Pratley for me will always get my respect, at least we all knew he was going at the end of the season.
If all of this turns out to be true, then i've lost a lot of time, patience and respect for Neil Taylor. Goodbye Neil, thanks for your help, we'll cope without you though.
F**k he is going to get some stick when he comes back. the guy is a pr*ck and we are better off without him. mind you we will have to abuse the bench cause thats where he will be.
Agreed...If he does take legal action... and looses, then he has certainly well and truley pissed on his chips.... and his career lol.
Honestly I can't believe the attitude of some of you. If he is prepared to go this fa then he obviously believes that the clause in his contract is a direct buy-out clause. If that Is the case then we are acting illegally by not allowing him to leave for that amount. Yes there is a chance that this is not the case, that for some illogical reason there would exist a clause that allows talks but no action however to me this would seem to be a pointless clause that no player would want or accept in the first place. That could well be the crux of the argument, if he believed he was singing up to a release clause but in actual fact it was something else, in which case there could be an issue of misrepresentation. Either way the kind of vitriol being spouted here is way over the top. You'd swear he had raped some of your daughters the way some people are carrying on. And to do the same to Dorus who has given us 4 very good years is even worse.
From conference player to Premier League diva in less than a year , I guess it was all to much for him . Sell him for a million , take our profit & be thankful !!
Agree with some HackerJack in some aspects. Can see why people are dissapointed hes leaving but if I didnt come from Swansea, say I was playing for Wigan, and Newcastle came in for me and offered much more wages. Having been to Newcastle and seen the size of their club and how fantastic the following is it would definitely interest me. No one can comment on what is thinking in his mind unless we were actually put in that position.
It really doesn't matter what his thinking is or that of his agent. To date, this smells of a situation created and manipulated by the agent. More news to come I am sure, but he signed a contract to play for us and that's what he needs to do unless provisions in the contract permit otherwise.
I couldn't give a toss what his contract says hacker, what bugs me is he was playing non-league football a year ago and Newcastle had no idea who he was. After the Swans took a punt on him, forgive me for feeling like he owed us at least a year, or 6 months minimum, in the top flights before wanting to jet off in search of a massive payday.
Sorry you feel that way Scott. But in the end it's all about contracts, if we had really wanted to secure him we would not have allowed such a clause in his contract. All any player really owes any club is to play to the terms he has agreed to until such time that the contract is no longer applicable. To expect anything more is pointless and hypocritical as 99.9% of us would not offer that kind of loyalty to an employer either.
Exactly Scott, what his contract actually says doesn't really matter. As has been said above, Neil Taylor came to us as a relative nobody, turned out to be a decent player and was well liked by the Jack Army. I think i'm mostly frustrated by it all... Someone gives you a chance and then in return your throw it back in their face to sit on the bench at a bigger club. More fool Taylor I guess... Then, I should be fair. I don't know all the reasons behind this, I don't know all the details about the contract and how the deals are done in the background etc.. and also, we don't even know if this is really true. If it is, then Goodbye Neil.
Hacker, if Taylor was in fact surprised that his contract differed to what he expected, that is his problem. He has an agent who presumably hires contract lawyers to vet such documents on his behalf. By the same token, Huw and Swansea City FC will have their own legal representation and, if they allowed any ambiguity in Taylor's contract , then they should take a long, hard look at themselves. We are finally in the big time and, for as long as it lasts, we should try and conduct our affairs accordingly. One way or another, we have been causing ourselves problems in recent times with our handling of contracts. This has to stop with immediate effect. Contracts should be simple affairs so long as the details have been clearly defined and set out to all parties before signature. If there is any doubt as to the intent of Taylor's contract then, imo, this is slapdash and unacceptable business practice on the club's part. Tacit agreement and word of mouth agreement about any aspect of a contract will not do - as Sam Goldwyn put it: "A verbal contract is not worth the paper it's written on". A badly worded contract could cost us as a club, millions of pounds and it is our responsibility to pay for the best advice possible. As for Taylor, imo, he is an odious ingratiate and I would like to see the back of him as soon as possible. The club should screw every last penny they can from Toon, including sell-on clauses etc, and invest the proceeds on the wages of a proven quality loan defender.
Fully agree on the contract thing ivor, it should never have come to this in the first place as it should be in black and white with everyone in full understanding before the thing is signed. Hopefully the club learns from this whatever the outcome.
If the contract is ambiguous, then that's our fault, spot on Ivor. I very much doubt it is though, somehow. I think it's all to do with this agent, but I could obviously be wrong. If it isn't, and the Swans have messed up, you better believe this will be the last time a contract issue arises as it would probably be the last "warning" (for want of a better word) for the board in terms of contract problems. As has been said though, for a Welsh player playing in Wales in the Premier League, for the first time in footballing history, you can't help but feel let down by his conduct. Sod off to the ´Toon. They don't deserve someone so self serving, but if they're willing to pay for him, take him off our hands.
ivor. We need top quality legal and money men as much as players to help Huw and Brendan manage this club and fend off all the sharks that reside in football these days . And slightly off the point but to increase gates how many seats would be freed up with a double cage fence either side of the away fans similar to the away end at the vetch at one time instead of very wide black sheets that they cover the seating with at present ?
we're always going to struggle to keep hold of tidy player's no matter what division we're in, we're a small club who pay small wages. and our boardroom level staff, seem to struggle with some aspects of football buisness, who has ever heard of a clause where you can just talk to other clubs??? and the buisness with ipswich is another example of how we struggle with contracts. we're premier league now board, so start acting like it.
Our contract policy is all over the place, time to smarten up, how many more issues, before our board get real, our best players being constantly given away for free, how much does Pratley, De Vries, and Bessone add up too, and now contract disputes on wording??............... please log in to view this image
