There's no loyalty in football (and it shouldn't be expected)

There's no loyalty in football (and it shouldn't be expected)

As the Wayne Rooney, Luis Suarez  and Gareth Bale transfer stories continue to pick up pace, English football has taken a real battering in terms of the loyalty of their top stars.

The Telegraph has reported that Rooney wants to leave for Chelsea, The Metro have said Suarez is "desperate to leave" Liverpool and Bale has a chance to move to one of the biggest clubs in the world if Madrid put in a concrete bid.

It's said that United and Liverpool are unwilling to sell to their close rivals so if Rooney and Suarez do move, they could leave the country altogether, weakening the league as a whole.

If you scan through the comments sections on many football websites, you'll find many fans questioning the motives of Rooney and Suarez especially.

These fans feel that the faith and support shown over the years (especially during controversial spells by both Rooney and Suarez) should be paid back in kind and that they should reject any advances from interested clubs.

To some extent I can understand where Rooney is coming from. Despite his immense pay packet, the England star is supposedly in the prime of his career and needs to play regularly to temper his fluctuating fitness.

With RVP ready to lead the line, Rooney will receive no assurances about his place in the first XI and the press leapt upon comments made by United manager David Moyes saying Rooney was back-up for Robin Van Persie.

Rooney is also being criticised because of earlier statements in which he questioned the direction of the club and the playing personnel, but now wants to leave after seeing his position usurped by the skilful Dutchman.

However, Rooney is a 'paid employee' of Man Utd and despite his enormous pay packet, he shouldn't be forced to see out his contract if he doesn't want to. He's served the club over the years and come up with the goods on many occasions. 

He owes the fans nothing and should be allowed to leave, there's no point in keeping a player that doesn't want to wear the shirt and better players than Rooney have come and gone whilst United have relentlessly won titles and crushed the opposition.

The fact that Rooney has ended up in court with Moyes in the past adds more poison into the mix and it's hard to see him playing at United once the transfer window closes.

Suarez is a different case altogether. The racism case damaged the reputation of Liverpool, the squad and ruined a lot of the hard work done by the Kick It Out campaign to tackle racism in the game.

It also factored into the demise of Kenny Dalglish, who had been a legendary Kop manager beforehand, but left his reputation tarnished by the end due to his misguided backing of Suarez even when it became apparent he was in the wrong.

Suarez then proceeded to bite Chelsea's Branislav Ivanovic, but received backing from Liverpool supporters who wanted to protect their star striker from the universal condemnation he was receiving.

 Despite the support, love, affection, devotion and loyalty shown to Suarez by the fans, he still wants to leave with Arsenal willing to smash their transfer record to sign the controversial striker.

It's a shame for the fans who have backed Suarez relentlessly, only to have it thrown back in their faces. But isn't it to be expected? 

Players like John Terry and Steven Gerrard, true one-club men, are a dying breed. We shouldn't expect loyalty from footballers, because greed is a part of human nature and we're all susceptible.

Managers leave, players leave and owners leave, but many clubs have stood for over 100 years and show no signs of stopping any time soon, (unless they end up liquidated.) Teams with such a renowned history such as Liverpool and United should collect the pay checks and laugh all the way to the bank.

Never mind the reported £81m or £100m fee being touted for Gareth Bale. Chelsea made £47m from winning the champions league in 2012 so selling Bale to Madrid would be like winning the financial Champions League, twice over.

For the fans, the moral of the story seems to be; don't buy a replica shirt, because he'll probably be at your rivals in two years.