People keep saying this yet there was no end to how much shit he got when he did well against Swansea. People dont want their prejudice ruined.
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[Albion] Aaron Connolly - joining Hull permanently
- Thread starter Cotton Socks
- Start date
People keep saying this yet there was no end to how much shit he got when he did well against Swansea. People dont want their prejudice ruined.
Scoring two goals against a lower league team doesn't prove anything. It just shows he's probably a half-decent Championship player. Which is no good to us at the moment.
You can't honestly tell me if he banged in some goals for Boro, then came back to us and started scoring regularly in the Premier League next year that people wouldn't be happy with him?
It is a bit sad how it's all gone really. But I do think fans sending him private messages on social media with career advice and then plastering it all over social media when they're likely still living in their parents spare bedroom or whatever is a bit tragic
Sounds like Aaron knows what he needs to do, so it is all down to him
Sounds like Aaron knows what he needs to do, so it is all down to him
Burn him!!!
Surprised about what he said - "I am a footballer and trying to deal with stuff that is being said about you as well as not scoring and not playing is tough" - as I've been told no one has ever said a bad thing about Aaron, and that those things they never say have no impact on him and his footballing.
Absolutely. It's a well known fact that footballers are immune to criticism because they're rich. It's why there's no money at all being a sports therapist or sports psychologist employed at the top level by every serious football club in the country. In fact, I'd go a far as to say Potter's success in enhanced by his Degree in Emotional Intelligence, but in spite of it...
In all seriousness, it won't be long before the next player is thrust into the firing line because of perceived "attitude problems". I think all too often, especially in sport, having a tough time with your mental health is converted into having a bad attitude. I know sometimes players do have a bad attitude and they need to take responsibility for that, but I do feel that it's an easy get out to avoid talking about the real issue with some.
Eventually yeah maybe. Kind of like with Maupay, one day saying he will never be good enough and next day saying "always liked this guy, always knew he'd come good".
Sorry, we're now claiming he has mental health problems, are we? When did that happen?
There's not much people won't use mental health for as an excuse these days, is there?
I reckon it's nailed on that he'll score against Mansfield*. He's a young man with a point to prove, facing league 2 defenders...
Just checked Betfair - 70/1 odds on a hat trick, 9/1 2 or more, 9/5 to score at all...
I think this loan will do him the world of good and I really hope it helps him fulfil his potential. 10 goals in the 2nd half of the season and a hungry, confident player returns for a proper crack at the first team next year (or a promoted 'boro spunk £35m on him
)
*if he starts, which I reckon he will - I doubt 'boro will field their full strength XI as they'd rather focus on the league, but it's a perfect opportunity to give minutes to their new arrival.
Just checked Betfair - 70/1 odds on a hat trick, 9/1 2 or more, 9/5 to score at all...
I think this loan will do him the world of good and I really hope it helps him fulfil his potential. 10 goals in the 2nd half of the season and a hungry, confident player returns for a proper crack at the first team next year (or a promoted 'boro spunk £35m on him
)*if he starts, which I reckon he will - I doubt 'boro will field their full strength XI as they'd rather focus on the league, but it's a perfect opportunity to give minutes to their new arrival.
Agree with that, except I'm not making any guesses. I will, howeverm be following his time at 'Boro with great interest.
That is totally out of order - those idiots are pathetic.
Yep.
Other than his comments you mean? Personally, I don't know if he had mental health issues. I suspect you don't know either.
My point is a wider one about mental health in sport rather than specific to Connolly though, and I think your last point cements my view. Sweeping statements like that are a significant contributor to people not coming forward in public or private if they do have issues. To dismiss mental health problems as essentially finding an excuse for your own failings only exacerbates the problem.
I have no idea about ACs mental health but people never had a problem claiming he has a bad attitude despite never meeting him, never watching him train or barely ever seeing any interviews with him, so why is it suddenly a problem to claim that he might have had a rough time?
AmexRuislip
Retired Spy 🕵️♂️
I'd argue that there are a couple more factors than that. Natural aptitude (body co-ordination, hand-eye co-ordination, balance, memory skills, ability to learn) coupled with physiology (height, body shape, speed), actually set that min / max window. A lad whose final height is 5'7" is never going to be a top level fast bowler, or rower, or high-jumper.
Then where they settle within that window, is down to their motivation and effort, as you rightly suggest, but even more so, down to opportunity, environment and tools (facilities, coaching, equipment). Part of that 'opportunity' is sadly down to income and status, but also down to stages of development / talent recognition. Kids all develop their co-ordination / motor skills, as well as sport-specific talents, at very different rates. A lad who develops early (even to an ultimately moderate ceiling) and noses ahead of his peers (who might ultimately have had more natural ability) has a higher chance of being identified, and granted access to earlier / better coaching and facilities and higher levels of competition.
Quite a significant part of that is just down to the lottery of birthdates. It is not by chance that a massively disproportionate percentage of UK professional footballers have birthdays early in the school year (Sep / Oct).
I remember arguing this exact point on here about a decade ago. It is remarkable how lop sided the ages of players are across all major team sports. It's not quite Sept/Oct but if you are born before Jan/Feb you certainly have a massive advantage. And it stands to reason - more developed bodies in those formative years have an advantage over players who may turn out to be as good but are just further behind in their development, so the younger ones just drift away.
I don't know either, I just didn't realise anyone was claiming he has. Has he said he has?
I didn't dismiss mental health problems as essentially finding an excuse for your own failings at all. I said there isn't much people won't use mental health as an excuse for these days.
I had a friend who killed himself a few years ago after having mental health problems / depression. He was mid 30's, it was absolutely horrific. None of us knew he had problems, he never told anybody. It was a total shock, which made it so much worse. It bothers me that in today's world the first sign of hardship or going through a bit of a rough ride seems to be classed as 'mental health problems'. I employ a number of Millennials and they love a 'mental health break'. They take time off sick on a Monday and Tuesday 'to deal with some mental health problems'- then you find out they've been putting 3 grams of gear up their nose every night of the weekend, which is probably why their mind isn't in such a great place on Monday.
Mental Health is absolutely a serious issue, but I genuinely feel like it is currently being hugely trivialised by every bit of difficulty in someone's life suddenly being called a mental health problem. It trivialise the real issue (like what happened to my mate, for example) and it's an easy get out for people to just do what they want. Society's current obsession with it is also completely setting the younger generation up to fail, as at the first sign of adversity they give up and say they 'need to focus on their mental health' or something. I see it all the time, they have a complete lack of resilience, and I genuinely believe a large part of this is because of all this 'it's OK not to be OK' stuff. Of course it is OK not to be OK, but it's also true that adversity makes you stronger, and getting your head down and cracking on is often the best thing you can do.
I'm sure this is an incredibly unpopular opinion, by the way, and I'm fully expected to get slaughtered for it.
You always say this about people never meeting him or watching him train etc. But you don't seem to get it- this is Sussex, it isn't London or Manchester where the players are like Hollywood Superstars locked away and completely inaccessible to the public. He's a 20 year old kid who lives in Ditchling, a little village nestled in the South Downs. Why do you think no Brighton fan can have ever met him? It's bizarre. I've seen him around a few times and I know various people who've had dealings with him. He was in a local pub my friend works at the other day, for example. He's often out and about in the pubs and clubs of Brighton, fans meet him all the time.
This is finally starting to change. Clubs are holding trials exclusively for kids that are born from March onwards. It's mad to think how many people in the past must have had the potential to make it as a footballer had this not been an issue.
Your defence of Aaron is admirable but I do feel it is slightly misguided. I have been at the same place at the same time as AC on a couple of occasions and he was definitely a bit of a twit on those occasions. It's not a great leap of faith to envisage he is a bit of a twit in other situations too. However I will say he was no more of a twit than the vast majority of young men of a similar age. I was definitely more of a twit at that age.
That is pretty much most youngsters and particularly footballers as you point out. Plenty of Albion youngsters have ended up in much worse trouble than AC has ever caused and gone on to have good careers.
AC does get treated differently for some reason. Gets lambasted for doing 36 in a 30 on the A259. Yet Knockaert gets done doing 110mph on the A27 and no-ones that arsed
I'm not sure that is true. How many of our other youngsters have a reputation for constantly being dicks in clubs in Brighton? I'm not sure any of them do, do they?
There is certainly an argument to say that had Connolly been arrested for the same thing as Bissouma then there would have been a much bigger uproar, but that's all down to what they have achieved on the pitch. Rightly or wrongly, people are happy to let Knockaert and Bissouma's misdemeanours go because they have been hugely successful on the pitch for us. Connolly gets more stick because after such a promising start, he's been such a disappointment. That coupled with off-field issues gets people's back up. As has been said countless times, if he was banging in the goals then nobody would care. It would be a 'he's dick but he's our dick' situation.
It's all completely hypocritical of course, but football is a grubby business.
No because many are older. Think about Lewis Dunk at that age? Or Adam El-Abd assaulting a police officer outside Event nightclub. Tommy Fraser, John Sullivan, Dean Cox all used to be a handful in various nightclubs in Brighton, Worthing etc.
But I think it is a bit sad that basically we don't care as long as you are performing.
How many 21 year olds are banging in goals in the Premier League that path he should be following? Glenn Murray couldn't score a goal in League One at Aarons age ..
God help Ferguson if he gets a game any time soon if that is the metric