Just another loyal player proving his "love" by kissing a badge...

This is not particularly meant to be a dig at Adebayor and Adebayor alone but can we make kissing a badge a red card offence. The problem is, that despite the possible good intentions behind the gesture, you know that any badge kissing is a meaningless and possibly, even offensive act that has probably been scripted before the match by player, agent and PR representative - well, maybe.

Do you remember the 1970s/80s when players stayed at clubs for a whole career, however long that may have been. In fact, because of wages at the time, if a player had been at a club for 7-8 years he would never leave because of the chance to get the lucrative testimonial you could get at 10 years service. That testimonial could give a player a nice little retirement fund, something that today's footballers really should have no need for, provided they don't waste it on bling & cars. (N.B. Villa attempted to court Barry with the promise of a Testimonial but they are taxed these days and aren't so valuable)

As a result I wonder what we can expect, in terms of player loyalty. Is staying for a period of time, say 5 years, loyalty enough or, is it, more to do with the manner of leaving (or attempting to leave) or maybe where the player goes. Of recent ex- Arsenal players, only good old Ashley Cole is really hated and it's not because of his time at Arsenal but his love of lucre (and his pathetic attempts to portray himself as hard done by) from a rather tainted blue source. Some players leave at the right time (Henry, Vieira, etc) and some are just professional players with no ties to the club who exploit the end of contract scenario - see Flamini and Edu, though strangely Edu left with fans loving him and Flamini is seen as more of a villain....

Whatever loyalty is these days some agents should really talk to their "clients" and advise against kissing badges and concentrate on being the best professional they can be - fans will respect that and, maybe, even be capable of letting you go on your terms.

Anyway, one thing is for sure, there will never be a worse or unloyal player than Frank Stapleton and, no, I won't forgive him, ever....