Loyalty is its own reward – Unless you are a top, top footballer | OneFootball

Loyalty is an emotive word, almost as emotive as disloyalty.

People who show loyalty tend to be admired, praised, held up as good examples of how we should behave. Those who are disloyal… not so much.

For any normal football fan (a word short for fanatic) there should be no prevarication. Once a Mag, always a Mag.

Things are not so simple for a football player, however. He has to take sides, literally and figuratively, when faced by conflicting demands. Almost invariably, money talks, whatever his feelings towards the club where he made his name. That’s why one-club players are so rare and so admired.

Such a player can guarantee the adoration and the ackers if he, or his agent, is smart enough to include a small but invaluable contract clause: “While I’m at this club I love so much, I’m the highest-paid star.” There have allegedly been a few, including one in black-and-white who had served his time elsewhere before returning to Tyneside; and another from a small club in London whose nickname was Jack, as in “I’m all right, Jack.”

Another question is whether you put club before country.

The answer is possibly yes, if the manager of your national team is merely keeping the seat warm for his already appointed successor. Why bother trying to impress a lame-duck incumbent? Lee Carsley was on a loser from the moment little Tommy Tuchel was unveiled as the first German gaffer of the England team.

Hence the nine (or should that be nein) withdrawals from the Uefa Nations League squad. Some of those reportedly unavailable because of injury were clearly less than 100% fit. Call me an old cynic for suggesting, however, that if the game in Athens this week had been a vital World Cup qualifier, there would have been fewer absentees.

Harry the ex-Hotspur was less than impressed by the missing faces. The England captain said: “England comes before club. England is the most important thing you play as a professional footballer. It’s a tough period of the season, maybe that’s been taken advantage of a little bit.”

For the record, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Cole Palmer, Phil Foden, Jack Grealish, Bukayo Saka, Declan Rice, Aaron Ramsdale and Levi Colwill dropped out. Jarrad Branthwaite was quickly drafted as a replacement and just as quickly withdrew.

The initial 26-man squad became 23, with three Newcastle United players answering the call: Anthony Gordon, Lewis Hall and Tino Livramento. We might not be a big club in the eyes of many observers but none of our rivals were more unstinting in their support of the national team.

Other factors were probably at play (pun intended).

The consensus is this Premier League season will be far tighter than most; not a stroll for the champions, not a two-horse race but a proper competition with several challengers. A two-week break in mid-November, before the frantic schedule from the resumption of domestic fixtures to the new year, allows for the sort of reset that can make the difference between three points and none when the going gets tough.

The multi-millions available from involvement in the Uefa Champions League, which some clubs consider essential to their existence, have never been more prized. Man City, Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea have more in common than their wish to set up a European “Super League”.

United and our fans appeared to take pride in the selection of three players who have been among our best this season. It was an honourable response.

Is this loyalty misplaced?

I cannot be the only dedicated follower of football who thinks the Nations League is an annoying intrusion into an already crowded calendar. If England remain in the second tier of this overblown tournament, I will merely shrug my shoulders. If Gordon, Hall or Livramento misses even one club match because of injury caused while on national service, I’ll be hopping mad. Fingers crossed they all survive unscathed from the match against Ireland at Wembley.

Neither will I be delighted if those at other clubs who enjoyed two weeks of inaction are declared fit next weekend.

Captain ‘Arry took the time and trouble to praise the three debutants, including Hall, who impressed in Athens. Kane is nobody’s fool and probably knows Tuchel better than most, having played under him at Bayern Munich last season.

Will the words of England’s record goalscorer be worth a light when the next squad is selected by the new man? Or, to put it another way, will those who couldn’t/wouldn’t play under Carsley this month be welcomed back in early 2025, at the expense of those who stepped into the breach?

Shakespeare reckoned loyalty was its own reward but in football there is almost no room for sentiment. The relationship between manager and player is clearly an unequal one, especially when the club versus country issue arises.

Jack Grealish was selected by Carsley and is said to have been unhappy that Pep Guardiola, Man City’s manager, kicked up a fuss and said he couldn’t join the party. Grealish, you will recall, was a high-profile omission from the Euro 24 squad selected by Gareth Southgate and wasted no time in telling everyone that decision was a big mistake. Well, he would, wouldn’t he?

His exclusion probably stung all the more because Mr Waistcoat had shown remarkable loyalty to his chosen ones. Harry Maguire, Jordan Henderson and several others were apparently undroppable, no matter how patchy their form.

Kane himself was one of the biggest benefactors of this benevolence, having been selected throughout last summer’s Euro finals despite being clearly out of sorts. He had a back injury at the end of his first season with Bayern and looked laboured in his subsequent games for England.

There is no denying his record: 68 goals from 102 games. His potency has helped England to reach the business end of the best championships. Equally, possession is nine-tenths of the law. All the time he is picked, usually as a lone striker, the prospects of others doing a better job are severely curtailed. With Kane leading the line, it’s been a story of close but no cigar. A bit like a predecessor whose goals fired England to within inches of the World Cup final at Italia 90. Whatever happened to him?

For several reasons, I expect the new brush to sweep clean when he takes charge officially on January 1 with an 18-month contract. Tuchel owes loyalty to nobody, as far as I’m aware.

His first match will be a World Cup 2026 qualifier two months later. That series of games ends in November next year. If Harry is still flying the flag for St George 12 months from now, there is likely to be trouble ahead.

The usual pattern is an easy qualifying group followed by defeat in the finals once England encounters a top-quality opponent, such as Spain. Or France. Or Italy. Or Croatia. Or Iceland . . .

Despite appearances to the contrary, Uefa officials do have a sense of humour.

The draw for those qualifiers, when Tuchel and England will discover their immediate rivals, is being made on December 13. A Friday. That’s not considered unlucky in all nations. In Spain, for example, they dread Tuesday the 13th. You couldn’t make it up!