Arsenal have terminated the contract of young striker Jason Banton after the rebellious former England Under 16 international had yet another furious row with the Gunners Academy coaching staff.
Banton was in his second spell at the Club after a January switch to Tottenham went wrong and he was allowed to return, that move was thought to have been sanctioned due to Jason’s off the field troubles. However, despite helping Steve Gatting’s Under 16’s to Atalanta Cup and Zinedine Zidane Tournament victories over the summer, his relationship with the staff at Hale End has deteriorated.
They feel the player is an argumentative and disruptive influence, and have acted on behalf of the remaining players at the club by tearing up his forms.
He also reportedly had rows with left-back George Brisnal, although this is not the sole reason for him departing. West Ham and Liverpool are the front runners to snap up the prospect who is now a free agent, but with a terrible attitude it’s doubtful those two could do much to keep his development on track.
Jason’s career highlights include scoring against Northern Ireland in the Sky Sports Victory Shield, bagging goals in the group stages of the Atalanta Cup, and featuring throughout the Zidane Cup win in Cannes last month.
Everybody at Young Guns would like to wish Jason all the best for the future.
With thanks to Reyes9 for this news via comment
Article By – J.Sanderson
That’s a shame because he’s a good talent from what I’ve heard.
Hopefully we don’t come to regret this, although the club did the right thing because you simply can’t keep players with a bad attitude, although Van Persie had a bad attitude when we bought him.
I’d like NOT to wish him luck in the future.
This is another example of an English talent with the wrong attitude, millions of youngsters would pray to be in his position.
u go on like he’s an horrible person…hes only 15 and prob immature..
he will shine at liverpool or west ham if he goes there
I tend to agree with the Arse&Nose.
He had everything a young footballer could want at that stage. All of the opportunities in the world and he didn’t take them. He pissed off to the Yids for fucks sake.
Give that academy spot to someone who really wants it.
Benik Afobe!!
is he good player??
Lets hope he has a crap career in the Rymans league and no one hears of him again. He is an arrogant little oik who has been pushing his luck with every club he has been with. Good riddance to rubbish!
like pennant :roll
All of the other boys around him are 15, but they chose to act in a professional manner. He cannot hide behind his age, and has probably just blown the biggest chance of his life.
He can fuck off if he’s another Pennant.
You Arsenal fans should be more classy, people are overreacting because he left. Let him be and wish him luck! We have enough talents coming through and like our coaching staff acted when we gave him a second chance we need to be classy too…
I support the club on this, we won’t be f*cked around. We should be glad because this ensures that a w*nker like Joey Barton will never get anywhere NEAR our wonderful club.
Van Persie did not have a bad attitude when we bought him.
He had a ‘reputation’ of sorts for being difficult in some footballing circles in Holland, but that’s not necessarily the same thing as being argumentative and disruptive.
More importantly, ‘reputations’ can be very different from what a person is really like, so it’s always better to assess a person on how they behave, not on what is essentially hearsay.
It’s a shame but you can’t expect too much from a fifteen year old. As J. Sanderson said, he’s probably just blown the biggest chance of his life, and he probably knows it. No point cussing him and rubbing it in the kids face. I hope he can sort his attitude out and get his career back on track, he’s just a kid and should get another chance at another club.
I think arsenal right to get shot of him, how good was he in comparison to freeman and afobe etc
He was behind them both in the pecking order.
Thats cool cheers. Will be interesting to see where he does up,
J.Sanderson said
“but with a terrible attitude it’s doubtful those two could do much to keep his development on track.
Normally a fan of this site, however do not have the experience, knowledge or authority to make the above statement.
In general some of you so called Arsenal fans are pathetic, a disgrace (LondonGooner, Aiden, Arse and nose). You’re all getting yourselves into self-righteous fury about a 15 year old boy you don’t know anything about.
With some exceptions football fans have become total morons.
Well done Durham gooner for standing up for the rights of a downtrodden sporting corporate institution (arsenal) against an unruly 15 year old.
LondonGooner:
have you ever made mistakes in your life? what is your job? are you a high flier? I bet you’re a fat impotenet twat slumped on front of a compters screen?
He’s a human being and it is his life so I wish him good luck (I’m not being a hippy). But he’s wasted a big opportunity but I think he will go to west ham though it wud be better to go liverpool, far away so he can mature.
If you don’t action in these kinds of cases, you simply reinforce the mercenary attitude of footballers who think that everyone owes them something.
Sometimes the best thing that can happen to a person is when they get what they deserve. Teenagers do have a remarkable ability to make the turnaround, and if Banton can have an honest look at himself now, change his attitude and become a better footballer, I won’t hold it against him.
Sounds like he is everything bad in young footballers. You have to be a total prick to get kicked out like that.
MUG! Flash Prick! Hope he plays for Grays or someone….sums up todays youth culture!
I am not going to wish him bad luck like others are doing but instead good luck with whoever he decides to play for. He is blown the chance of his like and he can go elsewhere and see if such an attitude would be allowed.
http://soccerfanbase.com
Jamie please reply to my message or lets chat on the messenger I am online now.
http://soccerfanbase.com
Erichero, I totally agree with your thoughts… i think it will be a difintely be a blessing in disguise for Banton. It is certainly better for him to have this ‘wake up call’ now, and for him to change his ways, than to waste his potential.
Exactly how good was he anyway?
Personally unless he was an obvious future super star (and from what ive heard he wasnt that good) he wasnt worth it and the club have done the right thing.
Like has been said further up the comments, he’d just have been another pennant, gifted, but a twat. Hope he makes it but if he doesnt get his head straight he wont at premiership level because if Arsenal didnt have the patience to try and help him (in my opinion we’re one of the most understanding clubs in the league when it comes to individual problems) to make it then there arent many clubs in this league that are more patient than us. Liverpool, Utd and Chelsea certainly arent and if he messed any of them around he’ll be out the door quicker than he can blink.
Another Bothroyd…
im sure that the decision wouldn’t have been taken lightly so i hope he goes of an sorts out his attitude and makes a career somewhere else. i might be wrong about this but wasnt owusu-abeyie kicked out of ajax? and he never seemed to have a bad attitude when he was at arsenal so maybe its the kick up the backside Banton needs
Skiddleliddle liddleliddle leebopbop – he’s a scatman !!
I would not say that he has blown the biggest chance he had in life because being at Arsenal is not the be and end all of a football player, and from what i have seen of the kid he looks like a very good player but obviously something has gone wrong with his relationship at Arsenal because he left the club before, and mabey this will give him a kic up the arse and get his head strait IMO
that’s a real shame. he is one of the best talent
Football is a team game so it’s important that the players have the right attitude. Arsenal have given him a second chance, which he failed to take, but maybe the shock of having his contract cancelled will help him in the long run.
He’ll probably end up at Newcastle lol.
OK ARSENAL LOOSING TO KIEV…
I KNEW OUR YOUNG TEAM WONT BE ABLE TO HANDLE THEMSEVLES IN RUSSIA…
CUD OF DONE WITH A ‘EXPERIENCE SIGNING’ RIGHT ABOUT NOW
BUT ARSENE KNOS WOT HES DOING APPARENTLY……
Yes!!! Gallas!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
lol @ PHADER thinking Kiev is in Russia.
Billy to the rescue.
Once again!
Care to make another comment PHADER? Dick…
Next time you should wait until the final whistle before blowing hot air.
LOOL YEH, MEANT TO SAY UKRAINE SOZ…
DONT CALL ME A DICK HENRY…..U MUST OF BUMPED UR HEAD MATE
And phader learn to spell, and think while you are at it!!!
typical lil black kid…. no disciplaine from ghetto’s of london!…. he will go on to serve nt a club well but a prison sentence 4 knife crime!
Regardless of whether Banton was a future star or just a hopeful with plenty of strikers ahead of him, once thing you cannot let happen in the youth ranks is somebody setting a horrible example.
For Arsenal to give him two chances and THEN cut him loose says everything.
I don’t wish the boy ill, but I do care about our club and the lessons being learned by all the other youngsters.
You can get away with a hothead or an occasional bout of petulance at the Prem level because all the other players are first-rate professionals — Gallas comes to mind, the Ade-Bendtner dust-up last year, etc.
At the top level, you live with some of that — within reason — as the rest of the group take things for what they are and go about their business. There is also a difference between misplaced passion and flat-out insubordination.
With the kids, it’s VERY different.
They MUST be kept on a fairly short rope because the others — who are just starting to make their way — need proper models and attitudes or they won’t progress.
Sad, but even if this were Barazite or Afobe, I’d say the same thing.
This sounds crazy, but AW spent big on Theo at 16 as much for his character as his obvious skills. Good things happen when you make decisions like that.
We handed Pennant to Steve Bruce with the proper warnings, then Bruce coddled him and was promised loyalty in return by the player — yet he then humiliated Brum by having to play a game wearing an ankle bracelet.
I’d rather lose out on a title than see our club field players who don’t respect their coaches, their teammates or — maybe most important — the game itself.
That club motto has to mean something — even for a 15-year-old — or we’ve sold our soul.
Whoa!
This boy’s race has NOTHING to do with anything. Jamie, please block or remove comments like the one above suggesting Banton was just a ghetto kid and THAT’S why he had a bad attitude.
Arsenal don’t need racists — anywhere, including on this blog!
PLEASE, Jamie, you’re building a huge base of supporters who read this and care about Arsenal and it’s youth programs.
Don’t allow racist comments on here!
By the way, afc4eva — you moron! — Thierry Henry came from a ghetto in Paris.
Would you like to repeat your idiotic remark to one of the greatest sportsmen in the world?
It would give you a chance to tell him off about his “Kick Out Racism” campaign.
Jamie, why not ask all your readers and contributors to vote on whether racist comments should appear here?
Frankly, it makes me sick to read that stuff.
I agree with California Steve. J, please delete afc4eva comments.
Who are these fake arsenal fans that are really rightwing tory bnp members?.
go on Banton..get youre act together and find the pleasure in the game again,and as an Arsenal Supporter i would like to wish you all the best in the future ….mistakes are made it is what we learn from them who makes us Men ….so go on….
I also agree that afc4eva comment should be deleted no need to say that.
There is some truth to what afc4eva is saying though
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Allow this them comments commenting on people’s race it dont matter if hes black or white everyone has different mentality’s regardless of colour ,
all you guys saying he is just 16yrs old is making me mad! he deserves to take responsibility for his actions, that is y 16 yr old in UK can go about stabbing ppl with knifes. i hope he changes or……………….too bad for him.
Ard Man,afc4eva u guys are foolish!!! y make such comment here, all the guys u watch on TV for knife crimes are they blacks? fools!!! please delete there stupid comments.
JS can’t allow racist rubish like that here. Block his/her email ’til s/he apologises.
Joey Barton aint black but hes the only player serving a prison sentance for a physical attack on some1 at the moment, saying cuz some1 is black its typical for them to be arrogant and violent is idiotic. Maybe you should start looking at people as individuals rather than a part of a set? I know loads of black geezas my age from parts of London like Hackney and Newcross where some of my family and friends live and none of them carry/have carried/would carry a knife. I used to carry a knife when i was 14 for a while and im not black.
Its realy bad.
Joey Barton / Lee Bowyer / Harold Shipman / Hitler
oh my god the white population is going totally out of control!!!
I cannot understand this. You have a place at arguably the best youth set up in England. Not to mention the privilege of wearing an Arsenal shirt. A real big opportunity. And you wanna blow it by being a rudebwoy, conflictive muppet. This kid doesn’t know how lucky he is. People should look at Jay Simpson for inspiration, just gets his head down and does what he is told in the hope he’ll make it at Arsenal.
Boi!!! even doe im a arsenal fan, dey wer str8 stupid 2 let JB go. He joined man city anyway not really a bad move considerin that dey actually play their youngsters. His attitude shudnt matta!! at the end ov the day player attitudes and characters is what makes football, football. If ronaldo was a polite person he wudnt be tryin stepovers and disrespectin his opposition…if wayne rooney wasnt so aggressive and hype onda ptch den wat wud he have? NOTHIN!!!!…….so anyone chattin shit bout JB can go suck demselves cah if u a baller den u a baller END OF DISCUSSION!! K!D
sos j
how sour is your milk, and how many chips on your shoulder? Crikey, it’s not the first, and won’t be the last – you seem to relish twisting the knife on him – you’re not on a bung from the club to taint this lad are you? Why have the cheek to say ‘wish him well’ when clearly you’re just a spoiled brat…