If Coloccini Leaves NUFC Than Relegation Is A Probabilty, Rather Than Possibilty

Just when you think it can't get any worse and you actually start to see positives with key players coming back from injury along with possible new signings...club captain Fabricio Coloccini declares he wants to leave. Not in the summer but immediately. Sweet Lord. Can you think of anything worse? I can't.

We have looked shocking at the back at times even with him in the team and an absolute shambles without him. The only time we have looked anywhere near as solid as last season is when Captain Colo led with example and showed us why he got into the PFA team of the season. Mike Williamson is quickly becoming possibly the worst centre back we have ever had and Steven Taylor can't avoid injury to save his life. To lose Coloccini permanently would be inconceivable.

The reason Colo wants to leave is through personal reasons. Those of which are not fully known and are rumours at this stage. It certainly isn't football related as to go back to the shocking Argentinian league would be a massive step down for someone seemingly at the peak of his powers. He was only just compared to Bobby Moore a few months ago, so for him to be chasing after average strikers in his homeland of Argentina would be some dramatic come down.

There is no point discussing what the personal reasons are but it's safe to say they must be serious enough to create this situation. Under any other circumstances I would reluctantly accept them, with him moving on and thanking him for his hard work and loyalty during the relegation season. But the circumstances we find ourselves in with relegation more than realistic I can not accept them at all. If Coloccini were to leave in this January transfer window then relegation would change from a possibility, to a probability in my eyes for the following reasons.

Firstly, we will be losing our best defender. Simple as that. I only wrote an article not long ago declaring Coloccini was the best defender we have ever had in my lifetime. He has struggled a bit since then strangely but he is more than capable of steadying our sinking ship. Being our club captain is also a big factor. We lack a leader when he is not in the team, that much is clear. To lose his influence whether he is playing well himself or not could be catastrophic.

Second, the replacements are just not good enough. Williamson is beyond useless. His 'performance' at Brighton was possibly the worst I have ever seen by an NUFC centre back in my life. It's not like he was up against Van Persie and Rooney was he? I have labelled him a Championship defender at best but he is not even up to that standard when an average Championship team completely expose him. Last year he had some good solid games helping us achieve 12 clean sheets in the league (joint highest), this season he is doing nothing but help the opposition score. Absolutely abysmal.

Third, who are we going to replace him with? We haven't even replaced the injured Steven Taylor or the useless Mike Williamson yet. So to then expect the club to replace Coloccini as well is just not realistic. We already need a centre back which has been dragging on and on now without much ground moved, so to have to bring in another would be highly unlikely. Our club doesn't do deals quickly. They like to drag their heels and not 'panic buy' by scouting every option almost exhaustingly. If we couldn't bring in a much needed centre back in the summer, how much chance do we have bringing in two in the space of three weeks?

Finally, the morale of the team and the club all round would suffer. Our morale at the minute is pretty much on the floor. If Coloccini abandoned ship now, it would break through to new depths. Alan Pardew is completely miserable whenever we sell a player at the best of times, so can you imagine the size of his bottom lip sticking out if he loses his captain? The man would be insufferable. When Carroll left, AP's demeanour suffocated our team which resulted in a record of just 3 wins from the final 17 games of that season. Since we have sold Demba, AP hasn't exactly been glowing with positivity has he? Mr Motivator could kill us off for good.

To be fair it's still all talk at the moment and to be honest it's not like San Lorenzo of Argentina could afford to buy Coloccini could they? I can not see why we would let him go on loan no matter how bad the situation gets. A misguided Coloccini is still a better option than not having him at all. Plus where is his loyalty? He surely knows how important he is to our club. He must know that if this club gets relegated it could be doomed inevitably. I can't believe he is wanting to jump ship with the club in the position it is in.

If we were mid table and not looking like being relegated than I could understand it. But we are smack bang in the middle of a relegation battle with a record of losing 10 out of the last 12 games. We have shipped 15 goals in our last 3 league games and have looked a shambles at the back. We have never needed Coloccini more than what we do right now. Our plight is so bad that I don't actually care what personal issues Colo has, unless they are so debilitating that it stops him from playing football altogether than fair enough, but to go and play for another team is unacceptable. Especially for some Argentinian peasants with his dad cheering him on. What is this Sunday League or multi-million pound professional football at stake?

Suck it up, get through it, help the club achieve Premier League survival and then leave in the summer if you have to. If he leaves now than he will go down as one of the biggest rats in our history, especially if we go down afterwards, which would be a crying shame for such a popular player. Many fans are already defending him by declaring 'have a heart'. Sorry, but to leave in January to go play football for somebody else is indefensible. It's not like he is retiring from the game for good is it? He fully intends to carry on playing football professionally, so that should be for this football club and nobody else.

Shay Given left us after 10 years of loyal service to go win trophies at mega rich Man City when the opportunity came up, that was fair enough. He moved up a level. If Colo leaves to go play in some joke league when he is the club captain and highest paid player on our books, then that is indefensible. Some things are more important than football, I know that. But within football nothing is more important than the survival of a football club. So as a professional footballer Coloccini should get on with his job at least until the summer. If Colo left now, we then went down off the back of it, I fully expect the dramatic demise of our football club. Possibly for good.

Coloccini can not leave this football club in this transfer window. I don't want to even comprehend the consequences if he does.

Always a soap opera. Stay tuned.

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