Chris Mills Posted January 21, 2016 Posted January 21, 2016 Definitely one splitting opinion on Social media "Derby County are to stage a testimonial game for their former captain and defender Shaun Barker - as part of a testimonial year during 2016. Barker, who is now 33, left Derby at the end of last season following a six-year spell at the club after joining from Blackpool in the summer of 2009. He was a hugely popular figure amongst supporters and made 105 appearances in total, scoring six times, as well as winning the much-acclaimed Jack Stamps Trophy for the 2009/10 season. The testimonial game will take place at the iPro Stadium on Thursday 24th March 2016 (7pm kick-off) - with a Derby County XI and a Shaun Barker XI going head-to-head. Tickets cost £10 for Adults and £5 for Concessions - while a Family Ticket (consisting of x2 Adults and x2 Children) costs £20."
RamNut Posted January 21, 2016 Posted January 21, 2016 Why not? its not compulsory to attend is it. Piss poor send off v Reading last season.
maydrakin Posted January 21, 2016 Posted January 21, 2016 How is it splitting opinion? How can anybody not be in favour of this?
Guest Posted January 21, 2016 Posted January 21, 2016 3 minutes ago, maydrakin said: How is it splitting opinion? How can anybody not be in favour of this? I'm not particularly in favour of asking people who earn in a year what he probably earned in 2 weeks to spend their hard earned cash, to give a testimonial to someone who was employed by us for 6 years but only actually played for about 3 seasons. If he was on £5k a week that is approx £1.5m he would have 'earned' from Derby. Put into context someone on minimum wage would probably have to work for 100 years to earn that. The more you think about it the more obscene it sounds. So yes I can understand why this would split opinion.
MackworthRamIsGod Posted January 21, 2016 Posted January 21, 2016 But he had his career cut short with a terrible injury entertaining people like us. Why does he get paid 5k a week? Because people like us continue to pay inflated prices etc etc. What that man achieved to get himself back fit was amazing, and then not even get a look in at Derby by that ginger nob with crap hair was such a shame. I will happily pay a tenner.
DarkFruitsRam7 Posted January 21, 2016 Posted January 21, 2016 I would definitely go, the way he worked and worked and worked to even manage a reserve game is incredible. He never gave up hope of pulling on the black and white shirt one more time and it seemed very harsh of McClaren to just discard him like that after all the time he put into his recovery. As well as all of that, he was best defender/player by far in Clough's period and seems like a nice bloke too.
Guest Posted January 21, 2016 Posted January 21, 2016 1 hour ago, MackworthRamIsGod said: But he had his career cut short with a terrible injury entertaining people like us. Why does he get paid 5k a week? Because people like us continue to pay inflated prices etc etc. What that man achieved to get himself back fit was amazing, and then not even get a look in at Derby by that ginger nob with crap hair was such a shame. I will happily pay a tenner. I know plenty of people who have worked a lot longer than 6 years who have had their career cut short by redundancy...No testimonials for them though.
Mountain Ram Posted January 21, 2016 Posted January 21, 2016 Who says Shaun's discarded? Surely there's a place for him at Burton...
TomBustler1884 Posted January 21, 2016 Posted January 21, 2016 My understanding, and if I'm wrong then fair enough, is that money raised will go towards his charity, not to Shaun.
TheHomunculusLives Posted January 21, 2016 Posted January 21, 2016 I think this is a great decision by Derby. Sure, Shaun wasn't here for ten years but the way he conducted himself both before his injury and during his long rehabilitation was exemplary. He genuinely cared about the club and the local area as is evidenced by his charity work and connections to local venues such as the Quad. It's not just about long service - Ryan Giggs played for Man Utd for nearly 25 years but the less said about his off the pitch behaviour the better.
Animal is a Ram Posted January 21, 2016 Posted January 21, 2016 To criticise Shaun's time on the pitch, or lack of it, is to overlook the huge amount of work he has done off the pitch, for both Derby County and the community. Hope this raises a wedge of cash for his foundation, which will no doubt go to a worthy cause or two.
maxjam Posted January 21, 2016 Posted January 21, 2016 I'm more of a lurker than a poster on this forum but just wanted to say how happy I am that Barks is getting a testimonial. Great player and leader when we needed one, outstanding both on and off the pitch and showed remarkable resilience to get fit again after his horrific injury. I guess good things do happen to nice guys after all
Duracell Posted January 21, 2016 Posted January 21, 2016 Unbelievable from Derby County! Why on earth have we started looking after former players? Why can't he just disappear from the face of the earth gracefully. So what the career you were working for your entire life was suddenly cut short in a horrifically painful injury? Bad things happen all the time. Cry us a river, Shaun. Can I also say a massive well done and thank you to all the Derby fans on social media who have taken the time to complain about this - you all sound like very smart people and do wonders for the reputation of our supporters. A pat on the back to you all.
Mafiabob Posted January 21, 2016 Posted January 21, 2016 I just hope his charity is getting really up and running.... I had difficulty trying to fundraise for them for one of the many runs I do. I understand it's purely voluntary his charity so can kind of understand it being difficult with requests etc.
Stive Pesley Posted January 21, 2016 Posted January 21, 2016 Plus anyone who has ever met him will tell you that he's a lovely fella and not at all your archetypal fame/money/image obsessed footballer. I hope he pulls togther an interesting team to play (presumably alongside him?) I'd rather pay £10 and go to this than pay £35 to watch us play Man Utd's second string in a game that doesn't matter
Wolfie20 Posted January 21, 2016 Posted January 21, 2016 4 hours ago, MackworthRamIsGod said: But he had his career cut short with a terrible injury entertaining people like us. Why does he get paid 5k a week? Because people like us continue to pay inflated prices etc etc. What that man achieved to get himself back fit was amazing, and then not even get a look in at Derby by that ginger nob with crap hair was such a shame. I will happily pay a tenner. McLaren was right not to pick him if he believed Shaun wasn't as good as the other central defenders either in the team or on the bench - the final decision not to renew his contract would almost certainly have been Sam Rushs'. Many of us hoped that his likely swansong was going to be the last match of the season when at least a playoff place had been secured so he can thank the management and his team mates for that situation failing to materialise!
Srg Posted January 21, 2016 Posted January 21, 2016 2 minutes ago, Wolfie20 said: McLaren was right not to pick him if he believed Shaun wasn't as good as the other central defenders either in the team or on the bench - the final decision not to renew his contract would almost certainly have been Sam Rushs'. Many of us hoped that his likely swansong was going to be the last match of the season when at least a playoff place had been secured so he can thank the management and his team mates for that situation failing to materialise! How do you work out that it would've been Sam Rush's decision not to renew his contract?
Wolfie20 Posted January 21, 2016 Posted January 21, 2016 6 minutes ago, Srg said: How do you work out that it would've been Sam Rush's decision not to renew his contract? Based in part on subsequent events. The CEO and manager would probably agree on the retained list as each season ends but given the relationship with McLaren and the fact that his sacking followed less than 3 weeks later, my best guess is that the final say rested with Rush. Who do you think it was? For the record, if proceeds go to his nominated charity, then I would support a testimonial - those that are criticising the possibility, just don't go because nobody's forcing you to!
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