Lee Bowyer’s salty words on Aribo Ibrox move really haven’t aged well

Do you recall Lee Bowyer’s very bitter rant following Joe Aribo’s move from Charlton to Rangers back in Summer 2019?

Surely he does, especially if he was watching his former player light up the African Cup of Nations for Nigeria, against Egypt on Tuesday.

Following on from excellent displays in the Europa League, to earning the right to be named amongst the best in the Scottish Premiership – earning a league title medal along the way – it is fair to say that the 25 year-0ld’s career is progressing just fine.

Not that the now Birmingham City manager could see it. You would have thought that he would know better but instead, he let frustration rule his head having lost a very important player just shortly after guiding the Addicks to promotion back to the Championship.

When Aribo made the decision to join Steven Gerrard at Ibrox, Bowyer was raging when he ranted:

“I worked so hard to get him to this situation he is in now. If he goes to Rangers that is not the right place for him to go for his football career.”

“It doesn’t make sense on the football side. When people from England go and play for Celtic and Rangers it is at the end of their careers. That’s because it is very rare you get a move from Rangers to the Premier League, and I don’t mean any disrespect by that.”

“They might go from Rangers to the Championship, very rarely is it to the Premier League. For me he should stay in England and keep progressing. The move should benefit Joe.”

U-turn

In fairness to Bowyer, he later did have the decency to see the error of his words and admit to the progress of the Nigerian international at Rangers. 

This has been a constant and now has blossomed onto the international stage on the African continent, with more and more eyes on the player.

Lee, you had an absolute nightmare. Those words really have not aged well. Far from it!