiry dates, like tinned drinks. My brother Museveni was born a revolutionary. He should continue for as long as he has the ability to do so,” Gadhafi said. Despite this enormous pressure to rule forever, Museveni had the gall to promise, yet again, that he would not contest again after his new mandate expires. Determining the truth of this statement might not need the services of a clairvoyant” (Okumu, 2002).
Musveni in 2005:
“Mr Museveni, 62, said he was sure of victory at the election. He thanked MPs who voted overwhelmingly this year to scrap a presidential time limit that would have required him to step down. “That provision was not wise at all, because the problems Africa faces are not always time-bound,” he said” (Vasagar, 2005).
Museveni in 2006:
“I need the power of the state to solve the problems of our people” (…) “I don’t need power to live, by the way” (…) “My cows are waiting for me” (Savage, 2006).
Museveni in 2012:
“The term limits, which would have forced Museveni to stand down in 2006, were scrapped in a process that did not enjoy popular appeal and after MPs were offered inducements to support the move. Museveni, however, told CNN that debate on term limits and his longevity in office were not a priority. “What is important for Uganda,” he said, “is to deal with the country’s development bottlenecks and not who should be the president.” (HabariNetwork, 2012).
Museveni in 2014:
“Well, I don’t think Ugandans are as obsessed with my retirement as Ssemujju seems to be because when I go to ask them at the elections, five million say don’t go, you stay” (…) “You have heard them, singing tajakugenda tajakugenda (he won’t go). So if Ugandans really were like Ssemujju, I would be happy to retire because I am not lacking where to retire. I am a member of my party and I do what my party wants” (Okuda 2014).
What has Museveni said in the past (2014):
“There is nothing much to look forward to, about what the president is going to say on Thursday; I think the greatest thing I would want to hear from him is telling us when he’s going read his last State of the Nation Address,” the former bush war comrade told Chimpreports this morning” (…) “When I was in cabinet, Museveni said that Africa’s biggest problem was people who overstay in power. At one time he wanted to go and graze his cattle once he clocked 55,” recalled Mushega, who fought with Museveni in the liberation war that toppled the military junta of the Okellos in 1986” (ChimpReports, 2014).
There are clear indications of the same mentality between the men. They are both seeking to be honoured for their positions and don’t wanted to leave when they had left a legacy. Instead they are continuing to either be in office or drop LPs.
The proof that they both just wanted to earn on their place in society is proven. As Jay Z has for a long time said he would retire from Hip Hop, but on the next crossroad dropped a project. President Museveni has many times said he want to retire and be with his cows. Instead he runs again because in reality he wants to run the nation and control it all. Mzee have been pledging and promising to leave power after ten years when he came into office after the 1980s civil war. Now he is still there after 30 years. As seen he has promised to step down since then. The words of those statements are worthless. Therefore, don’t expect him to go out of office before his casket. Peace.
Reference:
Bry, David – ‘Jay Z, “Look At Me Now” (Originally Published August 2005)’ link: http://www.xxlmag.com/news/throwbacks/2013/07/jay-z-look-at-me-now-originally-published-august-2005/
CBC Arts – ‘Jay-Z ends “retirement” with new album’ (14.09.2006) link: http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/jay-z-ends-retirement-with-new-album-1.583720
ChimpReports – ‘Mushega: Museveni Wanted To Retire At 55’ (02.07.2014) link: http://www.chimpreports.com/20658-mushega-museveni-wanted-to-retire-at-55/
HabariNetwork – ‘UGANDA’S PRESIDENT MUSEVENI HINTS AT RETIREMENT IN 2016’ (16.04.2012) link: http://www.thehabarinetwork.com/ugandas-president-museveni-hints-at-retirement-in-2016/2
Halbfinger, David M. & Leeds, Jeff – ‘For Jay-Z, Inspiration Arrives in a Movie’ (20.09.2007) link: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/20/arts/music/20jayz.html?_r=0
Okuda, Ivan – ‘Ugandans don’t want me to leave – Museveni’ (07.12.2014) link: http://mobile.monitor.co.ug/News/News/Ugandans-don-t-want-me-to-leave—Museveni/-/2466686/2547152/-/format/xhtml/-/uuwodw/-/index.html
Okumu, Wafula – ‘The Travails and Antics of Africa’s “Big Men” – How Power Has Corrupted African Leaders’ (11.04.2002) link: http://www.theperspective.org/africabigmen.html
Savage, Sam – ‘Back to my cows? Not yet, says Uganda’s Museveni’ (22.02.2006), Link: http://www.redorbit.com/news/international/401452/back_to_my_cows_not_yet_says_ugandas_museveni/#fbd7eO1Py393CEUh.99
Toure – ‘MUSIC; Superstardom Is Boring: Jay-Z Quits (Again)’ (16.11.2003) link: http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/16/arts/music-superstardom-is-boring-jay-z-quits-again.html?pagewanted=all
Vasagar, Jeevan – ‘Museveni to stand for re-election after detention of his main rival’ (21.11.2005) link: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2005/nov/21/uganda.jeevanvasagar
President Obiang of Equatorial Guinea Congratulates his friend President Museveni on his victory (20.01.2016)
“No Peace In Uganda” – CBC’s The Journal from 1985 (Youtube-Clip)
“The Journal’s Ann Madina investigates the period in Uganda after Milton Obote is deposed in a second coup.It highlights the period when the civil war was raging in Luwero shortly before the NRA marched to Kampala” (CBC USA Footage/Clip)
Mzee might think Besigye and Muntu is “unserious” about Veterans Pay; We think you are foolish Mzee; Who don’t compensate those who fought for you or the country you have been running!
“Besigye and Muntu don’t talk in a serious manner. They just talk in a manner which is not serious, which is not responsible. I am also a veteran, I have not been paid. I am actually a bigger veteran than all those fellows combined” – Yoweri Kaguta Museveni at a presidential rally in Busoga late December as a response to FDC leaders in Yumbe the same week.
We have all heard rubbish before from Mzee. Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has been speaking with power before. This is nothing new. This is actually normalcy. If he didn’t address the matter like Abim Hospital visit, he wouldn’t be his normal self. He can’t help himself.
We know that all three is veterans. They all served under the army or battalions of either rebels or governmental forces. Even if we go back to the now governmental forces; that are now the former rebel forces, that is going back to 1980s.
We know that Yoweri Kaguta Museveni have been in army since 1970s, even Dr. Kizza Besigye have become a colonel, Mughisa Muntu who became a General in the same army. Yoweri himself became only a lieutenant. And he claims to be more than them. That is kind of ridiculous. That is not what the matter is about!
The matter remains on one single fact. Veterans are supposed to be supported after fighting for the causes of their nation, armies and their expected time spent serving their nation. It is a way of securing moral authority and validity of the nation by paying back to the citizens who pick up arms.
A national leader and head of state will know the value of their armies. Even the great dictator Robert Mugabe or Bob of Zimbabawe do. Recently the only paid civil servants are the army personnel, not teachers, bureaucrats or other state officials. That is because they have army training and can point guns. They can make a coup d’état or overthrow a regime. That is why certain individual leaders decide to be gentlemen with their armies and keep them happy first, to secure their power.
That is not always the way. Yoweri Kaguta Museveni is different recent reports tells a story of his army in the AMISOM mission in Somalia have not been paid for 9 months. Their wife can have a baby in the time they are out in the field and still not wage for their duty. That should lead to mutiny in the field. Though that news would not come out, unless there we’re reports from eye-witness through social media, because the press sending news from Somalia is payed and secured by the agents of the states who have armies as a part of the AMISOM. The matter why I say this? Is simple! When the leader of the day doesn’t really sufficiently pays the armies who fight for him now? Why would he pay the ones who are done serving him?
Mzee can say that he is more of fighter then the two FDC leaders, still doesn’t make it right. Secondly he can say that he isn’t paid for his duties as them. That doesn’t make his argument right. As the head-of-state for 29 years, he had time to fix the issues and secure funding and funds to foot-the-bills and make a difference on the matter if it really did matter to him. Instead he has secured business for him and his family. Made sure his farm has gotten more cows and gotten bigger private planes and car-park. Not securing funding for veterans or payment for salaries of the armies of today. That is beautiful like a masterpiece of thieving, not being a statesman. Something Mzee should be by now. He have had the time to leave the legacy. Instead he have been thieving and taking money through special programs. NSSF and other have been embezzled for ages. That is how he has afforded to this business.
That is why Mzee haven’t been too busy building out hospitals or medical systems. Since he can now afford to travel abroad with him and his family to be healthy. That is the life of the president. Who can himself travel to Saudi Arabia, United Kingdom or anywhere else to secure health care, why build your own countries health care when you can pay abroad for the care with the tax-payers money.
Mzee have surely kissed his own ass and served himself well. That the statehouse in Entebbe is the state of the art, house in Nakasero hill is a fortress and his farm have more equipment then a American Southern farm of the same size. He surely doesn’t need veterans pay. As so many of the other men who fought the same wars as him or the ones who fought for him after in DRC or recently in South Sudan for that matter. Well, they are just common folk, you only need their vote and that they vote for you know and then. Well, they don’t need a secure lively hood, they are just common folk, and they can fix that on small plots with the hoes they are not getting from you! Because you can’t allocate funds for that either!
Mzee you can say that Besigye and Muntu are not speaking in serious matter. If they we’re speaking in a serious manner, they would do like me, and make you naked. You’re the king in the new clothes. And that is none! Be proud of you none pay of veterans salary; While you have embezzled more funds than letters in the bible. To be honest it is kind of impressive and sad at the time! So with your magnificent lifestyle you can’t compete with the common man who fought for you and deserve creditials and compensation for served time. They are the ones that need so, not you, you Mzee have already taken enough and eaten enough. And you should stop taking your armies for granted. You never know when the time is up and when their hunger strike at you. Peace.
PLO Lumumba – “We are Co-Authors of our misfortune”
Interesting, right? Enlightenment, right?
Peace!
#RhodesMustGo: Statement on the Marikana Campaign (18.08.2015)
Following the wave of decolonial rage incited and ignited by the #RhodesMustFall movement, we have been consistently misunderstood, misrepresented, silenced and intimidated by wolves in sheep’s clothing- the colonial institutions we are learning to deconstruct.
In the shadow of the anniversary of the massacre of Marikana, #RhodesMustFall will relentlessly drive forward the project of decolonisation to its logical conclusion. The University of Cape Town, as an integral part of the machinery of colonialism, is deeply implicated in the events of Marikana, and we are here, if only to break that machinery into pieces.
The massacre of Marikana lies at the center of the problem of South Africa. The collusion of the state and white monopoly capital has not been clearer since the negotiated settlement that formed the nightmare that is contemporary South Africa- the ‘new’ dispensation.
On Thursday, August 16th, South African Police Services killed 34 protesters at a platinum mine, owned by the Lonmin company, and located in a town called Marikana. This display of police brutality was targeted at protestors who were fighting for a living wage.
The tragedy of this expression of state violence must be historicised and contextualised. In amidst the nuances and contradictions of the details of the massacre, the #RhodesMustFall movement echoes the call to target the roots of the tree, and by the roots, we explicitly refer to the violence of a) South Africa, b) the state, and c) it’s police, as an underpinning and unholy trinity of our nation’s (dys)function.
As a movement standing for the notion that ‘Rhodes’- as a symbol of the colonial situation of our nation- must fall, it is with bittersweet irony that we discover that the London Stock Exchange listed company, Lomnin, was a former division of the company known as LonRho (London Rhodes).
Without decolonisation, these structures will continue to demolish post-1994 reforms as they move forward with their colonial objectives. In the words of the revolutionary, Frantz Fanon, we remember –
“Colonialism hardly ever exploits the whole of a country. It contents itself with bringing to light the natural resources, which it extracts, and exports to meet the needs of the mother country’s industries, thereby allowing certain sectors of the colony to become relatively rich. But the rest of the colony follows its path of under-development and poverty, or at all events, sinks into it more deeply.”
So what does this have to do with UCT?”
#RhodesMustFall, as we have articulated since our inception, has identified the University of Cape Town as amongst the key spaces and institutions that uphold the criminal status quo in which we find ourselves today. Through the legacy of the likes of Cecil John Rhodes, we have endeavoured to dig up the thinly veiled web of wealth, domination and violence that UCT has continuously benefitted from since its establishment.
In this, our next phase, we vow to hold the university accountable for its relationship to the unending violence against black bodies in Azania. It is an open secret that the University of Cape Town has, for several years, invested millions in mining corporations, in particular, Lonmin, through its retirement annuities. This has remained unchanged since the tragedy of Marikana.
We therefore encourage the public to work collectively in requesting the financial records of this institution because in moving forward, transparency is key.
The enormous financial contributions made by the mining sector to the university have, of course, come at a cost. The impact on knowledge production is most visceral in the engineering, economics and politics departments who house many programmes that propagate a neo-liberal conception of development and society that does little more than prepare them for careers and professions that exist to preserve the status quo and generate white monopoly capital. We note with disdain the particular deficiencies in the UCT economics department that has been established as a factory for the kinds of uncritical capitalistic thinking that will ensure that the events of Marikana will be repeated.
And of this we are certain:
Without decolonisation, Marikana will happen again.
As a self-avowed elite institution, UCT has garnered and fostered close relationships with multinational corporations who arrive at our doorstep with Trojan horses at career fairs, and on our donor acknowledgement boards. Many UCT graduates are granted safe passage into these organisations, while during education as students, are structurally and violently denied the information and history of the ground upon which they stand. The consequence is the repeated misdirection of potential skill, energy and passion away from the benefit of the majority of South Africans and toward the ends of white monopoly capital.
To further demonstrate the complicity of the ivory tower of UCT, we call to attention the presence of Judge Iam Farlam, the chair of the Marikana inquiry commission, on the university council. The #RhodesMustFall movement calls for the immediate removal of Judge Ian Farlam from council. This arises firstly out of a conflict of interest, as evidenced by the connections between Lonmin and UCT, but crucially as a response to the conclusions drawn by Judge Farlam in his report as highlighted below:
“The evidence shows -(a) that the tragic events at Marikana are rooted in widespread labour disputes in the area, particularly, at Lonmin’s Karee mine and at the nearby Impala Platinum Mine (‘Implats’) which were characterized by violence, intimidation and loss of life and the undermining of agreed collective bargaining processes; and (b) that the tragic events that occurred during the period 12 to 16 August 2012 originated from the decision and conduct of the strikers in embarking on an unprotected strike and in enforcing the strike by violence and intimidation, using dangerous weapons for the purpose”.
The conclusion listed above clearly places the root responsibility of the escalation of Marikana’s violence onto a disinherited black working class, which itself chooses to overlook the continual violence of the establishment of the mines themselves, and their historical role in the class formation and racialisation of African peoples. This is a tragedy of devastating gendered consequence, but this truth is unsurprisingly invisibilised by the power structure whose mobility is reliant on constructed and upheld ‘black dysfunction’.
Judge Ian Farlam failed to hold to account the state’s involvement in the massacre of Marikana and failed to identify the root of the violence that resulted in the murder of 34 mine workers. His decision and participation in this case must be problematised, as he sits on a governance structure that makes financial decisions regarding investments of Lomnin, (amongst others) the company involved in, and criminally complicit in this case.
The #RhodesMustFall collective reminds the UCT community in particular, that we are presently participating in the exploitation of our own workers. The struggle of the workers here is no different to those at Marikana. They demand a decent living wage of R10 500, as outsourced workers who are struggling for dignity, as they continue to prop up a university that celebrates its position as ‘the top in Africa’. We understand it as one whose ‘success’ lies purely in its upholding of the status quo.
In closing,
#RhodesMustFall demand the immediate renaming of the Jameson Memorial Hall to Marikana Memorial Hall, the removal of Judge Ian Farlam from council, a statement from the Vice Chancellor condemning the massacre, and the report and submission of a dossier detailing UCT’s relationship to mining corporations in Southern Africa.
Izwe Lethu,
M’Afrika
#RhodesMustFall
Proven that loyalty is dying in modern football – the example of Fabian Delph
Its silly season just some weeks before the Premier League starts up again. All the teams try to add on with players to sustain their place or get into a better position than last year. Teams that have gotten from the Championship for example Watford have used a tiny fortune on new players. Another team that are trying to be champion is Manchester United who has bought half of central Europe players and part of the Mediterranean countries big players to get into the league of Chelsea and Arsenal again. But this story is about neither. This story will be about loyalty.
Aston Villa is the old aristocrat in the Premier League. The Birmingham club is a royalty in some ways. Not that it’s Reading who has the nickname. But still the history of the club and range of level it has given the league it deserves credit. Times are changing big money has arrived and been here awhile. So that English players are getting rare in the British league of Premier League. Whatever Greg Dyke or Richard Scudamore is saying is because the FA getting loads of money with the TV deals. That is giving the clubs more money but isn’t helping the movement of players that really representing their clubs in the long run. You can’t buy loyalty. Especially when you can go from being a kid in the sticks and in a few years’ time to having a £30k a week and if you switch to the big ones you can get £100k a week.
This story is not about Raheem Sterling. He went as a kid from QPR and built a reputation in Liverpool. Wanted to win things and went to for the highest price ever for a British player £44m to Manchester City. This story that I am telling and describing is about Fabian Delph. Fabian Delph was first as a youth in Bradford City and Leeds. Later he was on a pro contract for Leeds for three years from 2006 – 2009. Delph was in 2009 Young Player of the Year. He went for about £8m to Aston Villa.
So now that we’re in 2015. There is more money in the League. We have title chasers who needs English players in the team line-up. This team is the same as the one who got Sterling. A team that has lost most of their English players in recent years the only player who has stayed through the years in the central team is goalie Joe Hart. Micah Richards went for free from Manchester City to Aston Villa. James Milner who the current manager Pellegrini and former manager Manchini who liked his services still him left on Bosman to Liverpool. They sold Boyata to Celtic as well before this season. The savior was the loan in from New York new club and former Chelsea player Frank Lampard. But now he really went over to the club. So in this sense the whole world has known about that the rich club Manchester City and it’s struggle to keep and getting good British players.
It’s in this context that Fabian Delph comes in. He was the captain in a team that barley saved them last year in the Premier League. Before Tim Sherwood came in there been two and a half years of Paul Lamberts reign. Three years of barley making it and having 2 months without goals last season before Tim Sherwood got hired as manager for the club. Also that the glamour of O’Neill era is totally gone and the owner tried to sell the club for ages. Therefore the budgets and standard of the squad has gone down. There haven’t been much invested in new players for a long time.
So this year’s silly season has been important for Aston Villa. Christian Benteke and Fabian Delph have been rumored away to Liverpool and Manchester City. They are the stars on the team together with Agbonlahor and Vlaar. Even been talk about Vlaar leaving the club.
Seven days ago Fabian Delph said that he would be loyal to the club. As he was proud of being captain of the team at that time the club they starting working on a new contract offer to Fabian Delph so that he would be appreciated at that level. They wanted upgrade the old contract of £30k a week to £80k a week. So that he would stay and feel rightfully earning in the league he has been playing in since 2009.
A Short Timeline:
On the 11th July 2015 he promised loyalty to Aston Villa after months of rumors and also closely going to medical in Manchester. This was after he was taken off the official internet page of the club and also in the ads for the new shirt.
Then later this week on the 16th July he switched his mind and went on with the deal to Manchester City. Had a medical and is rumored to sign a £100k a week for the Manchester club. Also he is part of filling up the quota of British players in the club. Leaving behind Aston Villa where he was captain.
So now two days after leaving for the second time the Birmingham club in the same summer. We can see why many fans are displeased with Fabian Delph. For a few days ago he promised himself again to Aston Villa. He signed a new contract for the club already in January. He has been a player who captured interest of big clubs for a while. In his contract he had a buy-out clause that Manchester City £8m. This was been met easily and is a cheap transfer for a British player for the club. When the prices of this players are souring look at Luke Shaw, Raheem Sterling and so on.
Therefore with this surprise move that he initially went from Aston Villa to Manchester City is a downer. It kills me a bit by bit because as a football fan we wish to have positive players who have loyalty to their clubs. It’s harder and harder to get by the day. I am not a Liverpool fan, still I wish there was more players like Stephen Gerrard. Fewer players are staying most of the careers in one team instead they are changing for a fortune anywhere else. In the same team its one player that is a standout I have already mention him as a star on the team: Gabriel Agbonlahor is loyal team player with quality. He is one of the few pivotal players you have in the Premier League. And he is a humble and a good guy.
So it’s sadden that the youth talent that came from 2009 came from Leeds went from Aston Villa on 16.07.2015 to Manchester City. So the speeches and quotes of loyalty in the start of the week was utter rubbish. City and Citizens should be happy for this coup. Delph is an amazing player. Always enjoyed watching him playing for Villa so it’s sad to see him leaving a team where he has a major impact and just be pawn on the chess set on the tactical field in Manchester. Like Bony was a phenomenon in Swansea after coming from Twente as a magnificent goal-scorer. He was a machine and a wonder to watch in Swansea. After my reckoning he scored two goals and two whole matches and 8 times substitute for the team.
If Delph will get the same treatment is not something I can proclaim. But that he want has as much impact as in Villa is a simple truth. Because Manchester City have more midfielders and players of quality then Villa, which we all know and also Delph already should know. So that he has changed from being a man and player speaking about loyalty. That loyalty only lasted less than a week. When he again went to City and got the new high paying contract.
I respect even more players like Stephen Gerrard and Agbonlahor, when I see how the summer sales are going. I am sad also by the way Iker Casillas went from Real Madrid to Porto. After winning everything worth having in the club he had been in all career. Stephen Gerrard had the same and even if he left for Los Angeles Galaxy with respect. Casillas went with sadness and not as hero. The same was with Xavi recently from Barcelona to the Middle East somewhere. So seeing players like this staying loyal and only leaving at the last straw of their career. That is because they want to be the main player in a club. And with their legacy they deserve something else then playing second fiddle. Though I hope they will come back to the club as representative and being part of backroom staff in the years to come. I don’t believe that will happen to Iker Casillias.
Delph has to stay somewhere and being loyal to it to get remember there. He has already made a mark in the jersey of Aston Villa. If he had stayed he could be respect and an honorable player in this times when fees and salaries are increasing to fairytale level. Therefore Agbonlahor could be an example for Delph. It’s understandable that certain players using clubs like Aston Villa as a stepping stone to a bigger club. Even if the club it’s like a royalty in the league. Still hasn’t had a top position since Martin O’Neill. Therefore players like Delph could have been a foundation for a bigger team and building a stabile club that could be far away from the three year relegation battle. Tim Sherwood can bring a lot of passion into a team. Still he needs quality and players that are loyal to his vision and club. As every club need. Delph in time he would be seen as a cornerstone in the midfield of the club and remembered as a loyal club player. A player who was there for the team while it was struggling for three seasons to battle relegation and trying to establish itself as a secure club in the league. Instead he went for the quick money in Manchester City. In a club that has won the league twice in last 4 years. They have gotten all the money of the world. But is the epitome of what is wrong in modern football. Though I am not a great fan of Manchester United, I still wish City to win over them, just because of the arrogance of the red devils. Still, the money of City doesn’t by the heritage and history as Villa has. That Delph could continue to be a part of. Especially since he spoke of loyalty recently, then switched and went anyway. Raheem Sterling did everything in his way to get out of Anfield and Liverpool. Delph was different and was silent as silly season went on. The rumors we’re steady. We all knew that City needed British players in this transfer window. They got two now and has Joe Hart. So they got quality homegrown players now.
Nevertheless Fabian Delph has proven that money is more important than leaving a legacy. As so many other players of his time as written before I wish there was more players like Stephen Gerrard and Gabriel Agbonlahor. They are heroes in my football heart even if I am not a supporter of their teams. Because these players are humble and hardworking staying to strive for their teams over time, on the other hand are Raheem Sterling and Fabian Delph.
A week went by and the truth came to surface what was important for Fabian Delph. So let’s see how his impact will be in the new squad and I hope that Villa get a new replacement that will stay and build on the new vision that Tim Sherwood has. And yes, I can’t wait for a new season and campaign of 2015/2016 in the Premier League. Rest of silly will be interesting, but I hope that no player plays it out as Delph did. The way he promised loyalty and then in like a windfall going back to Manchester City for a new medical. He has surely signed a new contract and gotten the number and new shirt for his new team. As he left Birmingham and went for the money, if I can advise him on one thing not that I believe he will read a single word I wrote. Fabian Delph shouldn’t speak again about loyalty and love for a club before you actually prove it in action. Peace.