Collymore behind players suing clubs

Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca recently stated that players like Raheem Sterling, Trevoh Chalobah and others would not play a single minute for the first team. They would be wise to look for other jobs in the current transfer window.

It was as direct an instruction as possible.

There is no grey area in what Maresca said and it leaves no room for doubt, which can be seen as a positive, because he could have just left them to rot on the sidelines. At least this way the players get a chance to get out.

However, it is a ‘bomb squad’ tactic that Stan Collymore does not like at all. So much so that he would not be far removed from advocating that players should sue their current employers if something similar continues to happen.

Chelsea ‘bomb squad’ criticised by Collymore

“Football used to be a reflection of the military in terms of training methodology and behavioural methodology. Often football teams would literally go to army camps to train (…) it was all about team discipline,” he told CaughtOffside for his exclusive column.

“The military is closely linked to football, in the sense that playing football in front of 50,000 people is quite an extreme activity, just as being in the military is an extreme thing.

“Football students had to sweep the stands for seven or eight hours and that felt like a punishment. You were also punished if you didn’t clean the changing rooms properly, or if you didn’t clean your professional kit properly.

“The bomb squad, as it was known in football, was another example of that. ‘If you don’t do this right, you’ll get the military disciplinary treatment.’

“Of course, things have changed enormously and for the better, so that we are now very aware that when you sign an employment contract, you sign an employment contract for the duration of that contract and you have to be what you were bought to be, which is a professional footballer.

“When players are told by clubs that they will be banned from training and not allowed to play so the best thing to do is to sell them – Chelsea is the perfect recent example – those players have now stood up and said that is not right. Clubs cannot do that and they would not get away with it in any other industry.

“I think if the PFA don’t come out and say ‘we have to stop this practice and if you’re at a professional football club and you’re surplus to requirements, that’s fine, but you still train with the first team until you’re sold’, and almost make it a diktat, then you could create a situation where a player says ‘this is restriction of trade, this is workplace bullying, and I’m going to sue the club.’

“I would like to see the PFA intervene now, sit down with the Premier League, the FA and the EFL and have them all issue a statement next week saying that the long-standing and old practice of the bomb squad is now over.”

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Collymore also pointed out that if players are treated well and a club then decides they are surplus to requirements, the players themselves may be more inclined to leave, rather than dig in their heels.

Chelsea seems like a pretty extreme example at the moment, although you could argue that Financial Fair Play plays a huge part in the club’s constant turnover of players.

Frankly, it’s ridiculous to have a roster of almost 40 players despite all the player movements.