Mad Dog was surely right to want to see him in match action first and if you have ambition to play in the football league and get told to go away and work on your fitness for 2 weeks you go away and you bust your bollocks off for 2 weeks and go back and show them that you've done what they've asked. To turn around and effectively say sod it show a lack of ambition and commitment to me. Or am I being a bit harsh?
i totally agree if allen is not convinced with his fitness and wants to see more before we commit to the player...then thats what should happen, but why give the player the impression he will sign after the trial game ? how i read this is, if you read the actual official write up from damien reeves, it actually sounds like he is not convinced by what martin allen has told him, and he believes it's more of a time wasting factor, rather than an actual benefit to player or club in two weeks time. now we have signed strevens, he seems to feel gillingham are not now interested and may also have others in mind after the the sale of gazza...hence now money is available to do better than reeves ?! basically damien reeves is not convinced by what allen has said after the talk they had before he came down and now feels martin allen is not being truthful and doesn't intend to sign him anyway !
come back in two weeks time and ask me. It sounds like the bit of 'messing about' that Gills inflicted on Reeves was the final straw for him. Personally I think that he was not best advised by his agent ( if he could afford one ) & certainly not Altringham - who obviously do not have the career of Reeves foremost in their interest- otherwise they would have advised him - just as I am sure we have done with Gazza. ................ and 2 weeks later... edit - definite lack of ambition - despite being 'messed about '
No I don't believe you are being harsh at all Gemini and having a look around opinion seems to be divided on this one. If someone had said to me to go away and work on my fitness for 2 weeks to achieve my ambition of league football then I would certainly have done so. However, Reeves did indicate to me in a brief line, the financial aspect of it for him. So let us try and make some sense of all this, if it were ME personally. Sign the other contract which has been reported by the official club website...contract contains a clause allowing him to leave for nothing, should a League club come in for him. . By signing that contract you have secured your future and any concerns eased financially. Work on your fitness, then if a club comes for you in 2 weeks time, 5 months time or anytime in the future, you are more in control of your own destiny. The reason I was slightly up in arms initially is because we bring someone such as Tommy Forecast on to the books (unless Southampton are paying his wages), we bring Charlie Allen on to the books with a league record of what? is it nine games for Notts County? We bring Strevens on to the books and we have seen what Wycombe fans have said in regards to it...comparisons to Oli, cannot hit a barn door etc etc. Now I am not saying none of those players will not do the job for us but they are with us now. With further friendlies coming up maybe we could have given a 40+ goal scorer a chance, however, I also accept that Reeves may not have wanted to wait around for further friendlies and that he appears to have been expecting to be offered something after the Darts game. Just throwing my thoughts on the subject and obviously Martin (or Reeves) have made their decision and we move on.
if allen had given him the impression he was gonna sign him, then changed and said he was gonna sign him after he played the friendly then said come back in 2 week you can understand the guy getting frustrated but i think what ever the situation hes been a bit silly coming out like he has and kinda closing the door on the move. the question is will his statement lead to changing how allen views his attitude and therefore whether he will call him back?
I do understand both sides, If Reeves wants to make it into the football league he needs to do this work to earn him a contract but if he has no money coming in I understand him walking away and going back to his old club, however I hope he is back.
Reeves says he signed the contract at Altrincham because he is skint and couldnt afford to hang on a couple of weeks! Reeves is a plasterer by trade and plays football part time. If he is skint he must be a bloody rubbish plasterer because I've never seen a plasterer who didn't have loads of money!