John Bostock – poor attitude or poorly treated?
John Bostock’s short career so far has been surrounded by controversy. Not anything sleazy, unlike some footballers in this country, but there are a few questions about the way the Tottenham midfielder has gone about his business over the last couple of years. When he moved from his boyhood club, Crystal Palace, in 2007 there was outcry from the Eagles’ fans who felt let down by the youngster’s decision to move after he had claimed to love the club. Of course, most people could understand his decision to join a bigger side, but it still hurt the supporters at Selhurst Park. And to make matters worse, the Championship club were given what they thought to be an outrageous sum of just £700,000, for a player they had brought through their youth ranks, by way of a tribunal.
Since joining Spurs it has been difficult for the England under-19 international to establish himself at all in the first team squad. After becoming both Palace’s and Tottenham’s youngest ever player it was a meteoric rise for the Lambeth-born star, but his career path has certainly slowed and after a spell on loan with Brentford this season his attitude was brought into question. After a great start in West London where he scored twice on his debut things did not carry on in the same vein and Brentford decided against extending Bostock’s loan period.
And this led to Harry Redknapp looking back at previous times when he had sent young players out on loan for them to go on and make a real impact.
“Brentford haven’t renewed the loan. He was on the bench on Saturday and the Saturday before. If they’re not playing well enough then they don’t get picked, do they? I keep harping back to when I loaned boys like Rio and Frank out. Frank went to Swansea and was fantastic. Michael Carrick was at Swindon and I was getting calls saying they’d not seen anyone like him since Glenn Hoddle.
“And then you know you’ve got a player, don’t you? That’s what you’re looking for when you loan them out, you’re looking for them to make a real impact wherever they go. It’s a different kind of football but Frank did it when he was at Swansea. I went down to see him play at the Vetch, ankle-deep mud, and he was fantastic. It didn’t bother him, he got on with it. You have to adjust. He’s got terrific ability, you just hope he will do it. Maybe I need to get him working and training with the first XI, get him in the squad and see what he can do.”
So what was the problem with Bostock’s loan? Why didn’t the 18-year-old make the impact that he should have done? It is easy to forget how young he is but he is meant to be one of the brightest prospects in the English game, yet couldn’t properly establish himself at a League One club. Is it a case of him thinking he is too good for that level? Or have Spurs not developed him in the way they should have? Maybe it is harsh to expect him to deliver in such a short space of time in a completely different environment to one that he is used to. But he will need to start living up to that huge potential sooner rather than later if he isn’t to be another youngster heading out of White Hart Lane before his Spurs career ever got going.
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This was Bale a few months back, plenty of time for him yet he is only 18!
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I think the problem began when he was purchased. It was stated at that time that it was envisaged that he would be included in the first team ;’sooner rather than later’. I think that placed a huge wieght of expectation, not only with the world at large, but, more importantly, in his own head. I am not sure exactly how that has affected him – maybe he feels like he shouldn’t be sent out on loan, or that he is already a failure. I don’t know. Maybe there isn’t really much of a problem at all and he will be fine in a few weeks (as Hoe says, above).
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When he went Brentford the raved about him in training and when he scored two he also made a few from corners . But when a team is struggling the fans can soon make your form dip .The lad came from a division higher made a cameo appearance for us and the crowd where buzzing with anticipation of is next appearance .Harry sends him back to the under 18 and he got injured and here we are a lad in turmoil with is father ringing Talk Sport upset at Harrys statment about players from years ago.If he turns into a grat player he wont forget our treatment of is early years .Arsenal have sent one player to OPR one to Watford and one to Bolton not struggling clubs teaching bad habits leave him at our club with quality players .
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why dont we just ship out jenas and put bostock in his place… we all know this kid has some talent and he must be better than jenas… come on.. who is worse than jenas.. besides zokora lol ?
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The problem is that managers can’t resist playing bostock on the left just because he is left footed. He is infact a central midfielder and not a winger. He has the potential to be our world class midfielder that we are deprate for. Its up to harry to loan him out to a team that’s not struggling in the lower league and insist on him playing in the centre. Then he can show us all what he’s all about. Better still…put him in ahead of Jenas
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We’ve signed too many youngsters and never developed them. Loaning them out is just an excuse to keep them happy while we hold on to them. Even when they do well we don’t give them a chance upon returning. Look at O’Hara, he’s been brilliant at Pompey and is attracting a host of clubs. Will Spurs bring him back for a first team place? I doubt it, just like the best comment so far by dazza.
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DAVSPURS… Lots of other loan players have done well at lower leagues. Youtube ‘Wojcech Sczesney’ and see how he’s faring.
The crux of this is that Bostock was never good enough at Brentford. He really showed no consistent promise, and that’s why he was replaced in the side by players we’ve shippe in from the lower and non-league.
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I saw him on his debut at Brentford and he was clearly a cut above anyone else on the pitch- very good with both feet too which makes a change! Just needs a bit of time- Bale-esque
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