Okocha on signing for Bolton

It is a great reminder that clubs can look much bigger from the outside than they are up close. The Old Trafford line is funny, but the rest of the pitch probably mattered more than the sales talk imo
 
i dont think its fair to act like he was stupid for falling for it because loads of players would have done the same thing if the stadium looked good and the club sold the move well
 
It is easy to laugh at the story, but there is a sensible point underneath it. Clubs often sell a move through prestige and presentation, and players only find out the full reality later. That does not make Bolton uniquely bad, just very football.
 
Referees and officials get blamed for everything in football but even the club sales pitch can be a joke sometimes because if you are telling a player they are ten minutes from Old Trafford like that is some kind of proof of greatness then you are already taking the piss and when the reality is a tiny training ground and a three person shower it just makes the whole thing look even more ridiculous, not saying the officials are involved in this one obviously but the general level of nonsense in football never changes, one minute its glossy presentation and the next minute everyone is acting shocked when the truth looks completely different, absolute farce
 
The key thing here is that the stadium is only part of the picture. If the training ground and day to day setup are poor, the glamour wears off very quickly.
 
I know everyone is laughing at the story but imagine being the actual player hearing that and then walking into a setup like that and realising the club had basically sold you a holiday brochure and not a football move, the whole thing is a bit disrespectful really because it makes him sound naive when in reality he was probably just trusting people and trying to get on with his career, and people forget how much of football is based on trust and vibes and one bloke with a nice voice telling you the right things, then you get there and the training ground is small and the shower situation is embarrassing and everyone acts like it is a joke when youre the one expected to train there every day, nah I am with him on this one completely, fair play to Okocha for saying it out loud because that is the sort of thing players never really admit and it probably cost him a few illusions but not his class
 
Even if Bolton were not the glamour club he thought they were, that does not mean the move or the club should be laughed off as some total embarrassment because football is full of places with rough edges and not every good player starts at a shiny setup, some of the best stories come from clubs that are a bit scrappy and a bit old school and maybe that is part of the charm here, he signed, he played, and he has a funny story to tell years later which is more than most clubs can offer, people are acting like the tiny training ground and three person shower means the whole place was a joke but that is just modern snobbery really, plenty of lads would still have loved the chance and Bolton still gave him a platform so I do think some of the mockery goes too far and the club deserves a bit more respect than that
 
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