Sterling’s Real Value

While travelling in the past month the Raheem Sterling transfer from Liverpool was playing out in the Media. Now it is all settled and he has joined Manchester City.

During the “negotiations” there was an interesting piece penned by the Independent’s Michael Colvin.

In his article he talked about an old school youth football coach called Tom Walley. He revealed that Walley is “a disciplinarian not averse to administering a clip around the ear of a recalcitrant teenaged footballer.” If you find this offensive and backward we make no apologies.

Colvin revealed that Walley was asked to provide informal guidance to Sterling in the months leading up to his transfer from Queens Park Rangers to Liverpool, when the player was aged 15. The experienced coach was more than impressed with the youngster’s talent but reportedly harboured concerns about ‘the depth of his character.’

Having mentioned that Walley was old-fashioned, part of his famed training was the Dustbin run. This was a 300 metre shuttle run between dustbins with less than 30-second recovery periods. As is apparent it was a primitive form of the beep test. It was not only a physical test but also one of mental resilience.

Midway through one series of the Dustbin run, Sterling is said to have sunk to the ground a spent force. Walley stepped forward and ordered him to continue. Slowly he climbed back to his feet, without an audible word of protest  and continued. He completed the sequence of running and Walley revealed that he knew then that he had found ‘a bit of purple, a bit of quality.’

Walley had apparently felt the same when years earlier when he converted a left winger into a left back, Ashley Cole.

Cole to this day has nothing but praise for his former coach understanding that at that point in his burgeoning career he needed the tough love that Walley dished out, and he is aware of the magnitude of his debt to him.

We hear so often of players and athletes coming from a tough upbringing, but Sterling really did have a complicated upbringing. He was born in Jamaica into one of the most marginalised communities and at the age of six was uprooted to London and the St Raphael’s estate close to Wembley Stadium.

This was far from the ideal surroundings to be moved to. It was an area where the St Raphz Soldiers were a very real gang, and violence in the area was rife. Police at the time reported that Yardie drug lords has ordered Jamaican hit men to end the fighting between the neighbouring estates and amongst crack cocaine dealers.

It should come as no surprise that Sterling failed to settle in mainstream education, and was forced to address anger management issues. As is often the case football was his escape the one place he felt free and could express himself.

He no doubt remembers these tough early days and supports financially two primary schools back in Jamaica.

Sadly for him he will be bracketed with Ashley Cole who was nicknamed “Cashley.” As a player who was only after the money. However was he?

He has been criticised endlessly as his transfer played out and some would say deservedly so, yet behind Sterling was a manager pulling the strings and trying to manipulate the media and a number of football clubs. Calvin described his manager Aidy Ward as having “inflicted grievous damage on an already conflicted profession.” It is hard to disagree with this statement as the mishandling of the whole affair should be a lesson to all. Was his manager really looking for the best deal for his client or was he looking for the best commission for himself?

There used to be some semblance of honour in the game, values that some players and agents still adhere to. Yet the new breed who sadly have greater power also have a flagrant disregard for handling such negotiations with dignity and respect.

Many will argue that the career of a top flight sportsman is a short one and they need to secure the best deal possible, but with such colossal sums of money being bandied about, disrespect, manipulation and opportunism do not go down well with many fans around the globe.

Whereas Walley gave Sterling the tough love he needed to become a successful footballer, where is the guidance when it comes to life off the pitch?

Sadly for Sterling he has now crossed over from being a footballer to become a commodity. Just as he did when he was a child let us hope for his sake he finds solace on the pitch where he can escape all that goes with being a commodity, and find the freedom to express himself and be happy.