Darius Vassell’s poignant blog reveals a homesick man

Ollie Irish

8th, December 2009

11 Comments

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A couple of weeks ago, Darius Vassell started his own blog – yes, it’s actually written by him. Reading it makes you think about how being a professional footballer in a foreign country must be very tough sometimes.

Between the lines, you can’t help but feel that – in between marathon bouts of PlayStation – Darius wonders to himself, “How the hell did I end up playing for a mid-table club in Turkey? … And how the hell do I get out of here?”

His situation has been well-documented. Having been afforded a hero’s welcome by new club Ankaragucu in July, he was evicted from his hotel last month after they failed to pay his bill. Since then he has moved into a new hotel – despite many offers from fans in Turkey of a place to stay – from which he pens poignant little blog entries, under melancholy titles such as ‘In sickness and hotel’, and ‘Reflections of the game’.

Vassell doesn’t speak the local lingo (yes, he might have made more of an effort), which must add to the sense of isolation he feels. On Saturday, he wrote that he missed his dog, Germaine. At the end of November, this: “Today, I finally get to see my wife… it’s been a month.”

He’s a not a prisoner, of course, but he does a very good impression of an imprisoned man, trapped in limbo, in a strange land without his loved ones, wanting desperately for a club in England to rescue him, but being too diplomatic to say as much. A team-mate asks him, “Why do you never speak?”

The farthest he goes towards mutiny is to suggest, with a hint of desperation, that Ankaragucu “might want to sell me??”

There must be plenty of Championship clubs – even lower-level Prem clubs – who could use a striker like Vassell and I wouldn’t be surprised to see him back in England by the new year. For now though, he’s trapped in a bad dream shaped like a cheap hotel room, wondering how to plug his PlayStation into the hotel’s TV. For all the money in his account, that’s no fun.

Vassell’s blog

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11 Comments

  1. 3nil.co.uk says:

    Darius Vassell’s Turkish blog reveals a homesick man …

  2. Chringle says:

    I wouldn’t mind having him at Forest, he’s a fairly skilfull player on his day and can play anywhere across the front. Plus he would be revitalised if given another chance back in England.

  3. C says:

    Who cares about the starving children in Africa, I feel sorry for Darius!

  4. Ty says:

    No sympathy from me. He is a professional athlete who makes loads of money playing football everyday.

    Maybe he should go and make friends with some of his new Turkish fans: See pic: http://premium1.uploadit.org/weebull//vassel5.jpg

    Give me a break!

  5. […] It’s not all puppies and flowers on Darius Vassell’s blog (Pies) […]

  6. AnkaraGucu says:

    I don’t blame him for being homesick… Ankara is not an entertaining city at all and there is not much to do… I hope he’ll find happiness soon.

  7. Turkish is a difficult language to pick up in comparison to the Latin based European languages.
    The club situation is crazy, I have lots of sympathy for the guy as working and living out here is not easy especially as his wife is not here and he is living out of a suitcase in a hotel.

  8. teyfik paykal says:

    darius vassel darius vassel oley oley oleyyyyyyyyyy

    ı love you vassel ı love you vassel

    SENİ SEVİYORUZ VASSEL EN BÜYÜK ANKARAGÜCÜ

  9. celo says:

    When I first read about his blog on NTVSpor this morning, I kinda felt bad for the guy. Then I realized that the guy is a professional, he made that choice, he is making tons of money and yet he only scored 3 goals in the first half of the season. Ankara is not my favorite city either but if I was there for a job and making millions, then I would make sure I do my job well and try to get out of that mood. Of course he is human but nobody forced him to go there. He also can still leave Turkey he wants. I am sure he does not have a very strict contract as Turkish clubs usually do not make strict contracts with foreign players, it is actually vice versa. As a football fan, I’d like to see Vassel performing well and show us some nice goals like he scored to Fenerbahce.

  10. anon says:

    i wish him all the best he sounds like such a nice genuine person in his blog….at least he aint stuck up like the rest of them lol….and all of you people mentioning his financial pradicament…it dosent have anything to do with the fact that he’s a human being like the rest of us who gets homesick as we would if we were in that situation regardless of how much money he’s making…i personally am a big fan!!!

  11. Montesquieu says:

    @Ty

    I don’t know about loads of money, considering the club failed to pay the hotel he was staying at.

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