Anton Ferdinand

[Mad Cyril]

Not every West Ham fan is a mug yet I agree the odds are heavily in favour of this being the case.

 

[Jai]

Rare for me to start a thread but I am genuinely curious to hear other fans opinions.

It seems most people would agree that he has had a shocker of a season and he seems well past it. My Question is, what are other fans opinion of the man constantly on twitter talking about West Ham nearly every day, two West Ham related tweets yesterday alone.

I understand that he is a West Ham fan etc and he is allowed to support another club but as SUFC captain is this a bit disrespectful towards us, especially considering he doesn't really tweet much about SUFC? Throw in the irons sign that he made with his arms at Millwall away last season it's something that really bothers me. Probably more so because he has been so poor for months now.

I am not a liker of West Ham and I just feel that it isn't appropriate behaviour from our so called captain. Seems to me his focus is everywhere but SUFC. Also bare in mind that when Leonard moved he wished him luck on twitter and referred to Sheff Utd as a 'stepping stone'. Needless to say he got a lot of abuse from Sheff fan's and again I think it's out of order to disrespect other clubs so easily.

Thoughts?

Totally agree. It's a free country and he can tweet what he likes but as a Southend fan who remembers when west ham tried to put us out of business in the late 1990s it makes it very hard to like the fellow and it's not going to do him any favours with fans, rightly or wrongly.

Abusing our own players on Twitter, or at the game for that matter, is moronic though.

 

[danburyshrimper]

Last season Anton was jaw droppingly good. Different level to everyone else on the pitch.
This season however it's gone...just gone.
Physically looks shot to pieces.

Anton was actually jaw droppingly bad last season but pretty much got away with all his errors through good goalkeeping , bad finishing or mostly the excellent Adam Thompson covering him. This season only john white has looked good alongside anton but hasnt the extra pace thommo had. Turner is a great player but needs speed alongside him to compliment his strength. Only a fool would pair ferdinand and turner. Brown was that fool.

 

[rigsby]

Anton was actually jaw droppingly bad last season but pretty much got away with all his errors through good goalkeeping , bad finishing or mostly the excellent Adam Thompson covering him. This season only john white has looked good alongside anton but hasnt the extra pace thommo had. Turner is a great player but needs speed alongside him to compliment his strength. Only a fool would pair ferdinand and turner. Brown was that fool.

W2 D2 L2, including missing penalties at Pompey and MK. Then include our annual loss at Scunny and the record says otherwise.

He was without any doubt one of our best players last season. One of the main reasons we finished as high as 7th and why to many of our fans have deluded themselves that we should be in the Championship.

 

[Jam_Man]

Dont see why anyone would care what he says on twitter about West Ham. He grew up there and spent a lot of his career there.

Only care what he does for us, the rest of it doesnt matter.

 

[OldBlueLady]

We don't "own" them, they can support whoever they like and he has a long affiliation with them. While I'd prefer him not to do it, it is his personal Twitter account and he's at liberty to do exactly what you seem to have a problem with.

 

[getintoem]

Although Anton is obviously in the twilight of his career, I wonder whether the effect of the loss of his mother back in July has had a profound effect on him. Bereavement can bring about physical and psychological effects and sometimes the sufferer is not aware that they are still in grief. Anton's mum was only 58 so her time came much earlier than would have been expected.

As for the tweets about W.H., I don't think it is an issue as he is entitled to a life away from his job.

 

[Stan33]

X sorry DS u r writing rubbish. AF was very good last season in my opinion

 

[The General]

His head clearly isn't in the right place after losing his mother. With the numerous speeding fines, poor performances and the aforementioned, it's been a disasterous year for him!

 

[fbm]

I think the issue is the fans perception here.

Footballers, by the very nature of their work, are essentially football lovers and it is rare for the fan to play for his hometown club. I know there are exceptions, but by and large the players - and managers - are just doing a job and usually only for a relatively short period of time before they move on or retire.

The fans however have one club and one club only. When I bought my first season ticket in 1977 it was £20. Managers stayed managers for years. Players often played for clubs their entire careers, or certainly a huge chunk of it. There was football highlights on Match of the Day on Saturday night, The Big Match on Sunday lunchtime/afternoon and the Saturday lunchtime previews on Grandstand and World of Sport. All TV was free (licence fee aside).

That was pretty much it.

Nowadays there is wall-to-wall football. At pretty much any time of day, any day of the week, somewhere there is a live game. It could be on SKY or BT Sport, both subscription services. More often than not, there is a live game streamed via a betting site like Bet365 or Betfair. Match of the Day still exists but now includes Match of the Day 2. Sunday highlights have been replaced with 2 and sometimes 3 live games. We are fed an increasing diet of football and for anyone who has a subscription to SKY, BT and also a season ticket, the cost to them is probably around getting on for £2000 per year for a lower league club (plus travel).

So we, as fans, feel entitled to get value for money. The players wages have gone through the roof (not necessarily at our level but it's difficult to perceive professional footballers as "poor") and we see sometimes a lack of effort and commitment. Any decent player will use any lower club as a stepping stone. Who wouldn't want to go from £750 per week to £5000 per week, for instance? And then if they make it to the Prem, £20,000 per week?

And these players who were born in the late 80's/90's grew up supporting other teams and feeling just as passionate as their club as we do about SUFC.

I just want the players and managers to give 100% professionally whilst they are in our employ. And I don't give a stuff who they support or what they say, as long as they do their best for us.

As fans, we need to realise that players and managers will never feel the same way about our club as we do.

The only way I think I would find it disrespectful is if they stated openly that we were rubbish, slagged us off or said we were not going to win the games. What they do or say about another side is irrelevant.

 

[South Bank Hank]

Can't really get on board with the re-writing of history: Anton was, without doubt, a VERY good player for us last year. He simply oozed class and was someone I really enjoyed playing for us. But it does look like something has happened. Whether that's his body simply running out of steam, being played alongside the wrong partner, bereavement, or him having issues with former leadership is something we won't know unless he suddenly turns a corner and revers back to his former self. I just don't see that happening though, albeit I'd gladly take being proven wrong.

As some have said, the issue with the West Ham tweets probably wouldn't be an issue if he wasn't making the mistakes he has been and appearing to be such a liability. But it does highlight the difference between signing the experienced player on his way down (whose heart will always be somewhere else) versus the likes of, dare I say it, Chrissy Powell and Dean Austin who pushed their careers upwards through their association with us. While I defend Anton's right to have an affection for West Ham and tweet what he likes, it does make a very clear point.

 

[AndyT]

Very good post 'fbm'

I do wonder why footballers have Twitter accounts.

Surely it just opens it up for any loon to post on their feed and the whole shooting match begins.

 

[bazzashrimper]

He’s at liberty to support who he wants and he’s not being offensive for the most part, so there is no real problem. That said, its not the kind of thing that will endear him to the Southend support and stop the boo boys.

 

[Chairman Trigg]

AF was a different class last season.The Thompson pairing just clicked and worked for both of them.Brown clearly had Kiernan in mind as an upgrade....unfortunately we know what happened and our start to the season crashed with the loss of Coker and continuing injuries to the back line.Think the whole season has been dogged by an unbalanced back line....remember Brown's clean sheet mentality just wasn't there this season

 

[Polish_Blues]

Powell would bring the best out of Anton, in my opinion

 

[wivs]

I agree that Anton has struggled this season, but surely no one can disagree that he played really well last season and was a major factor in our push for the playoffs. Unfortunately he has not been the same player so far this season, now obviously the death of his mother has been a big part of the reason, but I believe he has also been playing with an injury, probably even being pushed to play due to the fact that we have had so many other injuries in our back four. This has probably also meant he hasnt been able to train as regular as he needs to, maybe to make sure he doesnt further aggravate his injury and is able to therefore turn out on a Saturday. It also no doubt doesnt help his confidence when the crowd give him stick, so if he plays Saturday, lets get behind him (and all the rest of the team) and make the atmosphere at the Hall a positive one.

As for his West Ham tweets , I dont see this as a problem, maybe he should be tweeting more about us though? Now I might get a bit unpopular here, but I cant understand the hatred on here for West Ham, maybe because I have a bit of a soft spot for them. Now dont think for a minute that I am being unfaithful to my beloved Shrimpers, I have supported the blues for over 50 years. But in the days of Friday night football, I knew of lots of West Ham fans who used to attend Roots Hall and 'support' us as their second team. Now Spurs,Chelsea and Arsenal and all the other big time Charlie premiersh>te teams, I hate all of them!! :winking:

 

[OldBlueLady]

Very good post 'fbm'

I do wonder why footballers have Twitter accounts.

Surely it just opens it up for any loon to post on their feed and the whole shooting match begins.

That's why so many are now adopting the "protected" accounts, so they can choose who they allow to follow them.

 

[davewebbsbrain]

That's why so many are now adopting the "protected" accounts, so they can choose who they allow to follow them.

I think that's one of the ones Madonna adopted

 

[Napster]

That's why so many are now adopting the "protected" accounts, so they can choose who they allow to follow them.

or they can block people. Ive been blocked by Blair Sturrock. :hilarious:

 

[Another Surrey Shrimper]

or they can block people. Ive been blocked by Blair Sturrock. :hilarious:

Anton doesn't do much blocking these days allegedly