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I opened my newspaper yesterday to discover that the contract of Seth Johnson has been terminated by Leeds United. Generally, one finds "by mutual consent" in these reports, and this is no exception.
So, why have I not bunged this into the transfers thread? Well, because Seth Johnson's story has always been greater than Seth Johnson himself. In fact, as much as one can feel sorry for a man who has been made a millionaire in essence for doing nothing, Johnson himself perhaps deserves a measure of sympathy. After all, he was only doing what was necessary to secure his advancement as a footballer and provide financial rewards in line with his perceived talent - move to a big club, put himself in the window for the England manager, perhaps capitalise on the nation's terrible shortage of able left-sided midfielders. He didn't hold a gun to anyone's head and demand to be valued at seven million pounds.
Hang on. How much?
That's right. £7 million. To be fair, more catastrophic transfer blunders were probably made in 2001. Fulham paid 11.5 million for Steve Marlet, for reasons that remain obscure, and Manchester United £28 million for Juan Sebastian, which even had it worked out was a lot of wedge for a player. Nonetheless, Veron was a legend, arguably one of the best midfielders in the world and a regular for both a leading club and a leading nation. Seth Johnson was in his early twenties, with 15 under-21 caps. And, apparently, Derby only agreed to sell at this price, having spent £3 million to take him from Dario Gradi's legendary youth structure at Crewe Alexandra, when their own financial problems started to bite.
Having said which, theoretically this was not necessarily bad business. If Johnson had carried on improving, he might reasonably have fetched if not quite a Beckham sum then at least a respectable profit. Leeds was bringing together some of the best young English players, an attempt to buy an equivalent of "Fergie's Fledglings", which could have resulted in trophy money and profitable transfer dealings for years to come. There were already danger signs - in 81 games for Derby, Johnson had scored only two goals - but it was an optimistic time.
Of course, everything went wrong for Leeds, and everything went wroong for Seth Johnson. An own goal on his debut, four yellow cards in the twelve games he played for Leeds that season. And then the injuries, and the revelation that Leeds had been living beyond its means. Seth was meant to be part of the fire sale, which would at least have taken him away from the club and away from the label of Risdale's folly, a huge wage draining out of the club's coffers, but a £3m deal with Middlesbrough broke down, and then Leeds were in the Championship and Seth Johnson was by some distance the most expensive signing in a threadbare squad. Of Eirik Bakke (1.75m) and Gary Kelly (youth team), he was the most obvious sign of the excesses of the past.
Johnson managed a handful of appearances in the last two seasons, but in four years he played only 59 games. The final indignity must have come when he declared himself fit to play for the final few games of last season, and was kept off the team sheet... because another game for Leeds United would have triggered another payment of £250,000 to Derby. Too expensive for the reserves and too expensive for the first team, Johnson had nowhere to go.
I'm not sure why his release has affected me so much - perhaps because it's one of those situations where everybody involved - Risdale, O'Leary, Johnson - did their best, and it all went horribly wrong anyway. Now 26, Johnson has wasted probably his best years, and may struggle to find a manager ready to take a chance on a player with so much baggage. Certainly, his earnings will be enormously curtailed, and I don't fancy his England chances.
So, a career spent as the goldfish in the office... what are your thoughts? Ruminations welcome on the collapse of the transfer market, the strange time when Leeds were not just successful but also popular - were they always doomed or could it have worked out? - and the dangers of the high-profile move. Most of all, let us mourn the admittedly very, very wealthy, Seth Johnson - a man prevented by fate and circumstance from excelling at quite possibly his only calling. |
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