Iker Casillas is the New Alan Knight, Raul is the New Steve Bull

By: Daryl | February 14th, 2008

Players always saying how much they love their clubs. Some of them even kiss the club crest when they score. But very few are willing to put their entire careers where their mouth are. Now – on Valentine’s Day no less – we can count Iker Casillas and Raul among those very few, as both have pledged their love to Real Madrid by signing contracts to last the rest of their careers. Casillas is only 26 (can you believe that? he’s still got maybe another ten years at the top level) but his new contract runs through to 2017. That’s so far in the future that all his teammates will probably be androids. Raul’s not so young at 30, but has still signed a contract until 2011.

Even better (if you’re a Madrid fan or a fan of player loyalty) there’s a clause in both contracts that if either man plays at least 30 games in a season they get an automatic one year extension.

With this move the players join the hallowed ranks of Alan Knight, who spent his whole career at Portsmouth, and Steve Bull who spent his career at Wolves when he probably should have moved on. It’s looking like the trio of Gary Neville, Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes will spend their entire football lives at Man Utd too.

Encouraging to know that player loyalty still lives in the wake of the the Webster Ruling. But though no one doubts Casillas and Raul’s love for Real, let’s not pat them on the back too hard. It’s probably much easier to stay loyal when you already play for the richest club in the world.

	Soccer Forums	Team/International Results

Category: Spain La Liga

Tags: alan knight, Contracts, Iker Casillas, Raul, Real Madrid, Spain La Liga, steve bull, World Football, World Soccer

« Football Starts With Love | Home | Photo of the Day: Happy Valentine’s Day »

Subscribe   The Offside RSS Feeds

Print

Share

Comments  

• elmeromero |  February 14th, 2008 at 9:49 am

  
  
  

  Who wouldn’t want to spend the rest of their career being the hero of every fan at one of the top 5 clubs in the world. Must have been a hard decision for these two legendary footballers. Hala Madrid!

  Posted from United States

  

• ordeal_rules (JCS) |  February 14th, 2008 at 9:49 am

  
  
  

  Dude you left out Francesco Totti and Maldini!

  Posted from El Salvador

  

• Daryl |  February 14th, 2008 at 9:55 am

  
  
  

  It wasn’t meant to be a comprehensive list of one club players, but I’m happy to start one.

  I’ll throw in Tony Adams and Alessandro Del Piero.

  Posted from United States

  

• Mike |  February 14th, 2008 at 10:03 am

  
  
  

  you have to have the utmost respect for players who decide to play out their entire careers at one club. Totti, Del Piero and Maldini come to mind. hopefully we will be able to add DDR and AA to that list some day.

  

  Posted from United States

  

• elisa |  February 14th, 2008 at 7:56 pm

  
  
  

  Raul and Casillas are a rare breed and come from the Cantera, well not Raul, but very close. He is from Madrid. Guti will soon sign as well. I think it is a good symbolic gesture. But they need to give more of the cantera players IE Soldado and Balboa a chance and promote within instead of just developing and loaning and selling.

  Posted from United States

  

Comments are closed