Clint Dempsey.. Evening Standard... get a tissue.....

[mr-ska]

http://www.standard.co.uk/sport/football/clint-dempsey-i-left-fulham-because-i-wasnt-appreciated-enough-8367674.html

Clint Dempsey: I left Fulham because I wasn't appreciated enough

29 November 2012

Clint Dempsey claims he would have stayed at Fulham had the club given him the recognition he felt he deserved.

Dempsey returns to Craven Cottage on Saturday after an acrimonious summer ended with him joining Tottenham hours before the transfer window closed on August 31.

The 29-year-old United States international missed pre-season with his former club and a breakdown in relations meant he was not included in any of their early fixtures.

The Texan admitted he moved to Spurs to make progress in his career but hinted he might have remained in west London had events taken a different course.

"If you always felt valued and appreciated enough, I don't think you'd ever leave but it came to a point where I didn't feel valued and appreciated," said Dempsey. "Not by the fans but by other situations. That's just the way things went.

"The situation is difficult because things go on behind the scenes that the fans don't really know about. The fans were great to me, the chairman [Mohamed Fayed] was great to me but it got the point where I wanted to keep going and try to further my career.

"I thank them for the five-and-a-half years I had there, which were some of the best experiences I've had, and I'm grateful to the chairman for taking a chance on me. Any time I go back, there will always be good memories."

Dempsey could be given hostile treatment from the home crowd following his move across London but he added: "How you're received, you're received. It's unfortunate how things happened but I look forward to going back."

Dempsey's will not be the only reunion. Mousa Dembele also left Fulham for Spurs in August, while Jan Vertonghen will cross swords with Fulham chief and former Tottenham boss Martin Jol, with whom he worked at Ajax from 2009 until 2011.

Dempsey, Dembele and Vertonghen all started last night's match against Liverpool as Spurs secured their second successive League win, which lifted them to fifth in the table.

Vertonghen has started well in England and is relishing meeting his old boss. "He is a good motivator," said the defender. "He can always motivate teams for the biggest games and even the smaller ones. I liked working with him and he gave me a lot of confidence.

"We've had two good wins but Fulham are a well-organised team."

[MJG]

All about money in the end.
Dempsey is trying to shift blame onto the club and that way he hopes the fans blame the board for not giving him what he wanted.
Some on here will say we should have paid whatever, but those people can stick to playing FM (which i do play) and paying what they want online. this is all about a club not being stupid with its future.

Once again he fails to give his reasons in plain english.

[JBH]

I can't wait to welcome this dickhead back to the Cottage

Come on Dempsey grow a pair and tell us fans what you were'nt apprediated for behind the scenes??

[sipwell]

I read it as an attempt to explain his 'failure' in Tottenham. His 'it was not me, it was you' routine is a bit silly. If he cared (enough) for the fans, he would have played.

[TonyGilroy]

"Recognition" is a much nicer word than "money"

[JBH]

"Recognition" is a much nicer word than "money"

Ok so he recognised that Spurs would give him more money  065.gif

[FFC1987]

I get the feeling he literally meant valued (£) It was good of him to say the fans were always good though considering how much sh** people gave him but this just sums the man up. All about the money. Hats off to the Pog who had the guts to come out and say it, not gloss it up with recognition.

[Edwatch_Winston_Malone]

Finally the TRUTH is out and it is looks a lot like...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OaiSHcHM0PA#

[VB]

Always liked Clint, still do.
Seems to me he's just another modern footballer caught up in the world of modern media.
One wonder's what the fallout would be if Gordon Davies was transferred to chelsea in todays 'modern world'.

just don't score against us deuce

[LBNo11]

Always liked Clint, still do.
Seems to me he's just another modern footballer caught up in the world of modern media.
One wonder's what the fallout would be if Gordon Davies was transferred to chelsea in todays 'modern world'.

just don't score against us deuce

...a very fair point VB...

[JBH]

Always liked Clint, still do.
Seems to me he's just another modern footballer caught up in the world of modern media.
One wonder's what the fallout would be if Gordon Davies was transferred to chelsea in todays 'modern world'.

just don't score against us deuce

Its not the fact that he left that pee's me off it is the way he went about it and for that I will never forgive him.

[TonyGilroy]

One wonder's what the fallout would be if Gordon Davies was transferred to chelsea in todays 'modern world'.

It didn't go down too well at the time but it was seen as his last chance at top flight football.

Didn't work out well for him.

[Lighthouse]

First of all I loved Clint and wished he had stayed. But this 'appreciated' in football speak is like 'attitude' in the rest of the work place. The times bosses used to talk about somebodys 'attitude' as if somehow this explained anything. Stop it it means nothing.

I am not appreciated on FOF and people always complain about my attitude. But you don't see me going off to Spuds.

We did love you Clint and appreciate what you did for us. But your attitude at the end was a bit of a slap in the face.

Oh wait that is what they mean by attitude

[FFC1987]

Always liked Clint, still do.
Seems to me he's just another modern footballer caught up in the world of modern media.
One wonder's what the fallout would be if Gordon Davies was transferred to chelsea in todays 'modern world'.

just don't score against us deuce

Its not the fact that he left that pee's me off it is the way he went about it and for that I will never forgive him.

Good point, I think we all feel that way. 5 1/2 years dedicated service marred by a months sulk. Such a shame.

[MJG]

Always liked Clint, still do.
Seems to me he's just another modern footballer caught up in the world of modern media.
One wonder's what the fallout would be if Gordon Davies was transferred to chelsea in todays 'modern world'.

just don't score against us deuce

Its not the fact that he left that pee's me off it is the way he went about it and for that I will never forgive him.

100% agree, there are ways to leave and this was not the way to go.

[TonyGilroy]

Footballers justify themselves by saying that they're professionals, it's their career, they have to do the best they can for their families etc and it's all true.

We on the other hand are emotionally committed to our club and are entitled to feel angry at players who act against the best interest of that club.

Different perspectives.

[VB]

Sorry but I cant get worked up by someone who doesn't play for us any more,
or give two hoots the way he left.
If he came back to us, great, hopefully he would score more great goals and we could sing his song again.

[delgib11]

Clint was always a favourite of mine, but the way he just downed tools, took his ball and went home, was bang out of order.

[Apprentice to the Maestro]

Ah! The truth is finally coming out.

[jarv]

Always liked CD. However, I reckon in a few years he will come out and say he should never have left. (like others before him) I read a rumour AVB doesn't rate him so could be on the way out sooner than he thinks. Then it is off to Sunderland, Wigan or some other similar club.