Michael Johnson - Manchester City

The Internet

I heard he went into a restaurant and ate everything in the restaurant and they had to close the restaurant

cadete

Jasus Liverpool wanted to pay 10 million quid for an 18 year old back then!! City could easy get 25 million off them for him today no bother :cool:

comon we all know wat their like

PhlegmyMoses

Eli Manning wrote: »

Poor fcuker. I hope it all works out for him. That makes me really sad seeing that. Even if he was going onto to play for one our rivals it's never nice to see a players career ruined.

I hope he gets a break

And he hopes he gets a breakfast.

Jesus he even looks sad. Rumours that he has had a lot of personal issues which are pretty much confirmed with that picture.

Mikeyt086

PhlegmyMoses wrote: »

And he hopes he gets a breakfast.

Jesus he even looks sad. Rumours that he has had a lot of personal issues which are pretty much confirmed with that picture.

Should he be delighted to be taking a photo with some random chap in a fast food joint?

It's a photo with very little context, I wouldn't go confirming anything other than he is overweight.

Seaneh

City tried to off load him for the last 3 years but being on 40+ per week nobody wanted him after his injuries.

Basically he is happy going a Winston Bogarde on it. He has long term, high paying contract.

He showed up every day for training, the management sent him home, eventually, they told him to stop coming, he still makes himself available, which means he is fulfilling his obligations and can't be sacked.

EdenHazard

whens his contract up? if i was him i would not be turning into a fat lump

brb hitting the gym
brb 2 holidays a month
brb pulling every night

Seaneh

EdenHazard wrote: »

whens his contract up? if i was him i would not be turning into a fat lump

brb hitting the gym
brb 2 holidays a month
brb pulling every night

you arent being paid 40k a week to sit on your arse.


You have no idea what you'd end up doing in his shoes.

LuckyLloyd

Seaneh wrote: »

City tried to off load him for the last 3 years but being on 40+ per week nobody wanted him after his injuries.

Basically he is happy going a Winston Bogarde on it. He has long term, high paying contract.

He showed up every day for training, the management sent him home, eventually, they told him to stop coming, he still makes himself available, which means he is fulfilling his obligations and can't be sacked.

I'm surprised that there isn't language in pro contracts around physical fitness / ability to perform job to a reasonable level. That said, if they did tell him to stay away from training that would be a big factor in how he has got quite so bad out of shape.

latenia

Mikeyt086 wrote: »

It's a photo with very little context, I wouldn't go confirming anything other than he is overweight.

The bloatedness, red nose and cheeks, drink driving conviction-it doesn't take a genius to figure out what the problem is there.

Jelle1880

monkey9 wrote: »

Why haven't City just let him go?? I can't believe they're still paying him wages!!

He signed a 5 year contract in 2009 :eek:
He'll have made £7.5m by the end of his contract, fair play

City should just cut their losses.

Esse85

Its a disgrace a waster like him is getting about £40k a week.

LuckyLloyd

Jelle1880 wrote: »

He signed a 5 year contract in 2009 :eek:
He'll have made £7.5m by the end of his contract, fair play

City should just cut their losses.

They should probably look into negotiating a reduction in what they owe through the end of the contract if they pay him up via a lump sum payment. His career is most likely over, unless he hooks on with a non league team or something when his contract is up.

Esse85 wrote: »

Its a disgrace a waster like him is getting about £40k a week.

Fans want it every which way. They want players to honour their deals and stay at smaller clubs when they have value; then disappear into obscurity when they are surplus to requirements.

City have done all they can here by the sounds of things. They've tried to offload him; have let him go on loan in the hope of putting him in the shop window; and eventually excluded him from training, etc so that he isn't a bad influence / may be spurred on to go looking for meaningful involvement elsewhere.

I guess the question will be whether he's saved any of this money, would be hard to have sympathy for him if he ends up broke after all this.

GavRedKing

EdenHazard wrote: »

whens his contract up? if i was him i would not be turning into a fat lump

brb hitting the gym
brb 2 holidays a month
brb pulling every night

Da fuq is brb?

Luckycharms_74

The Internet wrote: »

I heard he went into a restaurant and ate everything in the restaurant and they had to close the restaurant

Panthro

GavRedKing wrote: »

Da fuq is brb?

Be Right Back?
Boobies R Beautiful?

Ohh....I sense a competition for the best answer starting up!:pac:

GavRedKing

I've seen it used as Be Right Back but it makes zero sense in his comments.

be right back hitting the gym
be right back 2 holidays a month
be right back pulling every night

Panthro

Boobies R Beautiful hitting the gym
Boobies R Beautiful 2 holidays a month
Boobies R Beautiful pulling every night

Francie Barrett

I remember when Liverpool were being linked with him for about £12 million. Christ, that was some bullet we dodged. As for City excluding him from even entering the training ground, he must really have been taking the piss for that to happen.

Red Crow

GavRedKing wrote: »

Da fuq is brb?

If anybody said to me: "brb hitting the gym" I'd hit them!

Morzadec

Francie Barrett wrote: »

I remember when Liverpool were being linked with him for about £12 million. Christ, that was some bullet we dodged. As for City excluding him from even entering the training ground, he must really have been taking the piss for that to happen.

Well I would imagine his physical condition deteriorated to such an extent that having him training was just pointless. We're talking about a Premier League club here - even at reserve or youth team level you would have to have incredibly high fitness levels. I imagine he let himself go during an injury, continued to do so and there was just no point in City having come in to train. He would just disrupt things if anything.

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

His career is most likely over, unless he hooks on with a non league team or something when his contract is up.

I think that's an incredibly long shot. Look at him. Even non-league players require a level of fitness. It would take a massive turn around in diet, training etc..., and even then I imagine a lot of damage has been done and would be difficult to undo.

He will never get paid to play football again imo. 5-a-side pub team is all that's left for him I would imagine.

PhlegmyMoses

Mikeyt086 wrote: »

Should he be delighted to be taking a photo with some random chap in a fast food joint?

It's a photo with very little context, I wouldn't go confirming anything other than he is overweight.

Well, there have been rumours about him for years. In and out of clinics, issues with mental health etc.

Do you not find that photo a bit depressing? Some bloke trying to get a picture of him so he can upload it to Twitter and show what a ****ing mess a player who everybody had high hopes for has become? Do you not think that Johnson recognised that?

He is proper fat now. He's not just carrying a few pounds like he was the last couple of seasons. He looks like he is around 6 stone overweight, despite having access to the best facilities and coaches in the world, had he wanted it.

If that picture doesn't confirm to you that Johnson has massive problems, then fair enough, but it does to me.

LuckyLloyd

Morzadec wrote: »

I think that's an incredibly long shot. Look at him. Even non-league players require a level of fitness. It would take a massive turn around in diet, training etc..., and even then I imagine a lot of damage has been done and would be difficult to undo.

He will never get paid to play football again imo. 5-a-side pub team is all that's left for him I would imagine.

I am of course well aware that high level semi pro ball requires an incredible level of fitness relatively speaking.

It's not beyond the realms of possibility though, and has happened before. He'd have to want to do it, and have to make a concerted effort to lose some weight and get back in shape. Thing is though, the technical ability he had doesn't disappear and it might buy himself some chances.

Anyway, won't know until his contract is up.

By the way, the surprising thing for me is that this doesn't happen MORE OFTEN! He really had a dreadful run of injuries and it does appear that language regarding fitness is not standard in professional contracts. I'm surprised we don't have more stories of young pros getting disheartened and seeing out time on a lucrative deal they'll never have the opportunity to ink again.

Morzadec

Was reading through his Wiki there and was surprised to see he played as recently as the 2011-12 season on loan to Leicester.

Also, under 'International Career':

He has represented England at under-19 level and under-21 level, and anticipates representing them at the tag-team pie eating contest in Antwerp next month

Xavi6

I'm more concerned about EdenHazard than Michael Johnson.

Xavi6

Aaaannnnnd he's been released -

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2013/jan/15/michael-johnson-released-manchester-city

LuckyLloyd

PhlegmyMoses wrote: »

Well, there have been rumours about him for years. In and out of clinics, issues with mental health etc.

Do you not find that photo a bit depressing? Some bloke trying to get a picture of him so he can upload it to Twitter and show what a ****ing mess a player who everybody had high hopes for has become? Do you not think that Johnson recognised that?

He is proper fat now. He's not just carrying a few pounds like he was the last couple of seasons. He looks like he is around 6 stone overweight, despite having access to the best facilities and coaches in the world, had he wanted it.

If that picture doesn't confirm to you that Johnson has massive problems, then fair enough, but it does to me.

I'm not seeing how this is a tragedy? It happens in all levels of sport. Talented young athletes get a run of injuries / health problems / general motivation issues and drift from sport. In this case he became a multi millionaire before it ended. I don't see it as a tragedy from Johnson's perspective. He got unlucky, but he clearly contributed to his current physical state and he did reap significant rewards from his natural technical ability and genetically granted athleticism.

Not just sport either, you'll find people in all walks of life who fail to live up to the promise and potential they held at 18.

He has the opportunity to go out and carve out a life for himself; get clean; get help; get better. Robert Enke didn't manage that; Petrov and Muamba had their careers abruptly ended and have had to fight for their lives; Fletcher got struck down by a severely debilating auto immune disease. This one isn't worth weeping over imo.

s_carnage

Michael Johnson released as Manchester City finally lose patience
• Johnson offered a severance package before Christmas
• Midfielder last played for the club in October 2009

Michael Johnson, once tipped as an England international and one of the best young players to emerge through Manchester City's academy in the last decade, has been paid off from his contract after the club finally ran out of patience with him.

<full article snipped>

Guardian Link

LuckyLloyd

Xavi6 wrote: »

Aaaannnnnd he's been released -

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2013/jan/15/michael-johnson-released-manchester-city

Saved themselves a few quid, I don't think City have anything to answer for on this one tbh - handled it as well as it could be handled.

wandatowell

Looking at that mess of a fella I fell pretty good about myself right now

PhlegmyMoses

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

I'm not seeing how this is a tragedy? It happens in all levels of sport. Talented young athletes get a run of injuries / health problems / general motivation issues and drift from sport. In this case he became a multi millionaire before it ended. I don't see it as a tragedy from Johnson's perspective. He got unlucky, but he clearly contributed to his current physical state and he did reap significant rewards from his natural technical ability and genetically granted athleticism.

Not just sport either, you'll find people in all walks of life who fail to live up to the promise and potential they held at 18.

He has the opportunity to go out and carve out a life for himself; get clean; get help; get better. Robert Enke didn't manage that; Petrov and Muamba had their careers abruptly ended and have had to fight for their lives; Fletcher got struck down by a severely debilating auto immune disease. This one isn't worth weeping over imo.

I never said it was a tragedy. I said the picture was a bit depressing. Bit of a difference. Loads of words to argue against a position that wasn't there.

Neil3030

I imagine City did their best to seek professional help for him to overcome whatever problem underlay his descent into faineance. It would certainly be a huge indictment on the morality of a club, should they instead elect to simply pay off and turn its back on a player.

Xavi6

Neil3030 wrote: »

I imagine City did their best to seek professional help for him to overcome whatever problem underlay his descent into faineance. It would certainly be a huge indictment on the morality of a club, should they instead elect to simply pay off and turn its back on a player.

I hope I'm reading this wrong but are you saying City are acting immorally to get rid at this stage?

Neil3030

Xavi6 wrote: »

I hope I'm reading this wrong but are you saying City are acting immorally to get rid at this stage?

Only if this was their only intervention in the matter.

Xavi6

Neil3030 wrote: »

Only if this was their only intervention in the matter.

Given that they've stood by him for the best part of five years I doubt it.

Neil3030

Xavi6 wrote: »

Given that they've stood by him for the best part of five years I doubt it.

Then they have nothing to worry about. You will note the first sentence in my previous post?

Xavi6

Neil3030 wrote: »

Then they have nothing to worry about. You will note the first sentence in my previous post?

Of course, which is why I thought the second part was a funny thing to throw in.

Neil3030

Xavi6 wrote: »

Of course, which is why I thought the second part was a funny thing to throw in.

But it would be true though, wouldn't it? I mean, we don't know what help was offered to Johnson (or maybe you do, but I, at least don't), so I simply assumed that City have done the right thing and offered the appropriate professional assistance to help him overcome his underlying issues.

Because, if a club take a purely come-as-you-are utilitarian perspective on its players, and if cases of suspected mental health issues are treated with the simple instruction to 'pi$s off until you fix yourself', it would be a huge indictment on their morality. Wouldn't it?

Keep in mind that I never directly accused City of this, you will surely agree.

Neil3030

Apparently he has now been released from his contract:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2013/jan/15/michael-johnson-released-manchester-city

Laois_Man

SNIP

Posted on wrongthread!

Xavi6

Neil3030 wrote: »

But it would be true though, wouldn't it? I mean, we don't know what help was offered to Johnson (or maybe you do, but I, at least don't), so I simply assumed that City have done the right thing and offered the appropriate professional assistance to help him overcome his underlying issues.

Because, if a club take a purely come-as-you-are utilitarian perspective on its players, and if cases of suspected mental health issues are treated with the simple instruction to 'pi$s off until you fix yourself', it would be a huge indictment on their morality. Wouldn't it?

Keep in mind that I never directly accused City of this, you will surely agree.

I don't pretend to know the exact inner workings of the club but given the focus on developing youngsters, the future plans to further that, and the fact that they stood by him for so long given his off the pitch antics, I would be very surprised if they did anything other than try get him sorted.

It just reads like a little cheap shot to allude to the possibility of them getting rid because they couldn't be arsed dealing with it.

As Lloyd mentioned before, as an outsider looking in, it's hard to question anything City did with Johnson over a five year period.

keano_afc

I fully expect Arsenal to sign him up. Our criteria for signing players is about the only thing Johnson fits into these days.

Neil3030

Xavi6 wrote: »

I don't pretend to know the exact inner workings of the club but given the focus on developing youngsters, the future plans to further that, and the fact that they stood by him for so long given his off the pitch antics, I would be very surprised if they did anything other than try get him sorted.

It just reads like a little cheap shot to allude to the possibility of them getting rid because they couldn't be arsed dealing with it.

As Lloyd mentioned before, as an outsider looking in, it's hard to question anything City did with Johnson over a five year period.

I think it's being a little bit defensive to see my comment as a cheap shot at City. It's a serious general concern, i.e., that clubs fling bin-loads of cash at young players in order to ensure their recruitment, so in cases where this sudden wealth can have a negative influence on a player's well-being, I would hope that appropriate assistance is on offer. Otherwise it smacks of very heartless, and in my opinion immoral, practice. I may affirm this concern without being accused of cheap-shots, surely?

Scuba Ste

Neil3030 wrote: »

Keep in mind that I never directly accused City of this, you will surely agree.

But you do throw some doubt on the assumption that they have done everything they can with the second sentence. Don't see how it's necessary tbh unless it's attempt to sh1t stir.

I don't see how it's anything but sad to see a player with a that much promise end up like this at only 24.

daithijjj

Its a difficult enough topic to comment on when you only know a miserly amount of information.

For all we know, he could just be the type of person who didnt get the right advice or heed any advice he might have got as regards having lots of money and lots of free time.

He could have any amount of issues in his life, like depression etc.

Neil3030

Scuba Ste wrote: »

But you do throw some doubt on the assumption that they have done everything they can with the second sentence. Don't see how it's necessary tbh unless it's attempt to sh1t stir.

I don't see how it's anything but sad to see a player with a that much promise end up like this at only 24.

But of course there's doubt, because we don't know all the details. I trust they did everything they could, and it would be an indictment on a club if they don't. I can't see how this has caused such an issue, tbh.

JPA

Neil3030 wrote: »

But of course there's doubt, because we don't know all the details. I trust they did everything they could, and it would be an indictment on a club if they don't. I can't see how this has caused such an issue, tbh.

Raise the question when there is a reason to but it's actually the opposite in this case.

dd972

A couple of million in the bank, house in Cheshire with no mortgage, and still young enough to get his head right, cut out the booze and play football again albeit in reduced circumstances.

Despite what seems of waste of talent at the end of the day footballing success is a numbers game and they can't all end up like a Gerrard, a Rooney or even a John O'Shea


I'd happily swap my life for his

JPA

Aren't his crippling injuries a bigger issue than anything else?

Scuba Ste

JPA wrote: »

Raise the question when there is a reason to but it's actually the opposite in this case.

This. If you have a reason to doubt the club's actions by all means let's hear it. You don't so it shouldn't need to mention it.

I'd swap bank accounts with him not sure I'd swap lives. Not everyone can be a Gerrard etc but how many are on that track and end up completely out of football not just in a lower league and seemingly physically unable to look after themselves. Take away the money, the early success and the football and it's still sad to see imo.

Batigol309

My bad...got a bit over excited/annoyed when I read it.

Mods can you delete please