Hmmm...I must admit I've been very very annoyed with Rose, but the more I read Poch's comments on the matter the more it sounds like in a backwards way he is quite sympathetic of a player that has been injured for 9 months and probably needed to do anything to feel important again. With the Clark Carlisle and Aaron Lennon things happening I'm wondering if there is a mental health undercurrent to all of this which we need to be sensitive around.
It's interesting, because how do you handle this and where do you draw the line vs an Andros Townsend for example. Why would one player get a reprieve and the other player be sold?
All I can say is that if the story of Rose's interview not even being sanctioned by his agents is true, and he genuinely did that off of his own back, then the whole idea that this is something quite literally 'mental'. Levy was never going to react well to such tactics, it didn't feel like a smart strategic move, and he just dug himself a hole. It baffles, and if the real explanation is that someone has been stopped from doing what they love for 9 months with no obvious end in sight, and they wanted to do anything to feel important again, then it makes some sort of sense. The fact that the players called him out for being Poch's pet made it even more confusing - someone with a sincere level of respect for the manager wouldn't engineer a move in such a blatant way.