My guess would be that Clint has said repeatedly that he wants to move to a CL club. There were the reports of a bust-up at the time too. Interesting link too, cheers C58.
The interview with the woman from the press office (forgotten her name, but I think she runs the PR operation) is quite revealing. Jol repeats what he said in the press conference - that Dempsey wants to leave and 'isn't ready to play for this club anymore' but as you say Cottager I don't think Jol has actually said that Dempsey is refusing to play just that he's not committed. It's the press officer who says 'so Clint's refusing to play', which is obviously the line that the club wants to put out. So I wonder if you're right, Cottager, that the club is trying to soften us up for a cheap sale that paints Clint as the bad guy which as you say is pretty much what happened with Zamora. I should think they're also trying to flush out any clubs who might still be interested in signing him, although right now it doesn't sound like anyone's beating down the door to the Cottage to get him. According to goal.com the club are ready to withdraw their contract offer to Dempsey: http://www.goal.com/en-gb/news/3774...aw-dempsey-contract-offer?source=breakingnews
I hope this gets sorted quickly now. It is not good for either party. I'm torn on what to believe - Dempsey has proved a great servent to Fulham FC and so refusing to play seems out of character. Perhaps he has had bad advice from his agent or Liverpool have led him a merry dance - something is not right. It would seem a good number of Liverpool fans don't want him especially now they have made more signings. Aston Villa/Everton what good would that do him - Where does he go now ? if he stays then a bad taste will be left after this episode by both sides. What a sad situation - as I say let's hope it resolves itself quickly before it gets worse.
Agreed Bidley, if Dempsey feels he has been wronged why not say something now? It's not like he has anything to lose, he has already been fined and will not play for the club again so it's not like he can be dropped. Is anyone else a bit worried that every big player that has left under Jol has said they had problems with him?
I'd be more worried but the only ones that seem legitimate is Zamora - and he didn't say anything after he left - and AJ, who was narked that he didn't get a long contract after being a constant crock. Dempsey only had problems in pre-season when he (allegedly) refused to play, and Danny Murphy didn't say anything either. I don't doubt that Jol speaks his mind (for better or for worse), but the squad has looked settled and happy in pre-season, so that keeps me sane!
I'll only get worried if we start to struggle for results. His job is to win matches not to be popular with the players. That said, Dembele is on record as saying that loyalty to Jol is one thing that keeps him at the club . . . although admittedly he's not so loyal as to sign a new deal. Ruiz talked about Jol being a factor in him coming to Fulham. And Petric has worked with him before and can't have found it that awful as he's linked up with him again at Fulham. As for Dempsey, I think any manager would fall out with a player who says they don't want to play for them any more.
There are always going to be players who don't get on with a new manager. It's happened since the dawn of football. Admittedly it's worse now particularly when you have twitter and facebook (personally I think professional sports people should leave these things alone).
I am with the club and Jol 100% on this one. We are a small club who have to stand up to the big club bullies who think they can just steam roller over clubs like Fulham. I think this strong and positive stance stems from the Chairman through the MD and the manager and well done to all of them for it. What this does mean is that if a player wants a move, the negotiations become protracted and tedious because we won't lie down and admit defeat. Why the hell should we? Of course there's a little bit of politics and not saying the complete story on both sides but all parties need leverage for deals to work. I think Clint should just get on and play but I think he's gone past the point of no return now. I can't honestly see Jol doing a Mancini on the player and letting him play. I could be wrong though. Good job Fulham on standing your ground.
The one thing that irritates me is the whole play in the CL thing. What a load of tosh. Why go to Liverpool if this is what he wants! Can anyone explain the contradiction to me?
Probably because he couldn't get a game. Only Demps can. He's probably come to the conclusion that perhaps no CL club wants him (apart from maybe Arsenal) and Liverpool are the next best thing. Strange, as on his day I think he'd do well in the Champions League.
I think Jol just thinks Dempsey isn't committed to Fulham, so won't play him. The refusal to play seems more like a ploy to get a team to come in and get him. Dempsey doesn't seem like the type of person or player to refuse to play.
Although it's funny, he was left out of the Swiss pre-season camp around the same time the Liverpool rumours were everywhere and there was a reported bust-up with Jol... He may not have refused to play, but he probably said he didn't want to be an employee of the club any more - subtle difference, essentially the same. And the fact remains - Dempsey has been fined. If he didn't refuse to play, then he was fined because Jol left him out - it doesn't add up to me. Although after today I couldn't care less
In post- match interviews, Jol has attempted to calm things down and indeed said he hoped Dempsey would stay. Here is one (I believe an accurate one) report - http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/news/fulham-manager-holds-olive-branch-dempsey-180521047--sow.html
Today confirmed what I felt about Dempsey last year. We twisted our system to fit Dempsey; playing around him and letting him repay that approach with bags of goals. But there is actually a greater upside without Dempsey as we pick players better suited to our new style of play. Today showed that potential positive to losing Dempsey. Dempsey is a safety blanket for us. I honestly don't want to lose him, as he enables us to mix it up and play a different way, but sometimes it is better to rip the blanket away and learn how to cope without it.
It is annoying when a situation like this arises! Maybe Arsenal can spend some of the millions they got for van Persie.
While you may be correct, it was also only one game. Next weekend might be a game where you're screaming for someone of Dempsey's talents to be in the box, but there really is only one way to find out. At the end of the day the team comes first and if that means moving your "best player" on, then that's what needs to be done. That's what makes Man Utd. so good IMO,they play as a team and they lose as a team. I think if you sell Dempsey it'll be similar to United selling Ronaldo. Selling your most influential attacking player to make your team more of a team. Bit off track but I don't want to bother with making another post. Supposedly we (Man Utd.) offered a low bid for Dembele which was rejected. What we really need in the midfield is someone who can shut down the opposing teams midfield, a Toure, Keane like player. My impression is that Dembele is not that kind of player, but a lot of that can't really be judged by watching a game on TV. So question is, do you match going Fulham fans think Dembele, is or can he be that guy?
He's pretty tough on the ball, but he's not a defensive mid. He could maybe do a job there but that would be wasting him, IMO. He's more of a Modric-type player than a Keane.
That's a very good comparison to be honest. Ronaldo was good enough for the system to form around him rather than the other way around and that is exactly what Dempsey was for us. And to be clear, I don't want to lose Dempsey. As I said he enables us to play a different way and it is always good to keep quality players. And I am not saying we will definitely be better without him, just that there is a higher potential upside without him. That does of course go with a higher potential downside, that's the thing about potential. As for Dembele, no he is not that player. You would want Diarra if you wanted someone to play that role.
I figured as much. I live in Los Angeles so my local team is the galaxy and 3 years ago we acquired this brazilian midfielder Juninho, who we all thought was going to be our creative spark in the midfield. The first few games he looked kind of dull, nothing exciting just a keep the ball and pass it around kind of guy. When I finally got around to seeing a game in person, my opinion of him changed soooo fast. He's everywhere defensively, he's not a big guy and he won't bully people off the ball, but he just shuts everyone down. You notice him most when he isn't there as opposing teams get way more space in the midfield. I was kind of hoping Dembele could have been United's Juninho. I'm not sure how much more "creativity" we need at United with the likes of Rooney, Van Persie, Welbeck, Berbatov, Hernandez, Nani, Valencia, Young, Kagawa, and Giggs all fighting for like 4 spots. Best of luck this season, hope this Dempsey business gets sorted out soon, for the sake of Fulham and Dempsey. Please finish above Liverpool this year!
