DAVID Moyes was understandably dismissive of Louis Saha throwing a moody on Twitter complaining that he wasn’t given a place on the bench at Goodison on Saturday.
On reflection, Saha must have felt a right wally for his pre-match rant and walkout when Moyes’ team selection paid off a couple of hours later as Everton beat Wigan 3-1 to record their first Premier League win of the season.
Hearing of the Frenchman’s bitter, footstamping response to being left out of the squad I couldn’t help but draw comparison with the honourable and sporting way Ralph Gubbins, who died at the age of 79 last week, dealt with his omission from Wanderers’ FA Cup winning line-up in 1958 after scoring the two goals that beat Blackburn in the semi-final when he stood in for the injured Nat Lofthouse.
Tributes were paid to Ralph yesterday at his funeral. He was a lovely man who made such a massive contribution to Wanderers’ cause but who neither at the time nor in the intervening years questioned the manager’s team selection for the final.
In turn he was always regarded by his friends, family and team-mates as the “Twelfth man” of the cup-winning team.
Saha who doesn’t appear to accept that his club and its dedicated, hard-working manager are punching way above their financial weights, would do well to learn a lesson from history by at least tyrying to emulate the team spirit that for the likes of Ralph Gubbins and his pals was regarded as a basic requirement of the job
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