The thing about Jermaine Beckford
The thing about Jermaine Beckford, right, is that he’s such a… a… no, that’s not it. The thing about Jermaine Beckford is that he’s just so… erm, well, you know what he’s like. No, the thing about Jermaine Beckford is that it’s all… well… a bit annoying really, isn’t it?
It’s probably just me, but I’m finding it hard to get all vexed about something so inevitable. What’s unfolding right now started to unravel back in May, when Beckford rejected what the club’s official flypaper insisted was “what we believe to be a very good offer”.
I struggled then to believe that Beckford had suddenly dropped out of favour because he’s a greedy bastard (any more than Gary Kelly met the same fate because he was injured, or Kevin Nicholls because he was a coward), long before an encounter with a broadsheet hack had me entertain the thought that his salary demands weren’t all that great: parity, it was claimed, with that of a teammate signed, like Beckford, when Leeds were in the Championship.
What we saw in the summer resembled two parties seeking an advantage from the contract situation of a player who’d just had the season of his life. Beckford, with some justification, desired a payrise while the club sought the biggest undisclosed fee it could possibly get – from a sale that failed to materialise. Now, with 20 further goals under his belt, if Beckford had decided to play out the remainder of the season, what’s the odds on someone somewhere sneering: “the least he could do is fuck off for a fee”?
Always an enthralling watch because he’s forever at odds with the world and its dog, Jermaine Beckford plays like football’s the most arduous of tasks, yet he takes great delight in goals. Just his own, usually; but they all count. Yes, his shooting’s erratic and his attitude’s off-putting, but arrogance is a survival instinct which has served him – and us – well in goalscoring terms.
As ever, all that matters now is how the club advances from here. The most startling aspect of last night’s development was that as I viewed a swathe of forums, blogs and tweets awash with comment, the chickenshits at Yorkshire Radio were still basking in Sunday’s glory, relaying pre-recorded interviews with Ken Bates from Monte Carlo. Or Cape Town, I forget which.
Much hinges on Simon Grayson’s managerial nouse and his elders’ ambition to back it with what’s required to fill his best marksman’s boots or, chances are, the second half of the season won’t resemble the first – and that’s the thing about Jermaine Beckford.
Yep, that is the thing about the lad, goals. All names mentioned, including the latest on a loan for Derby’s Steve Davies, just don’t fill me with confidence that we will replace his knack of scoring. I know we need to move on, but can’t help worrying we have shot ourselves in the foot somewhat. Lets hope it don’t cost us automatic promotion…
Spot on mate! He’s going whether we like it or not, but I wish him well. Arrogance is just an amplified version of self-belief and all the great players have that.
Spot on. Natural strikers don’t come along all that often. Bates shoul dhave tied him up a year ago with a realistic offer. I have visions of us faltering in the second half of the season without him.
Of course, nobody’s irreplaceable but our season does seem to hinge on who we bring in, and just how ready they are.
Of the top six candidates to replace Beckford, only Billy Sharp – unlike Kandol, Showunmi, Trundle, Dickinson and indeed Beckford himself – has no experience of playing at non-league level. This almost certainly rules him out, as it means Gwyn Williams has never heard of him.
I don’t imagine there’ll be much action until Bates returns from South Africa on the 20th, although you can never tell with this clown.
I desperately want Hooper (as you may have guessed from TSS) but it’s looking more and more like Simeone Jackson. Not a bad thing though and I think we’ll walk this league regardless. Just a shame Becks won’t be part of that celebration in May after the contribution he’s given the last three seasons.
It would be a shame, but he’s hardly being sold against his will. That said, there is no fucking way that a club actually run as well as Bates boasts it is should find itself in a bind like this. Whatever happens will be spun out in some unlikely fashion and whoever does come in will cost a fraction of Beckford’s no doubt undisclosed transfer fee.
Yep, totally agree – especially about the undisclosed fee. I said the same on TSS not long back. It makes you wonder if his replacement will be brought in because of quality, or because he’s the best available for a measly sum. I suspect the latter, which doesn’t suggest an ambitious club building for the Championship.