Rio Ferdinand and The Great Ben Godfrey Illusion

[RobertRosariosBeefTomatoes 31]

The over-hyping of Godfrey and the constant pushing into the shop window by Rio Ferdinand tells you how ultimately self serving football is.

For months we heard how Rio Ferdinand was 'mentoring' Godfrey (translates as becomes his agent and has a financial interest) and took every opportunity possible to highlight Godfrey as some incredible stand out player either through his PAID role on BT Sport or his social media platforms. We are now getting the same with Max Aarons, also 'mentored' by Ferdinand - highlighting Aarons as a player cash rich Newcastle should now be looking at.

Ferdinand is very, very quick to give strong critical opinions on players he has no personal gain yet Godfrey who has been nothing short of a defensive liability for seasons now continues to elude the same levels of criticism. Last night's horror challenge, which was a thousand times worse than his reckless sending off when I saw him lost his head against Bournemouth was just another indicator of how this player is not a top level center back.

Blind backpasses, poor positional sense, reckless temperament, an inability to keep his arms off the opponent and constantly pointing and shouting to nobody just show a player well out of his depth as a center back at premier league level. For me, Godfrey is kept afloat with some of the best PR available to him keeping his stock high and his chest beating passion all part of the illusion.

The reality is that Godfrey has more in common with Gary Doherty than 'mentor' Ferdinand yet because he is a young English Player who has transferred for big money he avoids a lot of the criticism which would have been aimed at the former. 

 

[canarydan23 4,060]

Shush, I'm pretty sure we've got a decent sell-on clause. So let Rio over-hype him til the cows come home.

[sgncfc 1,227]

I was never a huge Godfrey fan, but even I think this is a bit harsh! As a young player he was extremely promising, with good pace, physicality and a very competitive edge to his game. What never developed in his transition to a centre back was his spatial awareness and dominance so he was frequently caught out by quicker, cleverer opponents even in the Championship. His move to Everton has masked this weakness slightly - fans love a competitor and will often overlook such weakness, but he hasn't developed much from those early days.

But every player has some kind of weakness - coaches are supposed to allow for it. For instance, Godfrey shouldn't be marking fast off the mark players from set pieces but leaving him to defend one on one long balls is pretty safe because of his pace.

I never had him as a top level centre back - clearly nor does Southgate as he hasn't featured again for England since his initial call up. I think he's a decent player - but I said at the time that £25m was a great deal for us, given the player he was.

The PR is such that he would probably go for more than that now, but lots and lots of players are massively over-hyped. We have bought/loaned a couple ourselves......including Kabak, who is nowhere near as good.

[NWC 239]

I was ALWAYS a Godfrey fan when he played for us!! But unfortunately I think the OP has it spot on!

[cambridgeshire canary 6,698]

He's clearly so out of his depth in the Prem that Everton have no issues having him be one of their first choice starters at the back every match. Huh.

[RobertRosariosBeefTomatoes 31]

Just now, cambridgeshire canary said:

He's clearly so out of his depth in the Prem that Everton have no issues having him be one of their first choice starters at the back every match. Huh.

Have you seen his performances for Everton? And their current defensive crisis?

[Duncan Edwards 2,230]

I have to say, it's a refreshing change to see some threads about our former players being cr@p as opposed to how woeful our current players are. 

[Worthy Nigelton 1,043]

He's not a PL centre back in my opinion either but he is a good athlete. I think he would be better a right back where his lack of footballing ability and positional awareness wouldn't be so glaringly obvious. He's not that bad, but not good enough for a team like Everton. We are about his level (top end Champs/lower Prem).

[RobertRosariosBeefTomatoes 31]

19 minutes ago, Worthy Nigelton said:

He's not a PL centre back in my opinion either but he is a good athlete. I think he would be better a right back where his lack of footballing ability and positional awareness wouldn't be so glaringly obvious. He's not that bad, but not good enough for a team like Everton. We are about his level (top end Champs/lower Prem).

This I very much agree with. Highly athletic player with very good fitness. Also full blooded and a lot of fans place this above footballing ability. I understand he still has time to develop but my point is that the self serving promotion is just so wrong. Pundits shouldn't be using paid tv gigs to pimp out their players.

[Fuzzar 1,702]

Not sure he's a PL defender, but put in him midfield and watch him shine...!

[RobertRosariosBeefTomatoes 31]

3 minutes ago, Fuzzar said:

Not sure he's a PL defender, but put in him midfield and watch him shine...!

He'd just point more.

[lake district canary 4,531]

Loads of over reaction and sour grapes on here I think. Another year of development and he will be up there with the best.  Has everything to be a top England player - skilful, physicality, desire and application. 

[Ulfotto 630]

Ben Godfrey was a good player for Norwich and is still a work in progress. His potential still outstrips his actual ability.

As for Ferdinand he should NOT be working as a pundit if he represents players end of. Personally I don’t know how he gets away with it. I don’t mind him hyping players on the socials but no tv company should give him the same platform. In my book it’s worse than someone hiring Shearer to do co comms on a Newcastle match.

[RobertRosariosBeefTomatoes 31]

10 minutes ago, lake district canary said:

Loads of over reaction and sour grapes on here I think. Another year of development and he will be up there with the best.  Has everything to be a top England player - skilful, physicality, desire and application. 

No sour grapes, I was glad to actually see Godfrey move on. Aarons on the other hand will be a different story and I dare say is more worthy of skilful, physicality, desire and application. 

[shefcanary 2,392]

Can we buy him back and convert him into a CDM? 🤔😉

[yellowrider120 761]

31 minutes ago, Ulfotto said:

Ben Godfrey was a good player for Norwich and is still a work in progress. His potential still outstrips his actual ability.

As for Ferdinand he should NOT be working as a pundit if he represents players end of. Personally I don’t know how he gets away with it. I don’t mind him hyping players on the socials but no tv company should give him the same platform. In my book it’s worse than someone hiring Shearer to do co comms on a Newcastle match.

The boy is 24 (!) in just over a month yet we are still talking about his 'potential', Sorry but he is no longer a 'young' player. As others have pointed out, his defensive frailties have not improved (it seems) despite being managed by 'world class' geezers like 'Carlo' and 'Rafa'. To think that our previous manager hyped him up as a 'world class centre half' (or words to that effect).  Godfrey still ball watches and remains oblivious to what is going on around him.     

[Orly 277]

If Rio Ferdinand wasn't such a great player, the commentator's microphone would (and should) have filed a restraining order against him.

Not exactly brains of Britain.  Same with Shearer et al.

Rather have that chap who is always very insightful when I've watched the championship summary - Rosenior?  Might have confused him with someone else, but someone who's played the game, but is actually articulate.

[GJL Mid-Norfolk Canary 1,748]

When everton play 4 ay the back and everyones fit, he's never a first choice ahead of keane and mina, instead shoving across to one of the full back positions

Had a glorious chance to put himself into the euro 2020 squad on the summer but played himself put of contention with a couple of dodgy displays in the warm up games

[Icecream Snow 761]

2 hours ago, Orly said:

If Rio Ferdinand wasn't such a great player, the commentator's microphone would (and should) have filed a restraining order against him.

Not exactly brains of Britain.  Same with Shearer et al.

Rather have that chap who is always very insightful when I've watched the championship summary - Rosenior?  Might have confused him with someone else, but someone who's played the game, but is actually articulate.

Liam Rosenoir has been working at Derby for the last 12 months so I'm wondering if you mean Jobi McAnuff?

[Ken Hairy 3,769]

Has Benetez thought about trying him as a CDM? 🤷‍♂️

[paddycanary 538]

Might be some truth in the OP's views on Godfrey, but come on, Gary Doherty mugged a career out of professional football. I still don't know how he did it!

[king canary 7,599]

He was largely excellent last season but this season he's struggled but he's hardly the only one at Everton you can say that about. 

[RobertRosariosBeefTomatoes 31]

23 hours ago, paddycanary said:

Might be some truth in the OP's views on Godfrey, but come on, Gary Doherty mugged a career out of professional football. I still don't know how he did it!

You're talking about a former player of the season!

[TeemuVanBasten 3,327]

21 minutes ago, RobertRosariosBeefTomatoes said:

You're talking about a former player of the season!

That's not saying much, Lee Croft won it once.

[paddycanary 538]

2 hours ago, RobertRosariosBeefTomatoes said:

You're talking about a former player of the season!

Well aware of that! Does he qualify as a "cult favourite" among some fans? Perhaps it speaks as to where the club was during the period post-Chase & pre-Lambert, I don't know?

In fairness, he gave it his all; you can't ask for much more than that. But Wes Hoolahan he was not. 

[non-scoring strikers 113]

19 hours ago, RobertRosariosBeefTomatoes said:

You're talking about a former player of the season!

Shows how thick the majority of Norwich fans are.