The fan and the local player – a relationship hanging by a thread

Every step closer to Anfield, the air is red, the air is oozing smoke and song, and the senses are assaulted once more.

Liverpool fans are gathering to watch the final game of the season, at the end of which their title-winning team will lift the Premier League trophy on what promises to be a day of celebrations.

People traveling across Stanley Park might notice a sign that has been sellotaped to the front of a rundown house about 100 meters from the ground.

“MATE OR TRAITOR” appears on it. Take Ya Pick, Trent”. Trent Alexander-Arnold is the subject of this article.

Alexander-Arnold, a Scouser, has won every trophy they can with Liverpool since he was six years old.

Now 26, he is preparing to say goodbye to join Real Madrid, arguably the biggest club in world football. There are likely cheers, tears, and boos on what will undoubtedly be an emotional afternoon.

This is more than just a club losing their star player, who some people consider to be one of the most naturally gifted English footballers of his generation.

This is about identity.

You do cling on to stories like Trent’s, according to Josh Sexton of the Anfield Wrap podcast, because there is a general sense of detachment in football right now, at least until the end of this season.

You think you can relate to that and put your hat on it, she said. It’s people like Trent who you look at and think ‘ I am like you ‘ in some ways.

Local players like him almost give the impression that playing football is a grounded experience, even in the now-global behemoth that is global football.

However, there are fewer local players:

The sense of” detachment “Sexton talks about doesn’t just come from the influx of foreign players, but from the wider globalisation – and commercialisation – of the game.

Only two top-flight clubs are currently managed by Englishmen, while only five of the 20 Premier League clubs are currently owned by English people or businesses (more are owned by Americans).

Since the Premier League’s founding in the early 1990s, football has undergone a significant change.

Yet, according to sociologist and author David Goldblatt, there remains a yearning for the past – in part, playing out through fans ‘ relationship with local players.

In a world where there is practically no other option but to fulfill that function, Goldblatt said, “Football clubs are symbolic and practical representations of local communities and neighbourhoods.”

A remnant of the old order is peculiarly valuable, even though the game has been globalized in terms of the player labor market, coaches, ownership, and even fandom in some clubs.

“Football in England – and Britain as a whole – is a long, romantic goodbye to industrial working-class Britain. A sense of localism, working-class security, and pride are at the center of our mythic remembrance of that time. You worked for a company for life, and firms in particular, represented and expressed the area.

” The residue of that in football is the very few one-club stars. “

Dunk, 33, stated in a 2022 interview that he wanted to remain “a one-club man” at Amex Stadium.

Not many people get to do that in your hometown because I was born here, my childhood was here, and I’ve played for and led the club, he said.

But Dunk is not your typical footballer.

Fans may dream about playing for the club they support, but it doesn’t often turn out that way for players.

It’s “sometimes really hard for supporters,” he says, “because you feel like they fall for it.” This player really loves us’… and then they move on, “former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher said on Sky Sports”. Players don’t think like supporters do.

“He]Alexander-Arnold will lose something in front of the Liverpool fans right now,” he said.

” Some people will say playing for Real Madrid… that price isn’t worth paying. Real Madrid is the biggest club in the world, despite the claims that you must play there.

He has given up on that, he claims. That’s his decision”.

Additionally, being a local player has its drawbacks.

Chris Sutton won the Premier League with Blackburn Rovers between 1994 and 1995, but Norwich was his first professional team.

The former striker was born in Nottingham but his family moved to Norfolk when he was a couple of years old, so for him it was his hometown club.

When playing for your neighborhood club, is there a difference? Yes, because you are deeply committed to the club, your family, and the area. You are playing for them all”, he told BBC Sport.

People always consider how great it is when someone enters and plays for his or her boyhood club, but in many ways there is more pressure than when you relocate.

Because you are a local lad, you don’t always get more fans’ cries, which is a result of the environment and the expectations at clubs. A lot of the time now, fans expect immediate success from these players coming through. They want the finished product, according to them.

It’s likely Alexander-Arnold’s departure from Anfield will be more about the advantages of living with Los Blancos than the drawbacks of any additional pressure on Merseyside.

Many Liverpool supporters have left questioning the defender’s dynamic, though. To use Sexton’s words: “Why are you doing this”?

He continued, “It’s that lack of understanding that has caused such a strong reaction.” It’s not surprising that it’s emotionally charged.

Matt Butler, from the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience at King’s College London, says the depth of feeling is not dissimilar to that shared among a group of mates.

We can easily compare the events of friends leaving a friendship group, moving away, or a coworker who was headhunted by another company and sets up with a competitor, he told BBC Sport. It can give the impression of betrayal or even grief that it is taking place.

“Humans form groups, and we give them a lot of respect.” That includes football teams because football fans can have identity fusions where their own identity becomes merged with the group – the club and the players.

That entails that we attach a lot of emotional significance to our groups, and we are very careful to prevent others from stealing from the organizations we belong to. So any attempt to leave the group or feel like they have been betrayed feels like a real transgression.

A feeling of betrayal – and also a sense of longing for what was once shared but is now being lost.

He continued, “Football is steeped in nostalgia.” We all recall our previous successes and how things used to be, which is what nostalgia really helps groups connect.