Football really is becoming a morally bankrupt "sport" thanks to all the stupid money being ploughed in ... Chris Martin was desperate to get away from Derby at the start of the season because Pearson told him he wasn't guaranteed starts, but no club wanted to splash the cash to sign him ... Fulham, seeing him as a potentially good fit for them, agreed to take him in loan for the season, paying a reported £3m loan fee to get him this meant that Martin was fully committed to Fulham for the season, with no option to return at any point during the season ... Martin was happy, and he started to bang in the goals for Fulham ... everyone's a winner it seems now Derby are on a run and threatening the play off places, and out of the blue Martin wants to go back to his parent club immediately ... McClaren has publicly stated he wants Martin back, even though there is no recall clause in his loan contract ... Martin refused to play for Fulham in their last match, effectively going on strike to get his wish of rejoining McClaren and Derby's promotion push clearly Martin has been got at, and now Fulham have a major issue ... they have player whose season they rescued refusing to play for them again ... even worse is that he's their top scorer, and they won't be able to replace him in January, because any proven striker will be going to promotion contenders or lower Prem teams ... if Fulham want a good striker, they will be held to ransom for an unrealistic fee of course, Fulham are under no obligation to release Martin as it would be breaking their contract with Derby if they did ... Derby, on the other hand, have manipulated the situation to create a scenario where Fulham are left with no option but to release Martin and and put their season at risk ... it is hard to see how Fulham can keep an "unhappy" player Derby, McClaren and Martin have behaved very badly, and Fulham have become the victims of this ... it could even end with Derby being promoted and Fulham relegated, and we know the financial implications of this scenario ... for me, the gutless FA/FL needs to step in and inflict a damaging punishment on Derby and Martin to stop this blatant breaking of contracts, so here are some things that would really set a marker: a) Martin is returned to Derby, but banned from playing until August 2017 ... added to this, Derby are ordered to pay back all loan fees to Fulham, as well as all Martin's wages paid by Fulham during his time there ... Martin is also fined the remainder of this season's wages, which goes to a charity b) Martin is returned, Derby pay back all loan fees .. Derby are also banned from doing any transfers for three seasons c) either a or b above, suspended for three years .. if Derby are promoted within the next three seasons, they have to pay Fulham 50 percent of their first season Prem handout if this kind of skullduggery happened in the corporate world, the penalties would be extremely severe, and it's high time football started to sort their sh1t out ... if Cellino can be given an unprecedented 18 months ban and a huge fine for agent payments, then surely Derby County and Chris Martin can get walloped for putting Fulham and their staff's futures at risk ... Derby County and Chris Martin have behaved disgracefully, and they must be punished heavily Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Not sure if Derby are at fault here. Their manager might be, but I haven't heard what he exactly said. Suspect he covered himself & it was the inference taken from what he said that's done the damage. I'd like them to be punished, but don't think there will be strong enough evidence. As for the player, he should be hammered. Again though, they must have enough evidence. Did he pull a 'sore leg' story that covered him & the manager assumed (correctly!) that he was on strike? We'll need to wait & see. I would deffo fine him 2 weeks wages for every possible indiscretion, if appropriate action cannot be taken due to lack of evidence. Every time he turned up late, put on weight, failed to match his previous performance data, didn't finish his lunch, burped without excusing himself, didn't tie his laces correctly - you name it, fine him! Make his life a misery & don't play him. Make him train with the kids. Make him train every afternoon. And evenings, and of course, fine him if he doesn't try hard enough or even turn up. Will be very costly for him, for if he's like most players, he won't have much spare cash lying around - they slam it all into their pension for tax reasons & can't get it out again without paying tax. But, and it it's a big but, if there is sufficient evidence, hammer him & hammer Derby in one of the manners you've suggested, Billy. I'd even consider a points deduction, as it's action like this that's needed to nip this thing in the bud. Btw, whilst we're talking about this, do you really think Charlie Taylor is injured? Hmmm.
WJ. Very good point about Charlie Taylor. I'm not confident that he will still be a Leeds player come February. Welcome back by the way.
If Taylor goes, no big deal. I've every faith Monk will replace him with as good or a better player. Wonder who is Chris Martins agent and has he previous for this kind of ****e. I'm highly sceptical of all agents
Eire, it's more the point for me that we'll continue to lose players like these the longer we're out of the Premiership and what's worse to a club like west brom. No disrespect to them but a club that will never win anything and just be stocking filler for the top teams. The prem clubs will be sniffing around viera soon. I think he is going to be some player.
I think I might get pelters for this .... I think we over-rate Taylor. We watched him develop really quickly once Warnock left, but IMO, he's stopped developing - and did a while ago. He's been quite poor at times this season, which we've not seen before. He's pulled out of a lot of tackles, obviously to avoid injury & knacker his transfer hopes. He's a 7/10 player at best, sometimes not even that.. He's not a world-beater. If he wants to go, let him. Berardi will happily cover until we either get a replacement, or perhaps Denton will step in & surprise us all. Don't forget that Cooper has turned out for us at LB before & was very comfortable.
Not sure about Denton not seen him... But you are right about Taylor and Beradi is more than good enough...
Denton has the best scoring record in our squad - 100%, or goal a game, whatever way you want to look at it!
Martin should have his contract terminated and told to pay Fulham the half season signing fee. So no football. No pay, no contact with football end of. Still hearing that Taylor is signing a new contract as he believes in the Monk project.
From the same people talking if the take over? You do realise he didnt need to wait till january? If he dont play tomorrow he is gone.....
Martin is on a season long loan, agreed by all 3 parties, Fulham paid Derby a £3.6M loan fee. For Chris Martin to go back in Jan, all 3 parties would have to be in agreement, and the loan fee re-paid in full, plus compensation (from what I've been told by a Fulham director).
thanks TC, great info ... Fulham have said that Martin stopped training and refused to play against Reading ... they don't want Martin to go back and strengthen Derby, who are just 3 points ahead of them ... Fulham will be the big losers here, be awesome if Derby don't even make the play offs Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk