Stan Collymore – CaughtOffside

Premier League legend reveals why transfer windows are “anxiety inducing” for players

Jason Pettigrove — Fri, 09 Aug 2024 10:29:03 +0000

There are three more weeks to go of the current transfer window, and that means there’s plenty of time for deals to still be done in the Premier League or elsewhere.

Ideally, transfers should be completed as quickly as practicable after a window opens in order for clubs and players to know exactly where they stand, and for all parties to move forward.

The reality is that there are almost always a number of hoops to jump through to get a deal done and that takes time.

Whether it’s agents demanding a bigger slice of the pie, a player wanting guaranteed match time, or a selling club wanting to ensure there’s a sell-on clause, a variety of separate issues can cause a delay.

Transfer windows remain “anxiety inducing” for players

Delays that can be a real problem for players waiting to move.

“Every transfer window is anxiety inducing for a player,” former English top-flight professional, Stan Collymore, told CaughtOffside for his exclusive column.

“Lots of dead ends… this club are interested in you, then they’re not, then they’ve dropped out of the race altogether and somebody else has come in.

“How it normally works is players basically have a meeting with the managers who are interested in them to talk about the football side, and then the agent sees what they’re prepared to do or not prepared to do, and there’s a hell of a lot of waiting involved.

“There isn’t enough done for players to be able to guide them through the process beyond just being a player.

“In all honesty, even with clubs nowadays, I speak to a lot of younger players and of course they’ve got agents around them and the clubs try their very best with liaison officers to help players settle in – perhaps a little bit more at a club than they used to – but it’s still not enough.

“That’s because there are a lot more countries to move to, players are being bombarded with all sorts of figures and money talks.

“Are they going to a club to be the best footballing version of themselves that they can be, because that should ultimately will guide everything, or are they going to the club that are going to offer them a few more zeros on their pay packet?

“They must do their due diligence.”

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Younger players would clearly do well to take on board Collymore’s advice.

As a ex-player that’s been through it himself, the former Nottingham Forest and Liverpool legend speaks from a position of knowledge and authority.

Just because there’s unbelievable amounts of money involved – which could well sway a young man’s desire to move clubs – the process needs to be taken slowly, with accountability on clubs and agents at every step of the way.

The duty of care that doesn’t appear to be there, as Collymore highlights, and that surely has to be delivered as a formal part of the process.

That way, there’s likely to be less stress on the player and deals can be executed more smoothly as a result.

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Premier League salary cap won’t work says former English top-flight great

Jason Pettigrove — Fri, 09 Aug 2024 10:08:43 +0000

The amount of money that’s in football these days is quite astonishing, with the Premier League’s top earner, Kevin De Bruyne, taking home a whopping £400,000 per week according to Capology.

In some respects, if that’s the going rate then you can’t really blame the Belgian for taking what he’s worth, though it still leaves a sour taste.

Those that pay their hard earned each week to watch their teams in action arguable have to scrimp and save to do so, and whilst it’s accepted that a top-flight footballer will always be paid well, there’s a question mark as to whether it’s gone too far now.

Premier League salary cap won’t work – Collymore

The idea of a salary cap wouldn’t necessarily be a bad one, though former Premier League great, Stan Collymore, doesn’t believe a cap on an individual’s wages would work.

He does offer a potential workaround, however.

“The problem with a salary cap for me is it’s got to come from FIFA,” he said to CaughtOffside for his exclusive column.

“I think if you have got agreement across the big leagues of England, Italy, Spain, France, Germany, that would go some way to having a salary cap implemented, but of course, all it means is you’ll get more and more players going to the Saudi Pro League and picking up their £500k+ per week. So it kind of becomes self sabotaging.

Man city ace, Kevin De Bruyne, is the Premier League’s top earner on a whopping £400,000 per week

“If FIFA said there is going to be a global salary cap, then I think it could work, but I think that FIFA would also have a fight on their hands from from UEFA.

“We need to get there in some way though I worry that just like the creative accounting of certain Premier League clubs – selling or their swapping their best young kids or assets to get around FFP – the clubs will find a way to circumvent this cap.

“What I would like to see is an organisational cap, which HMRC can then can get involved in.

“The organisation, for example Man City, can only spend across all of its assets – whether it be players, staff or anything else – £100m total per year, and if you go over that then you get fined.

“That way you can have some common sense because then clubs have to look around at where they’re spending every penny.”

The money coming into the game clearly has its benefits.

If one looks at the quality of stadiums and pitches across the English top-flight now when compared to 1992 when the Premier League came into existence, the difference is marked.

There is a certain vulgarity, however, to be paying football players nigh-on half a million pounds per week, when the vast majority of the football going public are likely to be subjected to financial hardship at the present time.

If there’s an inability to progress towards a salary cap on player wages, then perhaps Collymore’s suggestion of an organisational cap would at least be something.

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Exclusive: “Disgusting” – Collymore slams the Premier League over race riot silence

Jason Pettigrove — Fri, 09 Aug 2024 08:43:02 +0000

Stan Collymore has never been backwards in coming forwards with an honest and forthright opinion, and on this occasion, he’s taken aim at the Premier League.

Though the race riots that have dogged the UK over the past week or so would appear to have nothing to do with football, there’s a school of thought which says that football hooligans could join in the troubles for their own ends.

Such a scenario would only add another level of chaos to an already unsavoury series of flashpoints across the country, and Collymore believes that the Premier League’s silence over the issue speaks volumes.

Collymore hits out at weak Premier League execs

“I think that the Premier League have a massive responsibility as a big British brand, and as a big British brand that’s inclusive with all creeds, all flavours and all genders, to comment on the current riots from a football perspective,” he said to CaughtOffside for his exclusive column.

“After all, they can’t wait to tell you about No Room for Racism day.

“I would really have liked to see Richard Masters come out after last weekend and say “any supporter involved in these in this disorder, will never set foot in an English football stadium again,” and that would have done as much as potentially the deterrent effect of a six month or a 12 month custodial sentence for some of them.

“Frankly, I’m disgusted by the Premier League.If you remember, when players were getting racist abuse a while back, the Premier League were quick to tell everyone to put a the black square on their social media profiles and not tweet or post for 24 hours.

Stan Collymore has hit out at the Premier League

“The fact they’ve said nothing whatsoever during the current riots, I would suggest, is 1000 times worse. The fact that I genuinely feel like the only voice in the professional football sports broadcasting space that was willing to call it out, hour by hour, and to show people that there were good people in Walthamstow, in Birmingham, in Newcastle and elsewhere that weren’t going to allow this race baiting to happen… I think it’s frankly disgusting and disturbing.

“Football is multicultural, and not just the fan base.

“We’ve got Muslims, we’ve got Jews, we’ve got blacks, we’ve got whites, we’ve got French, we’ve got Germans, we’ve got Italians, we’ve got Egyptians… all playing in the Premier League.

“I get that a lot of players and clubs will be very reluctant to speak up because they don’t understand the politics, but for me, football needs to do much, much more.”

Collymore arguably has a point on more than one area.

It’s all very well the Premier League paying lip service to certain campaigns when it suits them, but when they’re really needed to stand up and be counted, the lily-livered executives are nowhere to be seen.

The multicultural aspect of Premier League football can’t be overlooked either.

Those muslim players that are currently plying their trade in England’s top-flight must be looking on in absolute despair at what’s happening around the country at present, and will look to the governing body to take a stand and effectively guarantee their safety.

Time for the Premier League to wake up and smell the coffee.

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Exclusive: “Good, solid business” – West Ham’s transfer window deals scrutinised by Collymore

Jason Pettigrove — Fri, 02 Aug 2024 11:14:34 +0000

With a couple of weeks to go until the start of the 2024/25 Premier League season, West Ham have already got a handful of deals across the line, with the potential for a few more before a ball is kicked.

Once the club had secured Julen Lopetegui as their new first-team coach, it was obvious that the recruitment department of the club were going to have to up their game a few notches.

Young Brazilian ace, Luis Guilherme was quickly secured followed by the captures of Lopetegui’s captain at Wolves, Max Kilman, and Wes Foderingham.

Up until the past few days, the Hammers appear to have missed out on a number of targets, though things seem to be moving on apace now.

Collymore excited by West Ham’s transfer business

Crysencio Summerville, Niclas Fullkrug and Aaron Wan-Bissaka have all been strongly linked with moves to East London and that, according to Stan Collymore, would be decent business for the Hammers.

“I remember saying that when Julen Lopetegui signed Max Kilman, that’s the manager getting his own way, getting his feet under the table and being placated,” he said to CaughtOffside for his exclusive column.

“Fans perhaps don’t understand how long it takes to get a deal over the line. It’s all ‘get it done, get it done’ but it’s never as simple as that. Transfers have got to be done at the right time and for the right price as well.

Leeds ace Crysencio Summerville to West Ham?

“Fullkrug, I thought did well for Germany at the Euros and he harks back to a British type centre-forward.

“West Ham have generally been more successful when they have a big man there (Andy Carroll/Michail Antonio), so I think that Jarrod Bowen and others playing off him is a great idea for West Ham.

“Wan-Bissaka for £10m-£15m would give West Ham a steady full-back, and we know what he can do. He’s got pace even if he does have questionable defensive abilities at times, in the same way that Trent Alexander Arnold’s capabilities have also been questioned.

“So, Fullkrug, Wan-Bissaka, Kilman and Crysencio Summerville… I think that’s good, solid business from West Ham in this window.”

Of course, there’s still work to do to get a few of those names over the line, but the Hammers hierarchy will surely be aware that Lopetegui is unlikely to hang about if he doesn’t get the names he wants.

It’s a real crossroads now for the East Londoners because if they can strengthen to the extent they want to, there’s every chance that a Champions League berth is in their grasp.

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“Unfair pressure and expectation” – Stan Collymore is worried for potential Chelsea poster boy

Jason Pettigrove — Fri, 02 Aug 2024 10:45:18 +0000

Chelsea, perhaps more than any other club in the Premier League at present, has the eyes of the footballing world upon them.

Rather than for football reasons, it’s because of the way in which the club are being run by Todd Boehly.

The American entrepreneur’s largesse in the transfer market has seen the Blues front and centre for the past couple of years, and whilst that’s clearly fed Boehly’s ego, it’s done little for harmony on the pitch.

Arguably, the Blues are a worse outfit now than when he took over from Roman Abramovich, and that’s despite spending incessantly on new players.

Collymore is worried for potential new Chelsea signing

Two of his signings – Enzo Maresca and Moises Caicedo – came in at over the £100m mark, and now talks have apparently reopened for Napoli’s Victor Osimhen, for whom the Partnopei want €130m.

It’s an astronomical sum and it would be another British record capture for the West Londoners.

Stan Collymore knows all about the pressures that come with being the British record holder, as his move from Nottingham Forest to Liverpool for £8.5m was indeed a record back in 1995, and he’s concerned for the Nigerian if he swaps Serie A for the Premier League.

“When I broke the British transfer record, you had players that would periodically do it, particularly through the early to mid 90s, as more and more money came into the Premier League,” he told CaughtOffside for his exclusive column.

“Roy Keane broke the British transfer record I think at £2m-£3m, Andy Cole went for £7.5m, I was £8.5m and then Shearer nearly doubled it with his £15m signing for Newcastle.

Stan Collymore believes undue pressure will be placed upon Victor Osimhen if he signs for Chelsea

“So, the birth of the transfer record player became a big deal.

“That player, whoever it was, got talked about way beyond whether they were good, bad or indifferent on the pitch. It was always that the record signing would be expected to make the difference which I always thought was very unfair.

“[…] At this point of a window previously, we might’ve expected a number of clubs to be breaking their transfer records but they haven’t, so all of a sudden we’re going back to the sort of mid to late 90s outlier.

“The big-name signing that won’t just entertain us but will also become the poster boy of both his club and the entire Premier League.

“That could well be the case for Victor Osimhen if his rumoured move to Chelsea comes off, because the mind boggling numbers then puts unfair pressure and expectation on him.”

Given the standpoint that Collymore speaks from, his words are worth more than a cursory review.

Osimhen was poor last season for Napoli and yet, if signed by Chelsea, will be expected to recapture the form that helped win the Serie A side their first Scudetto in three decades.

If he doesn’t deliver, Chelsea’s supporters are likely to be unforgiving, and that would be as a direct result of his transfer fee – which he isn’t in control of.

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“Will be a revelation” – Stan Collymore is excited by Fulham’s move for international ace

Jason Pettigrove — Fri, 02 Aug 2024 10:27:22 +0000

With respect, Fulham Football Club are not generally seen as one of the Premier League’s more fashionable teams.

That’s not intended to do the Cottagers a disservice as some of the players that they’ve had over recent years wouldn’t disgrace themselves in any other side in the English top-flight.

It looks as if they’ve hit the jackpot again too, as Arsenal ace, Emile Smith Rowe, is set to make a move from the Emirates Stadium to Craven Cottage.

Smith Rowe to Fulham could be a revelation

Although some may perceive that to be a drop in quality and standards for the 24-year-old, Stan Collymore doesn’t believe that to be the case.

“Fulham’s a great club, they’ve got all of the facilities that a high profile player would want, and Emile Smith Rowe wouldn’t have to move very far,” he told CaughtOffside for his exclusive column.

Stan Collymore believes that Emile Smith Rowe could be a revelation for Fulham

“[…] I think Fulham will be a revelation for Smith Rowe, and as long as he doesn’t go “I’ve come down a step because I was at Arsenal, now I’m at Fulham,” everything is there for him to progress.

“From an England point of view, a new coach is coming in and you’ve got a player there that’s got undoubted ability, and who should be wounded enough leaving Arsenal to basically stick two fingers up to Arteta and show him what he’s missing.”

Proving Mikel Arteta wrong is likely to be a motivating factor for Smith Rowe, and if he’s able to get anywhere close to the form he showed before the Spaniard decided that the attacking midfielder didn’t form part of his future plans, then England honours will be a given.

His creativity, work rate and ability to pick a pass are all things that both Fulham and the Three Lions can benefit from, whilst Smith Rowe will simply benefit from playing more minutes on a weekly basis.

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“In all honesty…” – Stan Collymore lifts the lid on what Premier League players only want to get out of pre-season

Jason Pettigrove — Fri, 02 Aug 2024 09:57:58 +0000

Pre-season fixtures are rarely anything more than 22 men just ambling around the pitch in the summer heat, getting themselves ready for the forthcoming Premier League season – or any other league campaign come to that.

It’s an opportunity for clubs to throw in their youngsters, with the big guns only generally getting involved in games the nearer it gets to the start of the season.

For those fans turning up to watch a spectacle, pre-season rarely delivers on that front, and Stan Collymore has lifted the lid on why that is.

Premier League players’ disdain for pre-season

“Beyond pure fitness, if you can rattle in a few goals, fantastic – though it’s not the be all and end all,” he said to CaughtOffside for his exclusive column.

“There is very little in terms of pre-season work that prepares you for the first day of the season because usually it’s a warm day in August and the crowd dictates that you come out of the traps at 100 miles an hour when you haven’t got 100 miles an hour in your tank.

“In all honesty, I think that for most players, as long as they can get through pre-season unscathed, that’s all that matters.”

Given Collymore’s revelations, it’s a wonder that supporters would still want to dip into their hard-earned, knowing that the players on the pitch couldn’t really care what happens, as long as they can give themselves a workout and stay injury free.

The risk of injury is still there of course, particularly if a side considered a ‘minnow,’ with respect, gets the opportunity to play against a team much higher up the football food chain.

We saw with the Wrexham vs Chelsea game in America a short while ago, how James McClean wanted to stick one on Levi Colwill after only a couple of minutes – arguably to let him know how things were going to be.

And yet, as Collymore says, these games aren’t supposed to matter.

3?? minutes in to a pre-season game! ?

Chelsea's Levi Colwill gets into a fight with James McClean of Wrexham ?

And to think we call these "friendly" matches? ?

pic.twitter.com/mYtQn43DcB

— KiX Sports NFT Exchange (@kix_digital) July 25, 2024

As more and more emphasis gets put on pre-season tours to far flung corners of planet football, it will be interesting to see how much more competitive these fixtures do get.

Supporters would arguably want to see a little more value for money, and whether that’s a few goals or fisticuffs, that would seem to be a whole lot more acceptable than knowing that the players would probably rather be at home.

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Former Aston Villa great says they’re winning all the plaudits in the transfer window

Jason Pettigrove — Thu, 25 Jul 2024 12:31:52 +0000

This summer’s transfer window has been markedly different to those that have gone before, ostensibly as clubs, including Aston Villa, try to get to grips with Financial Fair Play.

The Premier League’s Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR) have put a spoke in the ambition of many clubs who were no doubt hoping, as before, that they could just go out and spend what they liked.

It’s certainly meant a more level playing field in that sense, and has brought the transfer business of many into sharper focus.

One club that Stan Collymore believes has been head and shoulders above their competitors in the market place this summer are his old employers, Villa.

Collymore well pleased with Villa’s summer business

“Firstly, they’ve had the stumbling block of wanting to spend lots of money but can’t because of FFP, so they’ve had to get creative,” he said to CaughtOffside for his exclusive column.

“Jaden Philogene coming back again is a really good bit of business for £12m too. They sent him out and he was battle tested in the Championship, and he’s done the business. We all know what he was like at Hull, and now he’s got an opportunity to shine.

“I remember writing about Amadou Onana several years ago and thinking this guy could be a real tour de force as a midfielder. Some Villa fans have said, ‘well, it’s not exactly an upgrade on on Douglas Luiz,’ but he’s a very different player, who is physically stronger.

Unai Emery’s Aston Villa have recruited brilliantly this summer

“[…] There might still be some more deals to be done as there’s talk of Joao Felix heading to Villa Park, and that would really would set the cat amongst the pigeons.

“Yes, they’ve spent the most money this summer, but they’ll recoup a lot too, don’t forget. They’ve got Moussa Diaby off the wage bill, Douglas Luiz is gone and Jhon Duran is likely to move to West Ham…

“They’ve added where they’ve needed to and sold well so, for me, the club that has done the best business in the Premier League so far just happens to be the club that I support.”

Villa also have a first-ever Champions League campaign to negotiate in 2024/25 too, so their squad arguably needs to be as good as it’s ever been.

Strength in depth is a must for Unai Emery, and if he’s able to get the Villains out of the group stage and into the knockout rounds, there’s no telling just how far he can take them.

For now, Collymore and every other Villa fan will surely be waiting with baited breath to see just how much they’ve improved on what was a very, very good 2023/24 season indeed.

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Exclusive: Mbappe must be humble or face the jealousy I did at Liverpool – Collymore

Jason Pettigrove — Thu, 25 Jul 2024 12:16:31 +0000

There might not be too many football fans who would make a comparison between former footballer, Stan Collymore, and new Real Madrid Galactico, Kylian Mbappe.

However, both signed for new clubs – in Collymore’s case, Liverpool – when they were at the top of their game and really in their pomp.

Indeed, Collymore’s transfer to the Anfield outfit from Nottingham Forest was a British record at the time.

Therefore, it’s fair to say that he knows what it’s like to walk into a new dressing room and have people think you’re ‘the man.’

No one likes being the new guy at work, and Collymore seemed to get off on the wrong foot with some of his Reds team-mates.

He’s fired a warning to Mbappe too.

Collymore fires a warning to Kylian Mbappe

“They (Real Madrid players) won’t really care that he (Mbappe) was a Real Madrid fan as a kid or that he had Cristiano Ronaldo posters on his wall,” he said to CaughtOffside for his exclusive column.

“Players like Dani Carvajal have been there, seen it, got the t shirt and so there’ll be two or three that will be looking at him and seeing how he is in the dressing room.

“As I was told when I joined Liverpool, ‘play the political game,’ because obviously, if he doesn’t, he’ll find things very different to Paris Saint-Germain on and off the pitch.

“When I went to Liverpool, there’s absolutely no doubt in my mind whatsoever that within two or three weeks of signing and after all the happy, clapping, ‘hey, how you doing, do you want to come out with us for a beer and be our friend?’ kind of thing, that my team-mates thought I was some big time Charlie.

“I did an article for FourFourTwo in which I basically made a criticism of an industry that buys a player from a club (me), already knows what he does over a number of times that they watch him and then completely tries to change his natural game.

Kylian Mbappe has been warned not to let his ego get out of hand by Stan Collymore

“It wasn’t meant to be ‘here I am, a British record signing, the best thing since sliced bread,’ it was that Liverpool’s way of working just made no sense to me.

“Liverpool knew how I played; get the ball into feet early, I could turn people. I could run at people, and if there’s space in behind, I could run behind.

“The late, great, Ronnie Moran said ‘look, Steven McManaman is the one that runs with the ball, Robbie Fowler is the man and Ian Rush is the fox in the box,’ so I had to completely reinvent my own game.

“I made a point in the article of saying ‘what other industry buys an asset only to completely change it?,’ and after that, there was kind of like a genuine, I wouldn’t say hostility, but a snideness from some players that wasn’t there before.

“So, Kylian Mbappe, who has been top dog and massively over indulged for so long, will have to fall in line fairly quickly, be humble and say the right things.

“If he doesn’t, there’ll only be problems down the road.”

Collymore’s insight certainly puts a decent perspective on the issues that the French World Cup winner could face.

As good a player as he is, Vini Jr. and Jude Bellingham et al are unlikely to let him bowl into the Santiago Bernabeu like he owns the place.

He’ll need to earn that respect on and off the pitch, and if he manages to do so he could well become yet another legendary player to have worn the all white.

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Exclusive: Arsenal have a Southgate situation on their hands with Arteta says Collymore

Jason Pettigrove — Thu, 25 Jul 2024 11:46:13 +0000

The 2024/25 season gives Arsenal another chance to wrestle the Premier League title from Man City, with Mikel Arteta surely needing to break that duck to maintain any sort of credibility in the role.

By the end of the campaign, he will have been at the helm for five and a half years, and given the money that he’s spent in that period, it’s fair to suggest that he’s probably had long enough to try and topple City, and it might be time to let someone else have a go at doing so.

Of course, Arsene Wenger ended up being at the club well beyond his sell-by date which is something that came back to bite the Gunners.

Arteta’s situation at Arsenal is reminiscent of Gareth Southgate

Arteta is at the opposite end of his managerial career, particularly with the North Londoners, but there’s a real sense of things going the same way as the Wenger managerial situation, and that associated lack of silverware.

Stan Collymore believes that, in fact, it won’t matter if it takes Arteta 10 years to win the English top-flight title, because Arsenal will still keep him as their manager.

“Mikel Arteta could stay at Arsenal for 10 years and still not win the Premier League, and it’s unlikely to make a huge difference to the board,” he said to CaughtOffside for his exclusive column.

“I think that he’s almost hanging on by his fingernails at the moment waiting for Pep to go, and I know that a lot of Arsenal fans reading that would go ‘well, we’ve run them (Man City) very close in the last couple of seasons.’

“Once Pep Guardiola goes, then yes, there’ll be a few teams below them that are going to be in better shape to be able to take advantage, but let’s not forget the fact that Arsenal have only run them very close in seasons where Manchester United seem continually in flux, where Liverpool could have and should have done better, and where Tottenham were in transition with the new manager, Ange Postecoglou.

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta

“So from that perspective, Arsenal have had very fertile ground to try and be successful, and they still haven’t done it when it comes to Premier League.

“The Arsenal board like Arteta’s work, his style of play and the players that have been brought in, and the first-team have been relatively successful.

“I almost see it as a sort of Gareth Southgate scenario but in club football.

“It sounds odd, but I genuinely believe that from where they were when Arteta came in – wasting money on players like Nicolas Pepe, other players not really wanting to go there, falling away in the title race and not challenging for a number of years – to where they are now, that should be considered a success in itself.

“At least now Arsenal can offer regular Champions League football again and it’s a place whereby on and off the pitch, there seems to be some sort of unity and enjoyment of the work process.”

Arsenal fans, with respect, haven’t been used to success for years now, and their last Premier League title came way back in 2004.

For a club with so much proud history, the odd domestic cup win here or there isn’t really good enough, so Arteta can count himself lucky that the Arsenal board appear to be a loyal and forgiving bunch.

Time will tell if the Gunners can overhaul Man City sooner rather than later.

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