There is an irritating trend emerging in modern football, and it does not reflect too well upon the clubs which carry out the act.
Players are released and transferred all the time, especially in this day and age, but it seems that more and more the players are not being kept in the loop and find out what is happening regarding their future in the press.
We saw it recently with Tony Hibbert, who hit out at Everton for their handling of his release, but now Joe Allen has admitted his disappointment after he found out through a text from a friend that he was being sold to Stoke.
Speaking to The Telegraph, Allen explained how it went down.
I actually had a text message off a friend congratulating me about making the move when I didn’t even know it was happening at the time. Not knowing whether the club intend to sell you or keep you, especially when you’re trying to ask the question, is disappointing.
If I’m honest, to find out they accepted an offer through the press isn’t the best way of going about business, I don’t think. The communication wasn’t great but as soon as Liverpool accepted an offer I knew what their intentions were for me. It was a bit strange but that’s how things happen sometimes. There was no real goodbye, but I’m not the most sentimental person anyway. It’s irrelevant now because sitting here I’ve got the move I wanted.
Some will argue due to Allen's standing in the squad that it's not disrespectful, but how hard is it to give him a call?
It speaks volumes about Wee Joe that he still doesn't have a bad word to say about the club after the incident, but it's clear that it hurt him a little bit, and we imagine the club's fans would not want to hear about this sort of thing becoming a regular occurrence.
Joe Allen won't go down as a club legend at Anfield, but he was a good servant who always tried his best and to not be given the courtesy of a phone call to keep him out of the dark seems harsh.
It most likely is due to a breakdown in communication somewhere along the line, as Allen himself admits, but thinking back to Jonas Gutierrez and Ryan Taylor being axed by Newcastle as well, it's becoming more common.
Down with that sort of thing.
