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Levy slams berbatov - who refused to play against Chelski

1146 Views 13 Replies 9 Participants Last post by  Jay007, 
RedForceRising
Levy slams 'disrespectful' Berbatov
by Ciaran Baynes, 01 November 2008
http://sport.setanta.com/en/Sport/N...ier-League-Levy-slams-disrespectful-Berbatov/


Daniel Levy has damned Dimitar Berbatov, claiming the Bulgarian striker treated Tottenham with a lack of respect and first asked to leave for Manchester United a year before he would eventually leave White Hart Lane.

Berbatov is blamed by Levy for souring the atmosphere at Tottenham in the early part of the season as he waited for his move to Old Trafford.

Levy criticises the striker for refusing to play against Chelsea and Sunderland and says that after Tottenham - and not United - stumped up the money to pay Bayer Leverkusen for his services, they deserved better treatment.

"We had a player who had refused to play two games for us, having a detrimental affect on the dressing-room," said Levy.

"We'd known for a year that the player had wanted out of this club.

"Dimitar Berbatov was a player who we brought to this club at a time when Man Utd were interested in him. He made a conscious decision to come to this club, we invested a lot of money, nobody had ever heard of Dimitar Berbatov when we bought him.

"A year later with 10 days to go to the end of the window he tells us he wants to leave to go to Manchester United.

"I don't think he treated this club with the respect that we honestly deserved."

Levy admits that money did not play any part in Berbatov's departure but thinks he should have been more appreciative of the club giving him the platform of playing in the Premier League.

"We put him on the map, I think he's an outstanding player, but he signed a long-term contract with this club and I think he should have stayed," Levy added.

"I had so many conversations with him. He kept saying it was about his ambition to play for Manchester United. It wasn't a money issue. We offered him a new contract and he wasn't even interested in discussing it."
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S
Does that kind of behaviour surprise anyone? A lot of professional sportsmen act that way, not just in football. Sure it's disrespectful, but if the player is really affecting the team that much, then they should be trying to sell him quickly, not hold out for more money!

Also, I love how this talk always comes out once the player starts playing well! Had Berba not been doing so well, i'm sure Levy wouldn't care much ;)

Tottenham's loss, our gain!
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babysenorita
Actually i agree with him..one of the reason i wouldnt want him here in the first place is because of his unproffesional behaviour. Can we do the same to Ronaldo then? He wanted out so should we let him go just because he wanted to while he still have a contract with us? I hate it when we have ungrateful players like that and hate it when players didnt honour their contract, if it had happen to us with one of our players, he would already be called a judas. Wanting to play for us is not the problem but refusing to play and sulking is the most stupid action one player could have done. Its not like spurs who forced him to sign for them in the first place, he was the one who make that choice...atlest give them a bit of respect. Even Hargreaves can handle it better than he does.
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S
You're right, I mean were the tables turned and United were faced with a similar situation, I wouldn't like it at all.

All I'm saying is that

1) What's with the timing of this statement? He really could have come out with this a while back...not that it matters too much

2) Clubs can't be controlled by the demands of players all the time, Ronaldo is a perfect example at the end of last season...but if you as a coach / manager / chairman, feel that the player is disrupting the team morale or anything as drastic as that, then you have to make a decision; either suffer while keeping the player there, or let him go.
It might be argued that he was one of their best players and they didn't want to let him go...it happens in other sports (Terrel Owens in the NFL?!), teams just need to decide if they're willing to sacrifice team morale just to hold on to one player.
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babysenorita
LOl was not meant to have a go at you...sorry if i sounded like..:p

As for the timing i believe he did came out with something similar earlier on when berbatov just joined us, no? Was that said after the Spurs - Liverpool game or was it a statement they only published now? That is one thing about the press that i normally gave the benefits of doubt cause they can really keep stories and published it when they think it match the circumstances. There isnt a better time than now when after the bad run they had and starting to pick themselves up again without berbatov.Its as thou as shifting the blame to him . Even so, I have no problem tbh with him voicing it out, it just shows how much berbatov meant to them which make it much sweeter now we have him on our side. :D
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S
haha don't worry, I didn't think you were having a go at me...just to clear that up :D

you might be right though, it might have been said earlier and just published now.
I'm just glad he's on our side for now...playing some excellent football!
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M
I have a different slant on Mr Levy and the way he handled the Keane and Berbatov transfers. Normally a chairman selling his teams top goalscorers from the season before would get hammered by the fans. So I asked myself, how could he avoid that happening. Well, Mr Levy blamed Liverpool and United for unfairly making approaches for his players. The result of this was the fans turned all their hatred to United and Liverpool, thus making Mr Levy look the innocent party.

I believe Levy intended to sell players in order to bring some money back into the club just like West Ham and Newcastle's chairman was doing. He just did it very cleverly. I would not be surprised if he sells Spurs before the end of the season. Did anyone read recently where he blamed Ramos for Berbatov leaving? A very cunning man our Mr Levy.
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S
very fair point!
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stretty
I think spurs are at fault for trying to keep a player who wanted to play for united they had no chance of retaining him , instead of that idiot levy trying to delay berbatovs departure , he should have been out there looking for a replacement who would then have had a preseason behind him , spurs were a team that was bodged together at the last minute thats why they were in deep trouble.
It was no different to the ronaldo situation or the hargreaves , or the dwight yorke rio etc etc
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M
On the surface this looks bad on berba, very unprofessional.

The only caveat: perhaps that was the only way he could demonstrate to Levy that he was serious. Still, we wouldn't want to see that here.
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martinutd
Not very professional by Dimi, but that's in his past and he should concetrate on his game, and of course not repeat it again.
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RedForceRising
Honestly now, can you blame a player for wanting to leave Spurs? ;)

We don't know what goes behind the scenes, but he wanted to leave before the 07/08 summer already, which is why he was pulling glum faces last season.

Levy knew it and didn't sell him early. He hung on to Berba to drive up his price. Then they weren't able to buy adequate replacements and as a result they found themselves in the relegation zone.

The scape goat was Berba and Keane. Ridiculous from this cunning man, who ironically looks like a Gestapo officer.

Have to say that Berba and his agent re fools too. Before he signed for Spurs he knew Man Utd were interested and still decided to move to Spurs.

He felt Spurs wanted him more, but David Gill just wanted to sort out Ruud's exit before moving for Berba. :rolleyes:

Doesn't David Gill have the ability to handle more than one transfer at a time?
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papu1918
This interview shows how much Mr Levy is interested from high level football.
Berbatov was one of the best ,,Bayer" Leverkuzen team players .
CL Final Real Madrid - Bayer 2:1 and Bayer had real chances to win .
Better Levy to refresh his own mind and to find reasons why Leverkuzen fans showed respect to Berbatov when both teams played for UEFA Cup at Bayer Arena !?
I think Robbie Keane's /as a potential Spurs legend /unexpected transfer to Liverpool was more painful for Spurs , because of short time for finding the proper striker. Levy had 1 year period for Berba replacement .

Better Levy to keep silence. He had 31 mln in a pocket , one good striker as part of the deal and ,,fantastic" atmosphere in the dressing room because of Berba missing.
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Jay007
Theres two sides to this in all honesty.

I can see his point. Berbatov isn't the most professional of players, and his behaviour wasn't right. Spurs were paying his wages, and the week before he said he'd maintain a professional standard through the transfer saga and by the week later he'd refused to play. If one of our players done the same thing, I would be pretty angry about it.

However, I think blaming Berbatov for Tottenhams plight is scraping the barrell a bit for excuses in all honesty, although I think its done, as someone suggested, that he used this to take the pressure off himself and his, and the clubs, serious errors.
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