A tale of two Bents

A recent poll here put Marcus as most desired player to be released from The Valley, just ahead of Rommedahl.

How the two Bents contrast. Darren has done everything right from the day he joined the Club to the days after he left it, on the field and off it. Nobody begrudges Darren's decision to move on, if it was he who made that decision and he will always get a warm welcome when he returns to The Valley and I may even applaud if he scores against us, although that maybe a bit rich. He said the right things about the Club and the fans as he departed on his way up to the Lane, not withstanding he left a bundle of notes and some IOU's from Tottenham.

Marcus on the other hand seems to be Curbishleys revenge. Only AC will know why Marcus was bought in January 2006, soon to be injured. Everton Manager David Moyes said "It represents a good profit for us for an average player", which says it all really.

His equalizing goal against Chelsea made us all reconsider for a moment, but only for a moment. In the year and a bit Marcus has done little to nothing, his contribution to the relegation fight consisted of a couple of good starts which invariably ended with him indicating to the bench that he needed replacing.

Now I am sure that Marcus would not regard himself as a talentless prima donna, but it has surprised me that he has not been seen on "Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here", but then he has appeared at P Diddy's recent party and he is or was dating Teddy Sherringhams sloppy seconds Danielle Lloyd, who is currently still re building her reputation and acceptance of multi cultural Britain. So he is obviously trying to establish himself on the "B" celebrity list and it does appear that his scoring talents are reserved not for the field of play but for celebrity associates.

Having contributed so little to our relegation fight, 2 goals including a cup goal from 22 starts and 13 subs appearances this season, taking his goals total to a towering 4 since he joined the club, i.e. £625,000 per goal, one week after retuning to training, Marcus has decided that he does not like the way Pards has been playing him and he does not know where he stands now that so many other strikers have been bought in. When Parker took over the central midfield spot from Kinsella, Kinsella said he wanted to fight for his place, although Curbs sold him anyway (as it happens we should have held onto him as Parker got an ankle injury for most of the first half of the season).

Marcus see's some opposition come in and immediately phones up his agent and puts the word out and lets everybody know he wants away. This is a player who you expect to battle away every Saturday for the cause, but no as soon as he see's the new kids on the block, its out the pram with his toys.

Its no secret that The Valley faithful don't like Marcus, but its not because he does not score, (lets face it Leaburn is a legend but a striker with 1 goal in 6), its because he can't be arsed and that is unforgivable for a Charlton player. Yes we would all like to see a Ronaldo or a Van Nistelroy play for the team, but we know players of that skill level are snapped up by the big boys, no to compensate we expect players to have big hearts and commitment and that is something that Marcus fails to have for his past, current and future clubs, the sooner he goes the better and if it is to a promotion rival all the better.