A FINE LINE

The sight of seeing Tottenham Hotspur signing former Arsenal defender William Gallas, does not sit to well with Manchester United supporters, because of the memories it brings up from last summer.

There is obviously a fine line to whether a player should sign for his former club's biggest or not, but according to Harry Redknapp it is okay for a player to do this, as he mentioned the [Carlos] Tevez-United debacle from last year.

Tevez controversially switched Old Trafford for the City of Manchester Stadium without even batting an eye, but to be fair, he was never a United player to begin with - he was on a two-year loan deal from West Ham United.

However, Redknapp should not be used a viable critic for this topic, because he flip-flopped between two bitter south coast rivals three times - from Portsmouth to Southampton and then back to Portsmouth.

Redknapp also then abandon Pompey for Spurs after his uncontrollable spending in the transfer market got the team's wage bill on par with some of the biggest club's in the world, so his commitment to a club is suspect to say the least.

Foreign
This day and age, there is a great deal of foreign players in the Barclays Premier League, so there are no allegiances for them, because they do not - or cannot - relate to that particular club or their adoring fans.

Tevez and Cristiano Ronaldo are both prime examples of this, because at the end of the day, they both chose to leave one of the biggest clubs in the world for more money.

United has never been a high-paying club in terms of wages, so Tevez and Ronaldo's advisors, who they think have their best interest at heart, but like them, they are chasing more zeros on the end of the contract.

Problem
A lot of good players want to play in the Premier League, because it is the most widely watch league in the world, and with that comes some of the most exorbitant contracts as well.

The modern-day player does not care about the color of the shirt on his back or the crest on his chest or the fans that sing their name, but only the amount of money that gets put in his pocket.

Most of these footballers just want to live a lavish life that most non-professional players would play for free - they drive fast cars, date the doll of the moment or drink the top-of-the-line champagne.

As Peter Crouch once said, "If it wasn't for football, I would be a virgin," and the context of that quote can be used with every single player.

Because let's face it, if someone were to take the ball away from their feet - what would they have? Most of them do not have the proper education or communication skills to allow them to work a different profession.

It will be interesting to see how the supporters at Tottenham handle the signing of William Gallas, because it was them who were the ones that heaped racial abuse at Sol Campbell following his move across north London in the opposite direction - even after he left Arsenal he was abused by the fans.

The more and more stories like this come to fruition, it makes the Manchester United supporters appreciate the players like Darren Fletcher, Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes at the club.

Contributed by David Hammons / The United Religion