To me, this backs up the Party Hull theory: http://www.thisishullandeastriding.co.uk/story-16567388-detail/story.html?
Bruce had no reason to publicly state Koren's release clause. I think he is whipping up interest to cash in on whatever money is made out of the transfer.
This has crossed my mind too, as I think Koren may not fit into the formation Bruce intends to go with so he would rather have 500k to spend on someone who will.
I will never question Koren's ability. He's been an outstanding player, but if he just walks away now - frankly he can go, because he's not the player I thought he was. Koren wanted to see commitment to the club - he said in the summer he wanted to see the club moving forward. Since then, we got Bruce in as a Manager, and now we have signed or are close to signing Jakupovic, Amos, Proschwitz, Faye and Aluko. If he walks away from that, then he is being a mercenary, pure and simple. Even that I could forgive somewhat if it was for the top flight - but if he heads to another championship side - I will lose a lot of respect for the man.
As Party Hull said, it may be Bruce trying to cash in because Koren doesnt fit in to his style of play. If true, i would be gutted but it may not be totally Koren's choice (hope I'm wrong)
Bruce does seem to be mentioning this clause rather a lot, I wonder if he simply thinks he's too difficult to accommodate in a 4-4-2.
If we could find a young gun waiting in the wings for Koren to retire, we should be building a team around him. 4312, with 3 stronger midfielders behind him.
Let's be clear, there is no way this has slipped out by accident and I can think of only 2 reasons why we would choose to draw attention to the clause: 1) For whatever reason we want to sell whilst claiming 'there was nothing the club could do about it' and painting Koren and his agent as the villains of the piece. It's the perfect way to make an unpopular sale. 2) We expect him to sign a new contract with no such clause or expect him to simply refuse to leave even if the clause is met, therefore showcasing to everyone how much faith there is in the 'brave new Hull City' and a wave of optimism takes us towards the title. I reckon it's number 1.
Wondered about this in my blog: http://boothferrytowembley.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/wanna-be-tiger-2.html I can see no reason why Bruce would want to push Koren out. There's no way half a million quid compensates for his loss and he can be accommodated, albeit not in his best position. For me, the only reason Bruce would go public with this is that he's spoken to Koren and knows he can't stop him leaving. Or he was asked the question directly and won't lie.
Are you having a laff? Every manager who has ever, erm managed, has lied when asked such a direct question and I can promise Bruce will lie again. He couldve easily said 'we're here to discuss a new signing, we're not discussing existing squad members' and job done. And the loss of form argument about Koren's injury really dont stack up, we were already on a bad run of form before he got injured.
