Spot on commentary from Howard Hockin on the latest City Watch podcast (Agenda Ep. 2, and sounds better than he does on BM) about Raheem and the treatment he received being the worst ever for a young English player switching clubs.
https://soundcloud.com/city-watch/the-agenda-ep-2(discussion starts at about the 33:34 mark)
Not only did he get this from Liverpool fans and the media who he believes intended to smear him, but at away games in Ireland (??) and Norwich. Meanwhile when did well was mostly silence (he did get a few nods from some pundits/journalists earlier in the season, tbf) but once form dipped it was a bandwagon of criticism. Then the hypocrisy of this compared to treatment towards Stones (ummm he handed in a transfer request, and almost went for a similar fee, and performed below expecations) or Barkley (also almost going for a massive fee a few years back) with his fall from hype, and inconsistency less criticised compared to Sterling as well.
I happen to think there are some other subtle reasons that won't be stated by most anyone as to why he, in particular, was targeted by some, and it isn't just because he left an anointed club of England like Liverpool.
In case people hadn't noticed, he has played pretty well in the last 3 England games, with 2 quality assists I believe back to back now, and starting the goal with attacking play that led to another goal in another. He is better than even some of our fans give him credit for if you ask me, and why we have to hold his fee against him as supporters of his club is beyond me when he's 21 years old and just went through a ridiculous saga last season coming to us. I am going to hedge my bets and argue that he will have a breakthrough season with City under Pep this season.
Posted: Sat Apr 23, 2016 9:32 pm