Earlier this week in UK tabloid "The Sun", ex footballing legend for Newcastle United, turned sports pundit, Alan Shearer, wrote an article aimed at advising fellow Newcastle star Andy Carol. My concern about this article is, shouldn't this type of advice take place over a pint in the pub together.
Andy Carol, became an awesome tower of strength and danger for Newcastle United back in 2006 at the grand old age of 17, a magnificent achievement for any aspiring young footballer trying to break into the English Premiership. It wasn't long before Andy Carols aerial threat and towering strength was catching the eye of managers right across the footballing spectrum, clubs at the time much bigger than the struggling Newcastle.
Liverpool Football Club was one of those clubs, placing a staggering bid of £45 Million on the table, of a then, struggling Newcastle United in the Premiership. Newcastle fans up and down the country begged the Newcastle board to keep their only shining hope, that was Andy Carol, however for Newcastle owner, Mike Ashley; the money was too much of a temptation and so Carol was sold to Liverpool.
As far as Newcastle fans where concerned, selling Andy Carol spelt the end of their time in the Premiership especially considering no big name replacements were bought with £45 million from the sale. For Liverpool fans, things where looking promising, although many thought that £45 for an inexperienced albeit excellent player, was a bit too much money to hand over. Although Andy Carol was a good striker, he had never proven himself in any of the big arenas such as Europe or domestic cup finals nor had he really inspired on an international front for England. Never the less Liverpool fans could see clearly the commitment from their new American owner.
However the fears of the Newcastle fans turned out to be unfounded and the joy of the Liverpool fans turned out to be very short lived. Carols move from Newcastle to Liverpool, seen Newcastle play better football and move up the Premiership, surpassing all expectations. Liverpool on the other hand, certainly from a fans perspective felt they had been sold a dud. Carols first two seasons with Liverpool where disastrous and of course many scratched their head as to why this shinning new talent from the North East of England was able to play like a Brazilian for Newcastle but like a Third Division player for Liverpool.
It was during this period where the likes of Alan Shearer, legend and superstar in his day, published article after article as to why Carol was under performing and one of those articles stated the Geordie was perhaps home sick for Newcastle. I must explain that from Liverpool to Newcastle is approximately a 3 hour drive apart.
Euro 2012 has just finished and although England entered the competition with very little expectation of winning due to many varying circumstances, new manager being one of them, I personally thought the England team played very well indeed. One thing a lot of people noticed during the competition, certainly Liverpool fans, was the performance Andy Carol displayed on the occasions he played, which were to a similar standard witnessed in his Newcastle days.
England wasn't the only club to get a new manager, Liverpool also got in a new manager and during the competition was studying his current stock and perhaps others for a possible purchase order. On Andy Carols return to Liverpool, despite his most recent performance, there has been high level of talk from the club that they are looking to off load Andy Carol and that he does not feature in the future building of Liverpool FC. It is this speculation that has spurred Alan Shearer to write advice for Andy Carol in the Sun. Whilst I don't have a problem with Shearer giving advice in a mentoring fashion to Carol, however I just feel that when Carol could have done with some advice when playing for Liverpool, I feel that the public statements from Shearer suggesting that Carol should dump Liverpool and move on are unhelpful.
the thing about ex footballers becoming Sports Commentators, is they seem to very rapidly forget the torrid time they received at the hands of sports commentators and reporters, taking this into consideration I feel that personal mentoring should be contained to personal surroundings and not the public forum of tabloid press or the studios of.
I have an immense level of respect for Alan Shearer and the massive contribution he has provided to English Football, but I still feel even he should have certain boundaries when it comes to personal opinions on a public forum.
