-
The Fighting Cock is a forum for fans of Tottenham Hotspur Football Club. Here you can discuss Spurs latest matches, our squad, tactics and any transfer news surrounding the club. Registration gives you access to all our forums (including 'Off Topic' discussion) and removes most of the adverts (you can remove them all via an account upgrade). You're here now, you might as well...
Ex-Spurs Player Kyle Walker
- Thread starter SadlerTHFC
- Start date
Latest Spurs videos from Sky Sports
Ha, "never disrespect Tottenham Hotspur"?
Too late pal, you already have. Throwing your toys out the pram during the end of 16/17 season when we were trying to win the league and still in the FA Cup.
Can't stand the prick.
Last edited:
He's completely refuting that claim mate.............
Walker will always be in debt to Mauricio Pochettino, his manager while he was at Tottenham. It was under Pochettino that he grew from boy to man in football terms.
The Argentine tweaked the young defender's lifestyle — the occasional McDonald's had to go, for example — and eventually handed him over to Guardiola for £45m as just about the perfect modern Premier League player.
'Maurico was fantastic for me,' Walker said. 'I was young, needed to improve and he improved me.
'He taught me to look after myself, eat right and rest. I will never forget how much he did.'
In life even the best relationships can fracture and the weapon that has done the damage in this case is the written word, namely some of those written by Pochettino in a book published last year.
Pochettino accused Walker of showing an 'alarming lack of respect to his team-mates' by asking to leave the club towards the end of the 2016-17 season. The Spurs manager maintains that was the only reason a star asset was sold.
Walker disputes this, claiming for the first time this week that he only chose to go after Pochettino began to leave him out of the team.
'He told me I wasn't in his plans,' said Walker.
But it isn't this difference in the telling of the story that has upset Walker, rather that Pochettino chose to detail their private conversations in the book.
'I was hurt a lot by that,' he said. 'He said his door was always open and I thought it was a private meeting we had. So I kept quiet but then he went and wrote about it... or his version of it.
'If he was going to do that he might as well have called a press conference and told everyone. He told one side of the story, but it's a side of a story I don't agree with.
'He said he had a witness in there, but he didn't tell the correct story, no way. Up until now I have never said my part. I have stayed quiet and showed a level of respect to Tottenham and I always will.
'The manager gave me my chance to showcase my talent. But people don't know the ins and outs of everything and it is about time I told people what happened from my side.'
When the topic was raised during our conversation this week, it triggered some pent-up emotion.
Walker still cares for Tottenham and Pochettino.
'I have had a few people calling me a snake and stuff,' he said. 'It hurts because I gave everything to that club. And everything I am now I owe to that club. So yes, it hurts when I go back there now, but I guess it's just a part of football.
'I have justified why I wanted to come to Manchester City because I have won trophies and improved. When I first signed I wondered if I had made the right decision.
'Tottenham had finished above Manchester City two years on the bounce and were going places. But because I wasn't playing I needed to go.
'So I am happy now and happy back in the north. I am my mum's only child and she missed me down south.
'It's not the main reason to be here but this was an opportunity to head back north, get my hunger back and to discover something different. I did want to prove I could do this somewhere else. I think I have done that.'
It feels as though Walker's relationship with Pochettino will recover and we hope so. In the wake of our interview, he briefly considered retracting his quotes on the topic.
The whole article is here: Man City's Kyle Walker opens up about Guardiola and his Spurs exit | Daily Mail Online
I've nothing but respect for the guy, a real warrior, a gent, a long-term servant and probably the best full back the club have ever had. How we miss him too
He choose to go because he could not work under Poch, what you take the thirty pieces of oil silver and still expect to be welcomed back to a club you gave the bird to piss off!I think I'm going to be sick.
Is that because you have called him a snake and booed him and feel the response is to maintain that stance for fear of losing face?
There are two sides to every story.
I have absolutely no idea who's version is the correct version of the events, maybe there is an element of truth in both sides and communication between the two of them was poor with neither having a true understanding of each other.
I will always side with Tottenham, Walker plays for a different club, so I don't follow or support the guy, I want him to lose every game he plays in. BUT, he was a good player for us, was with us for nearly a decade and always respected the Club and the fans, even when it was clear he was leaving. I think he deserves that respect back.
Last edited:
Nah, when his name was called out at Wembley last season I didn't boo but neither did I applaud. A lot of people around me stayed silent as well.
I believe Poch, that's why I doubt the truth of this interview.
Sounds to me like a case of having one's cake and eating it.
You can respect him if you like, I choose not to. Neither position is the right or the wrong one, just a matter of opinion or choice.
Fair enough mate. I for the record I didn't clap him either, I probably would have if he was playing for Huddersfield rather than City, them being in the same swimming lane.
Also, why now? The timing of this stinks a little bit, just looks like he's sticking the knife in at a time when we're struggling and some people are attempting to put pressure on Poch.
I think the issue is Walker has the money, the trophies, is back in the North BUT doesn't get the same love from Citeh fans as he did from us. I think he misses that.
Some footballers want it all, the money, the glory and the adulation. At our club we cheered him, believed in him even after all the mistakes. At Citeh he's just another cog in the machine and has a short shelf-life until a new shinier 'toy' comes along. He'll be at Everton within a couple of years or so, you watch.
Walker made the best decision for his career but nobody will believe this rubbish that Poch told him he wasn’t in his plans and that he had no choice but to leave.
Kyle came to him during the crucial phase of the season and said he wanted to join Man City, that’s why he was left out for almost every game afterwards and immediately put on the transfer list. The idea that he was forced to leave by Poch is drivel. He came to the manager and said he wanted to play for a different club, and being so big on loyalty Poch decided that he could no longer be trusted to give his best.
Kyle came to him during the crucial phase of the season and said he wanted to join Man City, that’s why he was left out for almost every game afterwards and immediately put on the transfer list. The idea that he was forced to leave by Poch is drivel. He came to the manager and said he wanted to play for a different club, and being so big on loyalty Poch decided that he could no longer be trusted to give his best.
Don't see it that way in the slightest. The interview isn't about why he left Tottenham. It's an interview that a number of topics are covered. I would be astonished if there was an interview with him where he wouldn't be asked about Tottenham, he spent nearly a decade hear. It would be like having an interview with Greaves and not asking him about his time at Spurs.
I just think you are feeling a bit sensitive and raw. Taking everything as a personal afront about the club. I find it absolutely astonishing the level of negativity that is currently being spued out of every orifice, from fans and media alike. I guess this is what happens when you are a good team, Utd were in crisis after we beat them, Real Madrid is in crisis every year as too are Barca. Think the fans need to take a step back and get a grip. (Not aimed at you personally mate, I just got on a bit of a roll with my response)
Hmm, as I said above believe what you want and I'll do the same. He doesn't need to talk about us, perhaps out of 'respect' he could have declined or kept it fairly neutral or bland, but he chose to answer these questions, in some detail too and basically has a pop at Poch.
I'm not sensitive or raw about it mate, just giving an opinion. I only came on this thread as someone gave me a dislike and I wanted to see what for. I didn't even know Walker had given this interview until seeing it on this thread!
How many games did Trippier play over Walker that season before the whole 'Walker wants to leave' hit the papers?
I don't remember TOO many league games Trippier started before then, perhaps against Watford I seem to remember and I think he played quite a few CL games. I can see how missing out on CL games could piss him off though. We worked so hard to get there over the decade he was here and he's left out.
Full back rotation for our big games has always pissed me off though. You have the League Cup for that.
I don't remember TOO many league games Trippier started before then, perhaps against Watford I seem to remember and I think he played quite a few CL games. I can see how missing out on CL games could piss him off though. We worked so hard to get there over the decade he was here and he's left out.
Full back rotation for our big games has always pissed me off though. You have the League Cup for that.
Why can't he talk about us? Poch spoke about him, and in some detail too.
Fucking hell. Life's too short for this!
Whatever man, you're obviously a member of his fan club or something!
Poor Walker, he's just so misunderstood!
The cunt let us down, at a crucial time of the season when we were trying to chase down Chelsea in the PL and get the better of them in the FA Cup. Walker isn't the victim here!
Some people on here seem to hold ex-Spurs in higher regard than current players same goes for some former managers as well.
The thing about our FB's is they are rotated under Poch, this is what he does. He has also been praised for doing it, even by those players that are being rotated, both Walker and Rose were interviewed together by Sky and both spoke who the competition for the place had pushed their game on. All from the mouths of the two who were at that time the "better" of the options, perhaps when the manager thinks that the "other' player deserves a slot instead they aren't as accommodating with the same viewpoint they held previously?!? (When options are fit of course, Davies was our only LB whilst Rose was injured).