Reports going around social media that Chris Martin has told Fulham he wants to return to Derby, Fulham have to agree to this and have apparently refused so Martin has pulled out of tonight's game. Not sure what to make of this I'm pretty sure recently he stated he would be up for signing permantly plus the recent interview with him and Cairney he seemed very happy having a laugh but there does seem to be legs in this rumour. Suppose we won't find out until the team is announced
The story was started by the Sun and is now going the rounds in local newspapers. http://www.derbytelegraph.co.uk/der...-rams-return/story-30020546-detail/story.html Pretty unprofessional of him if true. Who was the last one to go on strike - Clint Dempsey? Not entirely sure about this but it's possible if he goes back without all three parties agreeing, we get the loan fee back. Could of course be a load of pot stirring. As you say Cookie, tonight's team sheet will tell us something. There again if the game is fogged off we might have to sit tight till Monday, for sure as heck we won't hear anything from the 'Communication' lot.
This is not good news. The Dempsey situation left a bad taste, something I have not forgotten. As you say let's see tonight what the team selection is. I got the feeling he was very happy at Fulham. I'm about to leave for the match and it is quite foggy.
From the Official website Jokanovic: A talking point prior to kick-off was the absence of Chris Martin in the matchday squad, and our Head Coach gave the following statement with regards to the Derby County loanee: “He made himself unavailable for today’s game. “He stopped in training, but I have information from medical staff that he is available to play. He decided to take a day off. “We need to check this situation but I don’t have any intention of making our rivals any stronger. I am not going to send him back to Derby, he is going to stay with us, and he is going to respect the contract. “We are not a train station, you can’t come in and out when you want. We need to respect ourselves, and I don’t know if he’s going to play for Fulham, but he’s not going to play for Derby.”
Good on the gaffer; nice and positively vehement. "We are not a train station" will surely become iconic. He also said on twitter, "We expect Chris Martin to be available to work tomorrow. He is a Fulham player until the end of the season." Trouble is you can't have a player not loyal to the team hanging around and disrupting things. Gardening leave it is! PS The rumour going round is that Derby offered him a new and improved contract. Do you reckon they'll offer Darren Bent as a peace token?
If true, it's completely unacceptable and Chris Martin should not play for us again (or anyone else this season). Of course if Derby want him back, maybe they can swap him for Matej Vydra (who did pretty well under Slavisa at Watford). EDIT: To be clear, I hope it's not true. I want Martin to stay and be part of something here with Fulham.
This whole situation could really get out of hand. We don't want a player that does not want to play for us but Joka has voiced his opinion openly and if this cannot be resolved amicably Joka is going to feel aggrieved by the board. With his contract up and Malaga expressing an interest I'm worried the wheels could come off. Worrying times ahead I fear.
The board have to back the coach. If he doesn't want to play he should stay for the year playing in the reserves. I think SJ is right. We shouldn't send him back to Derby. Derby want him back, they can whistle for him. Get SJ on a new 3 year deal. This guy is the real deal. We should do everything to keep him.
This is always a bad situation we don't need a disinterested player to cause trouble and because of this the player always gets his move but I agree we need to make a point and not roll over... The action I would take is this .... I would publicly as a club say something like this " We are disappointed that Chris Martin has chosen not to honour his contract with Fulham, we believe somebody has informed him that Derby want him to return and there manager has all but confirmed this. Due to this we are willing to agree to let Martin return to Derby if we receive the £2.5 million we paid for his services, If Derby truely want Martin back as Martin obviously believes I'm sure they will happily agree to this"
Agree Cookie but I'd like to see some sort of loan embargo put on Derby, both in and out, as it is obvious that Martin has had communications with McClaren about a return as being the only reason for a refusal to play. I expect no action to be taken as the EFL and FA probably don't have any rules on this type of loan. It's lucky we didn't pay the quoted £9m up front in August for a player who doesn't obviously rate his fellow team members as being good enough for him.
Send him back but make Derby pay back the loan fee PLUS also reimburse us for the wages we have paid him for half the season. I get this is about more than just money, its also about the principle and honouring a contract but I think we need to get rid of this situation. I wouldn't want this side show lingering over us for the rest of the season and damaging our attempt at promotion. I liked the managers strong stance on the matter and fair play to him for that but I just don't see what good can come of keeping a player here against his will.
McClaren told BBC Radio Derby at the weekend: "I've made it clear that I like Chris Martin and if there's any possibility that we can get him back, then that's great. We just have to wait and see. From day one I've made my feelings on Chrissy clear. It's now up to the two clubs to sort that one out and for us managers to stay out of." Anybody see a contradiction in what he said? Bleeding hypocrite. Lock him up, I say! please log in to view this image
Derby and Martin don't come out of this looking good. It's unprofessional behaviour from Martin refusing to play and unprofessional from Derby for tapping him up. I think we need rid of him and spend our money on someone who wants to play for us. If we draw Derby in the playoffs and can't play him it will be to our detriment. I just hope this whole situation unsettles Derby more than us.
In his post-match stuff after today's game the Gaffer disclosed more about the motives behind Chrexit: “I explained last game, we signed a contract and an option to recall doesn’t exist from Derby’s side,” he confirmed. “This is nice because they tried to offer him more money and more years, but this solution doesn’t exist. He is going to stay until the end of the season – this is my position, and this is Fulham’s position, too. We played against Derby a few weeks ago and Steve McClaren asked me about Chris Martin, and explained to me that he likes this player. And I explained to him that he’s under contract and I want him to stay, and I recommended that he looked in the market for another option. Maybe he didn’t understand my English very well!” You've got to applaud his explanations, and smile a little bit even.
McLaren should be heavily fined for tapping up and have his brolly inserted, as we say, where the sun don't shine, the man is a 24 carat plonker. Where does the issue of the option to buy stand, let alone the idiot wanting to recall.
We'd be mad to exercise the option to buy. I'm entirely in agreement with us not ending the loan early, even if we have an unhappy player knocking around the training ground, but committing a big fee plus wages long term on a player who doesn't want to be here? That would just create uneccesary problems that we don't need.
CM I don't want him either now but was making the point that he was on loan with the option to buy. I would have thought that has SMcL not tapped Martin we could have completed the loan and bought him for an agreed fee, as I assume that was or still is the Contract. Lets put Martin on groundsman leave and go get a class CF and get ourselves into the playoff's.
The board have backed SJ on his stance of sticking to the contract. Will lose a million or so plus wages. It's a lot of money but I still believe the principle is worth it.