Dunney’s not doing himself any favours or credit with these media outbursts. He’s now pointing the finger and naming individuals behind his City departure…
We knew he’d already revealed his hurt to Sky Sports News over the way his transfer to Aston Villa was dealt with.
But in Das Daily Mail, he has now delivered a withering attack upon the Manchester City hierarchy. It’s scathing stuff.
Garry Cook looks to be the focal point of his ire:
‘He doesn’t understand football. All he wants is big-money players. He doesn’t understand the core loyalty of the club and where it begins. For him I was probably a bit of a nuisance. I found out things that were going on behind my back and I wouldn’t speak to him. Every time I came around he probably felt a bit uncomfortable.’
If the Villa and Ireland defender is after rocking the upbeat City boat, he’s more than making waves. As former captain he goes on to question Mark Hughes’ control of team affairs and communication issues between himself and his former manager, if anything giving the impression Sparky hardly communicates.
‘The manager is very quiet, he does his own thing and I spoke with him a few times through the summer about what was going on. He was of the opinion that City needed two players for every position and that was the way the squad was going to work. The last time I spoke to him was in Africa after I had found out some other stuff. I said, ‘Where do I lie in the whole thing?’
‘He said I was still the captain and even last week he said to me he would rather I stayed but he was told we needed to get money in. I don’t think it was his decision.’
Next up, he reinforced his earlier knock at City’s finances with another crack at Cook. Manna from heaven for the anti-City brigade press pack, who’ve been struggling for material this season:
‘They told me they have a certain amount of money they have to recoup each season to make things look better on the books. I could understand if I was being sold for £200m, it might make sense, but it was a bit strange really. It just needed people to be honest with me. I was getting phone calls from people saying Garry Cook was trying to sell me behind my back, two months after me going to him and saying if he has any problems to come and deal with me. I’m disappointed with people who say one thing and then do the other.
I’m not going to cry just because the club wanted to sell me – just don’t do it behind my back.’
Good grief. And he didn’t stop there, turning his attention to the resurgent City squad.
‘City have just signed Joleon Lescott and he’s getting dog’s abuse for being disloyal and breaking a contract he signed at Everton a year ago. But City have just done the exact same to me. It’s not me who asked to leave. I would quite happily have stayed there and been part of the squad and fought for my place. I have been loyal to them for a long time but it was their decision to cancel a four-year contract. It seems to me the contract they gave me last year was just pointless. Twelve months down the line, when it doesn’t suit them anymore, they just put it in the bin and say, ‘Off you go.’
‘It is difficult at City because of the amount of players that have come in. So far everything has gelled really well and the results have been really good, but when it gets difficult there’s not really the bonding in the dressing room.’
So says the man who was charged with holding that dressing room together. This is damning stuff Blues and extremely disappointing.
Two things that glare right out at this correspondent this morning are these.
Firstly, if anyone honestly believes that the high stakes big business, relentless pressure of top flight football in England is a happy families cake walk then I’d challenge anyone, especially Dunney to find a club where absolutely every aspect of it runs smoothly, everyone is ‘on message’ and even the easiest going prima donna superstar goes along with every hierarchical decision.
Secondly, how bitterly disappointing for City fans to read these quotes from a bloke we have absolutely stood by through thick and mostly thin. I personally have gone to the Vital keyboard praising the player for his professionalism and attitude only to find him descending into one of the bitterest outbursts usually and hilariously reserved for hot tempered international superstar players and managers.
I make no attempt to side with anyone or cover up for any alledged bad treatment. All we can deal in is the facts we have at hand.
To my knowledge, nobody at Manchester City Football Club has had a bad word to say for Richard Dunne and even if there was acrimony behind the scenes, then there hasn’t been a hint of it out of SportCity.
As already mentioned, the stakes are high and nobody can deny that ruthless measures must be taken if a club is to amount to anything at this level.
Nobody has banged on about Dunne’s history of own goals and rash sendings off that left us badly exposed and defeated far too often for comfort. The Middlesborough 8-1 suicide challenge that precipitated annhialation under Sven-Goran Eriksson springs to mind.
For crying out loud, Dunney. You’ve already said City fans have been through the grinder and deserve success so why set out to descend into this level of finger pointing that will only unsettle and reverberate straight through those fans you’ve been praising? Whatever has gone on and no matter how aggrieved you feel, you’ve let yourself down big time.
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