My attention has been drawn to the following item and to be frank I am a bit nonplussed by it. I will be giving my take on it at the end but first the ‘article’ in question :
From Richard Hunt on Kishishev from Glynne Jones’s mailing list :
‘Some of you know that Radostin Kishishev arrived at Charlton thanks in large part to the work of my Bulgarian Toronto based friend, Vasco Danailov, a process which started when Vasco and I met him at Euro 96 in Newcastle. Vasco has stayed in contact with Kish ever since.Yesterday Vasco called me, having just had a conversation with a somewhat distraught Kish. He had called Vasco desperate for someone to advise him why the Charlton fans don’t like him. Vasco sees a lot of games on TV but promised he would ask me for a more informed view.Not for the first time this season I found myself asking whether Charlton is still the club so dear to my heart or indeed the one Kish joined, but that wasn’t much use to him. So I told him that based on this list, I could state that 70-80% of fans actually do appreciate Kish, and the debate has raged about why a minority get on his back. I told him my opinion was that he is the midfielder who always makes himself available for the ball, and never hides; and that most of the work he does is of necessity relatively unglamorous. Its not the kind of work which elicits spontaneous applause - unlike the kind of passes or space making cameos we got from Murphy or Jensen. However because of his position, any mistake he makes is often in a critical zone, and this elicits howls of disapproval. So that is what he hears. No cheers, just boos. I repeated that most of the people on the List know he sweats blood for the team each week, and hate the fact that he is booed by a minority. But I felt appalled by what I had heard.I realise that most of the idiots who boo and jeer him that don’t go near this List. Those who criticise Kish on the List are entitled to wish that he perhaps might make less mistakes, or that we could afford one that does what he does better ( despite the frequent reminders that we could not afford to re-sign Parker).However here is stark evidence that footballers are human too, and what we have in the treatment of Kish is in my opinion a form of bullying. He is a thoroughly decent guy, family man, looks after himself, and does not rearrange McDonalds or fight team-mates. And he has worn the shirt with pride for six years. He urgently needs a lift. I urge anybody who feels like I do to let Kish know. You could just drop a line to Vasco directly atdanailov_vv@yahoo.comand Vasco would call Kish and read out any messages he gets. Nothing long. But the more there are, the more he will believe in it.
Me I am going to vote for Kish for player of the year.’
Richard Hunt
So, I am meant to feel sorry for a highly paid professional footballer am I ?. Well, sorry to disappoint, but I’m not. This doesn’t mean that I think Kish, or any other player for that matter, should be booed when their name is read out or just because they have been selected but if a fan is unhappy with a players performance then he or she is entitled to make their opinions known in whichever way they deem fit. Personally, I don’t believe that the majority of fans can all be wrong about Kish. He is committed and gives 100% but frankly he isn’t good enough and makes more mistakes than most other players. He is a frustrating player who does a couple of good things in a game but then produces a couple of wayward passes and misjudged challenges which undo his previous good work. In fact I think Kish should feel pleased that he plays for Charlton because frankly I don’t think he would have been tolerated this long at many other Premiership clubs. Kish is an average player being paid fantastic wages (by most fans standards) for occasionally passing a ball to a team-mate. If he were ever to score a goal then I’m sure he’d spend his bonus wisely. Instead of worrying what the fans feel about him perhaps he should do something about making a better impression on those who pay his wages, the fans. Perhaps Richard Hunt would like to suggest to Kish that he stays behind after training for an hour everyday to practice his shooting. Yeah, thought not. Richard won’t do it because he’ll know the response he’d get from Kish. Grow up Kish and get on with your job. As for voting him Player of The Year. That is taking the sympathy vote too far. Anyway Richard, wouldn’t you be worried about hurting the feelings of the likes of Darren Bent or Hermann Hreidersson ? Other players have feelings too you know. I really don’t know how you can be so inconsiderate or insensitive to other players. Shame on you !!
By the way, anyone want to join the Bryan Hughes Appreciation Society ?
