[Albion] Aaron Connolly - Premier League 2 Player of the Season

[LamieRobertson]

I have heard rumours of and on the last year him clubbing on the seafront at a popular venue and being chucked out. Obviously this is 3rd hand info. But worth mentioning this is from Albion fans.

I don’t want to kill the guy. He’s a young man, he hasn’t committed any crimes. But:



This hits the nail on the head.

You have to admit we don’t hear this from Alzate, Tariq Lamptey, Ben White do we?

I thought clubs have been closed?

 

[martin tyler]

Needs someone to sit him down and have a few strong words. Whether it’s true or not trouble keeps finding him. Needs to realise he has an opportunity of an amazing career as a top level footballer if he knuckles down. He is at a club who will support him. What path he takes is up to him though but hope he doesn’t regret taking the wrong path and looking back 10 years from now wishing he had done things different

 

[Jolly Red Giant]

That’s quite a statement.
I can recall one excellent game in 2019.
He’s been pretty good in a couple of others.
More often than not, he has struggled to make any impact.
He runs around a lot, but that should be a given.
I struggle with the idea he’s a real talent, compared to other young players in the squad.

The reality is that most of these kids are very talented footballers with a lot of potential. What separates the ones that 'make it' and those that don't is down to other factors - attitude, family support, homesickness, ambition, mental strength, etc.

In the 1970s four young Irish guys went to Arsenal - including a guy called Johnny Murphy - yet he never played for Arsenal (or any other club in England) and most people never heard of him. The other three players were Liam Brady, David O'Leary and Frank Stapleton - and all three of them have stated that Murphy was the most talented and had the greatest potential of all four of them. However, Johnny never made it as a soccer player - he returned to his home in Bray because he was homesick - and never regretted it. Murphy went on to play rugby for Ireland and in the late 1970s during a rugby tour in the USA he was offered a contract by the Dallas Cowboys as a placekicker (which he also turned down). He now coaches rugby and says he made the right decision for him at the time.

Over 1.5million teenagers play underage football in the UK at any one time - 180 of them will be signed to a professional contract by a PL club - that is about one player in every 8.500. The bigger problem is that of those that don't make it 98% of them don't play in any of the top five leagues in England. Kids are gobbled up and chewed out by the nature of football which is now all about money. A majority of those 98% don't even play for fun by the time they are 25 - they have lost a love for the game. My son's brother-in-law is a terrific footballer - with bundles of talent. As a teenager he had trials with Leeds, Sunderland, Derby and Watford. He played for a League of Ireland team for about six months and semi-professionally in Australia for about 18 months. He is now 24 years old and doesn't play anymore. He was never going to make it as a professional footballer because he was too lazy and wouldn't apply himself - but he no longer plays because he no longer loves the game. In contrast my son has played for the local club's B team in the county league for the past 15 years (the equivalent of about tier 14/15 in England) - he plays for fun 3/4 times a week - he is crippled with injuries that he has suffered over the years (that were never treated properly because its an amateur club and he didn't have the money) and next season will drop to the C team because he wants to play and he knows the younger kids will get a game before him in the B team.

The fans make football - but fans need to realise that football has changed an awful lot in the past 50 years (and particularly the last 30 years since sky got involved). Most fans now want billionaire oligarchs to run their clubs and spent millions on players - when the reality is that all this is doing is removing the clubs more and more from their fanbase. On top of that - clubs churned over hundreds of kids - and the reality is that the only reason the are interested in the kids is because they see them as an asset on the balance sheet.

I don't know the story for England (or Scotland and Wales) but in the case of Ireland, some of the better Irish players for the past three decades actually learned their craft as teenagers in the League of Ireland - the likes of Roy Keane (he was turned down by a host of English clubs as a 14/15 year-old because he was too small - he was 19 when he joined Forest and was homesick - Clough repeatedly allowed him to return home to Cork to visit his family, even after he made his league debut against Liverpool), Paul McGrath (23 when he joined Man Utd), Kevin Moran (Moran won 2 All-Ireland medals playing Gaelic Football and was 23 before he joined Man Utd), Steve Staunton, Kevin Doyle (22 when he joined Reading), Stephen Ward, Damien Delaney, Wes Hoolahan (24 when he joined Blackpool), Seamus Coleman (21 when he joined Everton), Shane Long, Matt Doherty, James McClean, Enda Stevens (22 when he joined Villa), Alan Browne, Sean Maguire all started with LOI clubs before moving to England. Now - a small number of LOI players make it as professionals in England - but the percentage is significantly higher than those who go to English clubs as kids. It is extremely rare for an Irish teenager to leave or get released from a club in England, go back to the LOI and then return to play in England (I can't think of any) - unfortunately most end up giving up the game completely.

Football would be a much richer game (in a sporting and cultural sense) if the kids came up through local academies where they were able to live at home, get their education, enjoy playing football and being a kid, before any consideration was given to trying to 'make it big' - and they likely would continue to love and play the game if they didn't 'make it big', making the lower and local leagues so much better. But that isn't going to happen as long as clubs view players as pieces of meat on a balance sheet (even if they are earning $25m a year).

 

[sydney]

There are things players at every club that players do that you never hear about. Trust me I could tell you about hundreds of them. Including Brighton players but it is no less prevalent elsewhere either.

In the Grand Scheme of things this isn't the worst. But the lad needs help if anyone thinks thi is acceptable from a Public Figure. Okay he hasn't shot puppies but going unchecked without consequences sends the wrong signal to society.

I truly wish this hadn't been played out in Public and shipping him out isn't the answer. The lad needs help. Not Demonisation..

Draw a line under this but get him some help on how to respect women.

send him on loan to Forest , Brum, Stoke ,Derby ,Blackburn or PNE ......if he acts the billy big bollox up there he'll soon get it beaten out of him.

 

[Pinkie Brown]

So was Leon Knight.
But he was alright.

The crucial difference being, Leon Knight done the business on the pitch for us despite often failing the dickheadometer when off it. Connolly? He's still dining out on his Spurs performance and a few random highlights since. The majority of the time he's been mediocre. Many players of yesteryear, Gascoigne, Best, Stan Bowles, Robin Friday, Frank Worthington, to name a few, led wild lives off the field, but on the field they nearly always done the business. In this era, Grealish has an awful rap sheet but on the field he performs. Fans will always have less tolerance of a Billy Big Bollox who gets into trouble off the field but doesn't perform on it. Without prejudging this weeks incident, there is no shortage of past stories of his liking for the Brighton clubs as well as the well publicised lockdown incident. This appears a classic example of a young player with too much money too soon where fame has blinded his judgement at times. What the answer might be going forward, the club have to decide.

An earlier poster suggested Connolly might benefit from a spell in the Championship. I agree. Could do a lot worse than send him to Middlesbrough for a season under Colin. Horrible man but he wouldn't tolerate any nonsense and could be the person to get him down to earth and back on track.

 

[Danny Wilson Said]

send him on loan to Forest , Brum, Stoke ,Derby ,Blackburn or PNE ......if he acts the billy big bollox up there he'll soon get it beaten out of him.

Hibs. He should be the first beneficiary of our partnership. He gets to wear a green shirt, play in some big games and get marked by Connor Goldson. Sadly not Shane Duffy next season - that's a contest I'd have liked to see.

 

[DJ NOBO]

The crucial difference being, Leon Knight done the business on the pitch for us despite often failing the dickheadometer when off it. Connolly? He's still dining out on his Spurs performance and a few random highlights since. The majority of the time he's been mediocre. Many players of yesteryear, Gascoigne, Best, Stan Bowles, Robin Friday, Frank Worthington, to name a few, led wild lives off the field, but on the field they nearly always done the business. In this era, Grealish has an awful rap sheet but on the field he performs. Fans will always have less tolerance of a Billy Big Bollox who gets into trouble off the field but doesn't perform on it. Without prejudging this weeks incident, there is no shortage of past stories of his liking for the Brighton clubs as well as the well publicised lockdown incident. This appears a classic example of a young player with too much money too soon where fame has blinded his judgement at times. What the answer might be going forward, the club have to decide.

An earlier poster suggested Connolly might benefit from a spell in the Championship. I agree. Could do a lot worse than send him to Middlesbrough for a season under Colin. Horrible man but he wouldn't tolerate any nonsense and could be the person to get him down to earth and back on track.

Connolly has a very high opinion of himself . Nothing wrong with that as a lot of high achievers are the same. But like you say, the attitude has to be backed up on the pitch .
I wonder if in his head he is above the championship now. Likewise there is no way he’d go to hibs.

 

[sydney]

hes a ****in whopper at this point in time ...hes done everything off the pitch to confirm it and nothing on the pitch , absolutely **** all.

 

[GT49er]

Hibs. He should be the first beneficiary of our partnership. He gets to wear a green shirt, play in some big games and get marked by Connor Goldson. Sadly not Shane Duffy next season - that's a contest I'd have liked to see.

Hibs - too high a profile (and the Edinburgh nightlife is cracking good). He needs to be sent somewhere with less publicity (remember, Hibs are big in Scotland - he could be in the Daily Record every bloody week!) to quietly get on with his trade. It doesn't even matter if it's the Championship or lower - he just needs to play 40 games and score 20-25 goals, and then come back to us to work out where he stands from then on. Rochdale, Newport or Donny would all do fine - they've all got a history of looking after our loanees.

We are paying his wages after all - he goes where we say, not necessarily where he thinks he should be!

 

[jabba]

Is Aaron injured? Tuned into ROI match expecting him to be involved.

 

[forumwayseagull]

Is Aaron injured? Tuned into ROI match expecting him to be involved.

Hair cut

 

[BN9 BHA]

Is Aaron injured? Tuned into ROI match expecting him to be involved.

Yes he’s injured ( again ) mentioned earlier on this thread, post #377.

 

[jabba]

Thanks, had missed that. Tend to avoid clicking Argus links, sends my computer nuts.

 

[Richy_Seagull]

All this talk about him going to the Championship to find his form and score goals....

It's a tough, physical, league. Based on what I've seen of him there's no guarantee he even nails a starting spot.

 

[GT49er]

All this talk about him going to the Championship to find his form and score goals....

It's a tough, physical, league. Based on what I've seen of him there's no guarantee he even nails a starting spot.

Doesn't have to be the Championship. Just somewhere relatively out of the spotlight (and the bright lights) where he can concentrate on his trade - Rochdale, Donny or Newport would do fine for instance.

 

[Silverhatch]

All this talk about him going to the Championship to find his form and score goals....

It's a tough, physical, league. Based on what I've seen of him there's no guarantee he even nails a starting spot.

He absolutely will and if he ended up at Peterborough he’d score 40 goals

But they’d still concede a 100

 

[Badger Boy]

He absolutely will and if he ended up at Peterborough he’d score 40 goals

But they’d still concede a 100

If Peterborough will have him, that would be a dream location to send him for a season. Taylor Richards too - they know how to develop attacking players and we don't tend to create too many of those.

 

[Johnny RoastBeef]

The soap opera continues.

https://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/football-star-aaron-connolly-begs-24314988

 

[Easy 10]

None of that is his fault in fairness. Its all "a source said" claptrap.

 

[Johnny RoastBeef]

None of that is his fault in fairness. Its all "a source said" claptrap.

True, but this stuff does seem to be following him around.

Ben White and Tariq Lamptey not so much.