James Milner is absolutely delighted to be at Newcastle United, according to Glenn Roeder, the manager who tried to sell him to Aston Villa two weeks ago.
He’s thrilled to bits in fact, he is willing die for the shirt and he has just given his best-ever performance in the black and white stripes against West Ham. Don’t you just love the way managers gush about players when they need them to do something?
I suppose it’s a bit like a ridiculously attractive women fluttering her eyelashes at a car mechanic so that she can get a free tyre change. Flattery and flirting, two peas in the same pod.
To be fair to Roeder, we don’t know whether it was him or chairman Freddie Shepherd who decided to accept a £5m offer from Aston Villa on transfer deadline day, but we do know the offer was accepted and Milner was told, against his wishes, that he could leave.
The money was supposedly needed for Boro’s Mark Viduka and then wasn’t needed because Viduka wasn’t coming for the third time in just over 12 months so Milner was called back, annoyed, frustrated and hurt by the feeling of rejection. Roeder insisted the club had not messed him around, but that was a bit like arguing the War on Terror has done wonders for world peace.
Thankfully, Milner is not the sort of player to hold a grudge - plenty are by the way - has got head down, got on with his job and, as Roeder has correctly argued, was fantastic against West Ham.
With Nolberto Solano injured - and, as rumour has it, also out-of-favour with the manager - and Kieron Dyer still some way short of match fitness, Milner is going to be an important member of the squad in the next few weeks.
His manager and team need him, I just hope the 20-year-old finally gets the sort of loyalty and respect his magnificent attitude deserves. Ultimately actions will always speak louder than words and it’s only just over three months until the transfer window re-opens.
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