Harty: You get loyalty from dogs, but don’t expect it from footballers

After 49 years man and boy watching the Albion, I’m old and ugly enough to know that players come and go, managers come and go, even chairmen and directors come and go. The fans are the only constant, but I cannot ever remember a high profile player behaving in this manner without the outcome of an ongoing season being confirmed.

Mark Lawrenson, the greatest player to ever pull on an Albion shirt, played in the Great Escape’ team of 1980-81 when four straight wins at the end of the season saw the Albion avoid relegation from the top flight.

Lawro, a world class defender, knew what his options were before the season ended.

He joined European champions Liverpool that summer but also knew how unsettling talk of transfers would be to the whole club. Clearly, looking at the Bissouma situation, times have significantly changed.

With six straight defeats going into this Saturday’s visit of Norwich City, it adds fuel to the fire for under-pressure boss Graham Potter. A number of his detractors and critics on social media are asking if Potter has ‘lost the dressing room’.

I think that’s a tad off the mark. The Bissouma situation doesn’t help, along with Belgian forward Leandro Trossard telling a journalist he’s ‘open to offers’ in the summer, but Saturday represents an immediate shot at some form of footballing redemption – and the chance to kick-start things again.

Nothing less than a win will appease the fans, but I firmly believe even in this tailspin they will have too much for the Canaries and will win 3-0.

As for Bissouma, I’m disappointed when any quality player says he doesn’t want to play for the Albion any more. But given the sometimes obscene amounts of money swirling around in the upper echelons of our domestic game, should we expect different?

We pluck young footballers from the four corners of the globe, pay them huge wages and expect them to behave like Nigel Havers. That doesn’t happen in the real world. Mickey Duff was bang on the money. Anyone got any Pedigree Chum?

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