Queens Park Rangers let midfielder Ryan Manning leave ahead of the closure of the August transfer window, and he headed out to fellow Championship side Rotherham United for the remainder of the 2018/19 campaign.
We do have a January break clause in the deal should we wish, but manager Steve McClaren felt we were better served by getting the 22-year-old more regular competitive action than he felt we could offer him this year.
Plenty of fans were naturally torn about that believing he had a role to play for us this season and he’s now notched up four starting appearances for his new side, with a showing from the substitutes bench – and last weekend he scored his first goal for them, which became the winner over Frank Lampard’s Derby County side.
It’s good to see him getting game time obviously and getting on the scoresheet, but during his celebration, he apparently kissed their club badge and that’s caused a bit of a stir on social media.
Wee bit disappointed with Ryan Manning kissing the badge on his Rotherham shirt after scoring his penalty today tbh ????#discussion
— Colin Clarke (@QprColin) September 15, 2018
Ryan Manning kissed the badge of the team he plays for, so what. I'd be more worried that a club in our situation let the lad go in the first place.
— derek brennan (@qprdel) September 16, 2018
He’s just a young lad so maybe we let him away with that one ????
— michael mckeon (@micmacqpr) September 16, 2018
No problem with that. They are playing him every week and we would love it if Hemed or Wells kissed our badge after scoring
— hoopedblood (@hoopedblood) September 16, 2018
I think those Tweets sum up the differing standpoints I’ve just scanned through and there are a number of others arguing each angle, but I’m really not sure it should be a thing.
Loyalty is long dead in the modern game, clubs see players as employees and people to get a return on (QPR haven’t been great at that bit lately) and players see clubs as employers with agents ensuring they are always looking for greener grass and we’ve paid for that as well.
I could understand it more if he moved on permanently, played against us, scored and reacted like that as it would feel personal, rub fans the wrong way and be poor, but in and of itself, that’s a nothing – he’s just getting his new fans on side for the remainder of the year surely.
