CHRIS BIRCHALL SAYS - TEAMMATES UNFAIRLY TREATED
Birchall says T&T teammates deserve better
Issued by Shaun Fuentes, TTFF Media Officer, September 5, 2006
Trinidad and Tobago midfielder Chris Birchall has confessed that he feels some of this country’s footballers may be getting a raw deal as far as their professional career goes in the UK since this country’s positive showing at the 2006 World Cup Finals in Germany.
Birchall was referring to the fact that even though the “Soca Warriors” held the higher rated Sweden 0-0 and had the seeded England scampering for 83 minutes, there hasn’t been to shout about as only two players have been able to secure recognizable contracts as the transfer window ended this week..
And those two are none other than himself going to Coventry City on a three-year deal valued at 350,000 pounds and Dwight Yorke to Sunderland at a 600,000 pounds move both in the English Championship Division. There have been others like Dennis Lawrence (Swansea City), Clayton Ince (Walsall), Kelvin Jack (Gillingham) and Atiba Charles (Glenavon) who also moved on and of course Shaka Hislop making the MLS switch but there was also nothing solid for Cyd Gray, Aurtis Whitley, Brent Sancho nor Densill Theobald while Carlos Edwards, despite all the paper talk, is still at Luton Town.
“I think you are right. I’m surprised that so much of our players got overlooked,” Birchall told TTFF Media on Monday. “I mean there are a lot of other players you see at the good clubs here who haven’t done much especially at the international level and they have decent deals. We represented well at the World Cup and players like Cyd and Aurtis I thought would easily get something, There is no doubt that they are good enough because I have trained with them and seen them play and I also see what goes on here. Our guys have proven it at the World Cup but apart from me and Dwight, I’m a bit shocked the others didn’t get something good as well.
“I know some of our guys are not well known but we adapted well and while there’s been a lot of talk in the papers here about Carlos, he is still at Luton today,” he added.
In spite of that, Birchall says he still thinks the accomplishment of the Soca Warriors has opened a lot of eyes in the UK and the country can now share the big stage without any inferior feelings.
“We definitely made a statement that has entered us into a higher level and it’s up to us now to remain there. The World Cup has definitely helped me because I have made a move to a better club and my career is going very well. Definitely Stern (John) and I are flying at the moment. We are probably feeling as fit as we were going into the World Cup because Leo Beenhakker really pushed us hard and now we are hoping to have another good push for the season. We are also very excited to play for the country again. All of us are buzzing at the moment and we hope that the country is feeling the same way about the football,” he stated.
The former Port Vale player also relayed his feelings on the appointment of Wim Rijsbergen as head coach, given his first opportunity to comment.
“I think if you ask anyone, they would tell you they were disappointed that he (Beenhakker) left because he was a quality coach and he took us to the big stage. But when you consider that the next best thing is Wim as the coach then you have all reasons to go for it. He knows us all very well and we have worked well under him because we all know how heavily he was involved in getting the team ready. He knows what we can do as players. He may bring a different style. thing about it too is he knows our weaknesses and strengths. He’s the man in charge and we’ll give him our best as players,” Birchall concluded
Issued by Shaun Fuentes, TTFF Media Officer, September 5, 2006
Trinidad and Tobago midfielder Chris Birchall has confessed that he feels some of this country’s footballers may be getting a raw deal as far as their professional career goes in the UK since this country’s positive showing at the 2006 World Cup Finals in Germany.
Birchall was referring to the fact that even though the “Soca Warriors” held the higher rated Sweden 0-0 and had the seeded England scampering for 83 minutes, there hasn’t been to shout about as only two players have been able to secure recognizable contracts as the transfer window ended this week..
And those two are none other than himself going to Coventry City on a three-year deal valued at 350,000 pounds and Dwight Yorke to Sunderland at a 600,000 pounds move both in the English Championship Division. There have been others like Dennis Lawrence (Swansea City), Clayton Ince (Walsall), Kelvin Jack (Gillingham) and Atiba Charles (Glenavon) who also moved on and of course Shaka Hislop making the MLS switch but there was also nothing solid for Cyd Gray, Aurtis Whitley, Brent Sancho nor Densill Theobald while Carlos Edwards, despite all the paper talk, is still at Luton Town.
“I think you are right. I’m surprised that so much of our players got overlooked,” Birchall told TTFF Media on Monday. “I mean there are a lot of other players you see at the good clubs here who haven’t done much especially at the international level and they have decent deals. We represented well at the World Cup and players like Cyd and Aurtis I thought would easily get something, There is no doubt that they are good enough because I have trained with them and seen them play and I also see what goes on here. Our guys have proven it at the World Cup but apart from me and Dwight, I’m a bit shocked the others didn’t get something good as well.
“I know some of our guys are not well known but we adapted well and while there’s been a lot of talk in the papers here about Carlos, he is still at Luton today,” he added.
In spite of that, Birchall says he still thinks the accomplishment of the Soca Warriors has opened a lot of eyes in the UK and the country can now share the big stage without any inferior feelings.
“We definitely made a statement that has entered us into a higher level and it’s up to us now to remain there. The World Cup has definitely helped me because I have made a move to a better club and my career is going very well. Definitely Stern (John) and I are flying at the moment. We are probably feeling as fit as we were going into the World Cup because Leo Beenhakker really pushed us hard and now we are hoping to have another good push for the season. We are also very excited to play for the country again. All of us are buzzing at the moment and we hope that the country is feeling the same way about the football,” he stated.
The former Port Vale player also relayed his feelings on the appointment of Wim Rijsbergen as head coach, given his first opportunity to comment.
“I think if you ask anyone, they would tell you they were disappointed that he (Beenhakker) left because he was a quality coach and he took us to the big stage. But when you consider that the next best thing is Wim as the coach then you have all reasons to go for it. He knows us all very well and we have worked well under him because we all know how heavily he was involved in getting the team ready. He knows what we can do as players. He may bring a different style. thing about it too is he knows our weaknesses and strengths. He’s the man in charge and we’ll give him our best as players,” Birchall concluded
posted by Andre @ 4:20 PM
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