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Stevenage manager Graham Westley, clearly irate at more problems with star striker Anthony Elding told the official Stevenage website: "I've talked too much about Anthony this season. It is boring me now"
"Anthony has made it quite clear to me since the summer that he wants to move elsewhere. And he has consistently behaved accordingly. We have moved from one silly spat to the next. Simply because he has been offered moves elsewhere and he wants to go and, in his words, better himself. I have made it clear from day one that he will not be leaving and that he is required to play to his best and contribute to our promotion. Kid?s play will simply continue to damage his reputation."
"It was only months ago that Anthony was thanking myself, the club and the fans for helping him to resurrect his career after his problems at Boston.A lot of people have helped him here and life is a two way street."
"There are two things; firstly, he is a contracted player to Stevenage Borough F.C. And secondly, he is required to honour that contract. Honour is an important word."
"Fortunately, we are not called Mickey Mouse and we do not need to give in to a misbehaving player."
"Whoever is pulling Anthony's strings should wake up and smell the coffee. It is not helping Anthony that he is carrying on as he is. It is one bit of petulance after the next.
I have no desire to see him leave but in any event, he will not be leaving until his contract expires. Full stop. That said, he will not be playing for us unless he toes the line and proves to me that he can be trusted to play with his heart for our club, his team, his fans and me, his manager. All of which I know he is capable of. But none of which he is doing right now."
"I am sure that this latest situation has blown up just because Jon Nurse has been preferred to him in attack in the last two games and he cannot see himself winning back his shirt.I think he is looking for an excuse for not being in the team. I am sure in the future he will look back on talk of asking for a loan as embarrassing. Knuckle down, work hard and earn a shirt, I say. Kids sulk; adults should know better; professionals act professionally. We are talking Elding not Drogba and even Drogba only gets a shirt when he earns it."
"Anthony is young. But he is talented and he is capable of learning. It is no good hanging onto the past. He has to show commitment and professionalism. And he needs to stop listening to the 'voices'; because they are destroying him not helping him. He thinks that he is okay because League Two clubs want him. If he listened and concentrated he could be moving into the Championship. But no big club will want to introduce a bad attitude."
Westley was backed up fully by skipper Jason Goodliffe who said, "The lads like Anthony. He is a funny bloke. He is popular in the dressing room. But he has let himself down with his conduct this season. The manager has treated him with respect and done his absolute best, more than you can imagine, to guide him forwards. Anthony has just behaved selfishly and has forgotten the help he has had here. He wasn't in demand when he arrived. But he has been developed. All of us have helped him in all sorts of ways. And he seems to be forgetting to say thank you."
"He needs to knuckle down and get on with the season before it passes him by. Otherwise any club that is thinking about him as a serious prospect will soon start to consider him to be a liability."
