I’m ‘Judas’ because I refused to play for my club ahead of a transfer but loyalty in football doesn’t exist
AN EFL footballer claimed he was a “Judas” because he refused to play for his club.
But he insisted loyalty is dead in football.
Jonathan Rowe pulled out of the matchday squad for Norwich’s Championship opener amid links with a transfer away.
The decision left Canaries fans furious at the academy graduate’s behaviour – especially with a move not close to completion.
Leeds were interested but SunSport revealed Marseille have also entered the race for the winger to bolster Roberto De Zerbi’s attack.
But Lyle Taylor has sympathy for Rowe going on strike and refusing to play – because he did the same in 2020.
Taylor would not play in three matches near the end of his Charlton contract and then opted against signing a short-term extension to see out the remainder of the delayed 2019-20 season.
Instead, he walked away as a free agent to sign for Nottingham Forest but was vilified by many fans who labelled him a traitor for prioritising himself over the Addicks.
Speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live, the striker, now with Colchester, said: “Loyalty in football doesn’t exist.
“Because when a team, a football club or a set of fans don’t like a player, they want the player out and they say the player is stealing a living.
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“If the player does well for the team and refuses to sign a new contract, that player is a Judas.
“If a player then decides to leave and go and better themselves in their career and their life, then that player’s a Judas.
“The senior players in the group are going, ‘Look, we know what you’ve got there. We understand that you’ve come off the back of the first injury. You can’t risk this for that.’
“We offered an insurance policy against me so that should I have got a long-term injury, it would have then meant that the loss of that contract was negated to a degree. That was rejected.
“We tried to find a way around the issues… there was an owner of the football club who stopped it from happening.
“So I had to make a decision that was best for me because the club had already made a decision that was best for them.
“At the end of the day, I’m still Judas because I made a decision for me.”