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Pride in the shirt
Pride in the shirt
Monday, 10th Sep 2012 20:06 by Roller

QPR blogger Roller considers whether loyalty still exists in football as former team mates of Alan McDonald prepare to remember his 17 years of service for the R's and Northern Ireland.

If, like me, you meander around the various QPR forums this is a reoccurring theme with various posters questioning if anyone in the current squad really has pride in the shirt. The more I think about this the more curious it gets, but this does seem to be a topic that vexes our thoughts on a regular basis.

As supporters we are very demanding: not only do we want out team to win, we want them to win playing stylish and attractive football and not only do we want them to win playing stylish and attractive football, we want the players to be as proud of the club as we are. Just as we all love watching the silky skills of Stan Bowles or Adel Taarabt, we all love watching the gritty determination of a player who is giving everything for our club, chasing every ball, tackling as if his life depends on it, putting his body on the line throughout the match regardless of the score line. The sort of player who then genuinely acknowledges our support at the end of the match. A player with pride in the shirt. In these days of high paid mercenaries is it time to face up to facts and admit that this is yesterday’s dream?

Is loyalty a prerequisite for pride in the shirt? Since Sky bankrolled the formation of the Premiership and as more and more money has flooded into the top flight of English football the loyalty shown by both players and clubs has rapidly diminished. With very few exceptions both are ruthless in their pursuit of money. Arsene Wenger must despair at the number of players that he, his coaching staff and his methodology have turned into high quality footballers only for them to depart Arsenal for a higher wage elsewhere. Ashley Cole, Alexander Hleb, Mathieu Flamini, Kolo Touré, Emmanuel Adebayor and Samir Nasri instantly spring to mind; their default claim that they are leaving to enhance their chances of winning trophies by and large sounds too glib and pretty hollow.

Arsenal are, of course, not the only club unable to retain their players, just the most obvious case in point. One other stark example of a player showing no loyalty whatsoever would be Wayne Rooney who at only 18 years old turned his back on Everton, his boyhood club, the club that had nurtured his talent since he was nine, as soon as he received the offer he was hoping for from Manchester United, his “once a blue, always a blue” t-shirt discarded at the bottom of his wardrobe. Rooney then courted a move from Old Trafford 18 months ago because, apparently, he didn't believe the team was being strengthened sufficiently – concerns that evaporated upon the offering of a nice new lucrative contract.

This is not a one way street by any means though and clubs will shamelessly attempt to “move on” any player that no longer satisfies their requirements – we've seen plenty of that at QPR in recent years.

There are some exceptions to this norm. Tony Adams at Arsenal, Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher at Liverpool, Paul Scholes and Gary Neville at Manchester United and, as much as I despise everything else about the man, John Terry at Chelsea all play or played with a desire, even a fervour, that stands them apart from the multitude of other professional footballers. None of these players ever gave the impression that a more lucrative offer would entice them to play for any other club, although all undoubtedly could have signed for different clubs willing to pay them more. It could be logically argued that all of their clubs were successful during their tenure and it would be naive of me to totally discount this, but who can really picture Steven Gerrard in a Chelsea shirt?

In general though, the only loyalty most footballers understand these days is a “loyalty bonus”. Reportedly Andy Carroll received a £150,000 loyalty bonus at the end of his first season with Liverpool . When Newcastle United activated Joey Barton’s release clause in his contract with Manchester City the transfer was delayed as Barton demanded his loyalty bonus because he hadn’t requested a transfer. This was especially galling considering that he had been suspended by City for assaulting teammate Ousmane Dado leaving him unconscious in a training ground incident. Eventually Newcastle had to increase their offer to cover Barton’s loyalty bonus. Clearly the concept of loyalty shared by many players and their agents is completely incongruous with any football supporter’s understanding of the term.

So can a player have pride in the shirt without loyalty to the club? Maybe we need to try to define what pride in the shirt actually means to answer this. Does it must mean more than just pride in your own performance, must it be a burning desire to perform in a specific shirt? To answer that I think we need to examine one other question first; can you have pride in more than one shirt? Shaun Derry and Clint Hill are often offered up as players who exhibit pride in the shirt, but do they perform any differently than they did at Crystal Palace before signing for QPR? I don’t think so.

This is not by any means a criticism of either of them, in fact it is quite the opposite. Neil Warnock knew exactly what he was getting when he signed them, both are top professionals who give 100%, and when either of them get moved on they will continue to give everything for their new club. Maybe I’m blurring the boundary between loyalty and devotion? I’ve never left Loftus Road thinking that either could have given more or could have cared more so I think it would be exceptionally harsh to conclude anything other than that they do have pride in the shirt, even though they have no specific allegiance to QPR.

If we had agreed that for a player to truly have pride in the shirt then he had to value performing for QPR above any other club it would undoubtedly eliminate anyone other than those who had supported Rangers in their childhood. This would leave DJ Campbell as our only current candidate. Having grown up as a Rangers fan he fulfilled one of his boyhood dreams when he scored at Wolves last season. His poor injury record and an influx of higher quality strikers since Mark Hughes became manager makes it seem unlikely that he will get another opportunity to repeat that feat, but I doubt that he has ever had a prouder moment on a football pitch. He now fits into that category of players a club is trying to forcibly shift on.

QPR fans playing for the team is an area we have been blessed in over the last decade or so with Lee Cook, Marc Bircham, and Kevin Gallen being the most obvious examples. None of them were world beaters and generally represented us in lower divisions but all have blue and white blood pulsing around in their veins and all of them wore the shirt with pride. This also highlights the sad inevitability that as a club rises through the leagues it is less likely to be represented by any local lads. It is impossible to conceive of another Celtic winning the European Cup with a team all born within 30 miles of their ground.

I think a simple definition of a player who exhibits pride in their shirt would be one who gives their all every match, strains every sinew in their efforts to succeed and one who puts the club’s needs before his own. Neither Cook nor Gallen were suited to Bircham’s blood and guts style, but were equally determined to see QPR win in their own way.

So based on that definition I would say that this is not yesterday’s dream, there are still players out there who have pride in the shirt and there will continue to be, however should the full definition also include an understanding of the heritage of the club? Or is that asking too much?

One QPR player who will always get mentioned in any discussion about pride in the shirt - a shining example that completely crushes any argument that a player must have supported a club as a boy to take pride in playing for it - is Alan McDonald. Can anyone name a player who had more pride in his shirt? From the time that Macca arrived at Loftus Road from Northern Ireland as a 16 year old boy to the time he left 17 years later he always represented the club with determination and dignity.

A match between legends teams from QPR and Northern Ireland face each other this evening in his memory after his sad passing earlier this summer.

For me, McDonald personified pride in the shirt.

Visit the RollercoasterRanger blog by clicking on the banner above for more of Roller's thoughts on all things QPR.

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QPRJennyxxx added 21:47 - Sep 10
Excellent article, comletely agree with your comment re Alan McDonald, like also what you said about, Derry and Hill, These are not men who have lived there lives and dreams to play for QPR, but yes they have taken pride in the shirt, and would put there heart and soul into any club they were at, because that is the measure of the men men and without thh
em we would't be where we aare now, that's good enough for me!
With comparining him to Terry, Scholes, Gerrard etc, so much easier to stay at one of sky's big four in those days, sticking with rangers for that long? think Le Tissier and Bull are better analogies, but wouldn't have swapped him for any that we've both mentioned x
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CiderwithRsie added 22:15 - Sep 10
Some interesting points.

1. Pride in more than one shirt. Crouch showed pride in his hooped shirt and was apparently a fan. I would have lost some respect though if he'd then dossed about for subsequent clubs just because they weren't us.

2. Boyhood club. David Bardsley had no previous connection with QPR and had played well for Watford previously but I think clearly showed a lot of loyalty and affection for us. I think just as the rest of us can have an affection or loyalty to a particular workplace, some players can have a particular loyalty for a club they did not support, usually if there is a good team spirt at the time they are playing.

I doubt Macca was a boyhood QPR fan - he had a Glasgow Rangers tattoo surely? but he defined "playing for the shirt" for most of us.
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CiderwithRsie added 22:16 - Sep 10
Some interesting points.

1. Pride in more than one shirt. Crouch showed pride in his hooped shirt and was apparently a fan. I would have lost some respect though if he'd then dossed about for subsequent clubs just because they weren't us.

2. Boyhood club. David Bardsley had no previous connection with QPR and had played well for Watford previously but I think clearly showed a lot of loyalty and affection for us. I think just as the rest of us can have an affection or loyalty to a particular workplace, some players can have a particular loyalty for a club they did not support, usually if there is a good team spirt at the time they are playing.

I doubt Macca was a boyhood QPR fan - he had a Glasgow Rangers tattoo surely? but he defined "playing for the shirt" for most of us.
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Myke added 23:14 - Sep 10
Good article. I agree with you that pride in the shirt has metamorphised from pride in a specific shirt to a pride from within the wearer to give his all regardless of who he represents. The players you mention come into that category, as does Mackie and Park. I think nowadays it's more about a work ethic than an emotional atachment to a particular club. But as a fan I don't really care, as long as a player puts in a decent shift I'm happy. As you rightly said when comparing Birchall's style to that of Cook; putting in a 'decent shift' would mean different things to different players depending on their technical ability etc. For me it simply means giving 100% in every match and not going through the motions.
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SomersetHoops added 23:34 - Sep 10
I do care about this aspect of players, but agree its a two-way street. Some clubs do nurture young talent and get a measure of loyalty in return, but when offered loads of money to move, can they be blamed when one bad tackle in their next game can finish their career in football. I hope our club is becoming one that brings good young players to have respect and affection for QPR and develops the best talents to become stars of the future.

Macca in the way he allied himself and his efforts to our club and spurred others on to be better was a great example to the players of his day and today. I hope we can see another of his quality and committment and I regret he was not able to do more at LR once his playing days were over.
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qprmick added 03:10 - Sep 11
Going back a bit now, but Jim Langley ex Fulham, only played with us a short time but passion and commitment was total. Mike Keen also comes to mind.
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QPRski added 07:24 - Sep 11
Good thought provoking article which I agree with.

To take it one step further, you could analyse what is a "supporter
with pride in the shirt". I think that it will folllow the same logical and duality of globalisation,seeking success and money.

I look forward to your next articles.
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QPRski added 07:26 - Sep 11
Good thought provoking article which I agree with.

To take it one step further, you could analyse what is a "supporter
with pride in the shirt". I think that it will folllow the same logical and duality of globalisation,seeking success and money.

I look forward to your next articles.
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themodfather added 10:56 - Sep 11
john terry was at west ham's yth academy for years, he also had his agent at man city ( 2-3 yrs ago??) working on his move and meanwhile went to roman to broker his own deal at chelsea...so loyalty there?? it was all CASH and the agent was left high and dry.
modern football is so often about the cash, there are only 3-4 trophies on offer a season and the big teams want to swallow them up.
david o'leary was at arsenal for 17 yrs and was choked to be released/sold.
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blacky200 added 12:48 - Sep 11
A very good article that raises a number of good points. Surprised there is no mention of the man who epitimises pride in the shirt, wild thing. Never going to be a world beater but wasn't scared to take anyone on and trying to run off a broken leg is legendary. The days of a one club player seem to be in the past and as players move on who can blame them for geting the best deal they can. I think the best we can hope for now is players with the mindset of a Wild Thing, Mackie, Derry, Hill etc
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Roller added 21:19 - Sep 11
Thanks for the comments.

I think it is quite reassuring that we can all name different players that fulfil the Derry/Hill role from the article. Hopefully in another 10 years we will be able to name different players who have taken on that mantle from the intervening period.

I could have mentioned a good number more but I was trying to stick to players that I knew were supporters or current players, however I’m surprised that no one mentioned Dean Parrett who would have added another dimension to the argument.
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