da realbet： When Tottenham made the big money swoop for David Bentley in the summer of 2008 he was supposed to be the marquee signing of the Juande Ramos revolution and take Tottenham up to the next level. He was of course, at the time, a fledgling England international and tipped to be the natural successor to David Beckham and fill the right-side of the English midfield for years to come.
da supremo： Tottenham signed Bentley for a fee of around £15 million and he moved to White Hart Lane with quite a pedigree. The previous season for Blackburn he’d scored eight goals, provided 13 assists and had been described by then Blackburn chairman John Williams as: “one of the best young footballers in the country” – a statement many would agree with. The problem was that this level of praise, and securing a big money move to Spurs, had seemed to inflate Bentley’s ego rather than motivate him on the pitch and as a result some Spurs fans now regard him as their worst signing of the last decade.
Soon after signing Bentley in 2008, Spurs sacked Ramos and hired Harry Redknapp, and this proved to be the beginning of the end for the winger’s Spurs career. Bentley’s lifestyle didn’t match Redknapp’s idea of how a professional footballer should act and in 2009 Redknapp said: “He needs good advice. Whoever looks after him – he’s involved with him off the field as well – I think needs to be giving him good advice”.
Bentley had recently invested some money in a nightclub in Spain and was spending evenings scouting for local music talent to play at his bar, and on this topic Harry continued: “He doesn’t need to be involved in nightclubs in Spain or whatever. The advice he needs from a good agent is ‘Concentrate on your football, David’”, and it was here where the problem lied. Rather than changing his outlook after pictures emerged of him crowd surfing at a gig in 2008 reportedly smelling of ale, he chose to keep his party lifestyle.
It was this lifestyle choice which resulted in the incident that has been most damaging to Bentley’s career – his one year ban for drink driving. Redknapp, who himself was involved in a car crash which killed five people in 1990, was thought to be fuming with the player who he had warned about his conduct on numerous occasions.
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It wasn’t just off the field where David Bentley found himself with problems however. Skilful winger Aaron Lennon was hitting form and was keeping Bentley out of the side at both domestic and international level. Bentley’s and Lennon’s playing styles differ hugely, and unfortunately for Bentley it was Lennon who fitted in better among Spurs fans and their view of the ‘Tottenham way’ of playing football. Inevitably, Bentley ended up spending some time playing on the left of midfield, which Redknapp admitted wasn’t ideal for anybody: “It’s difficult balancing up David and Aaron, and I am not doing David any favours by playing him on the left. The boy is a right-sided player but Aaron is more comfortable on the right and I have ended up sticking David out on the left, and it is not easy for him”.
I think that there’s a difference between having a bad attitude and having the wrong attitude, and Bentley seemed to be stuck with the latter. Nobody is saying that footballers can’t go out and enjoy themselves, but in the modern day when footballers are supposed to be bastions of good health and behaviour they shouldn’t be photographed with cigarettes in their hand. I also think that it’s wrong to suggest that he was badly treated by Redknapp. It happens regularly that some players don’t fit in with the plans of a new manager, but first impressions count and having a boozy night out within months of Redknapp taking over won’t have done Bentley any favours.
With Bentley reportedly having the nickname ‘Becks’ and formerly being touted as the long-term replacement for the England captain, it seems ironic that it could well be Beckham who replaces Bentley in the Spurs squad for the next few months. If David Bentley has learnt anything from the last three years he will take a look at Beckham and see the way that he should be conducting himself. Should Bentley’s loan move to Birmingham go through as expected in the next few days then the Blues have undoubtedly got themselves a good player, away from the temptations of London hopefully Bentley can settle down and keep his mind focussed on the thing that we used to know him for – playing good football.
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