Released by Villa and it looks like he wants to stay in England (Can't blame him Spain is hardly a financial paradise at the moment). Can play CB or Fullback...
Let's stop thinking wages are our of our reach. With the Championship signing up to financial fair play only relegated clubs with parachute payments can realistically pay more. The rules start now although fines only kick in 2014. So clubs need to think about contract lengths and wages starting now when they offer contracts. Players aren't going to get what they think anymore very easily. How many clubs have bid for Clayton? Could it be because once they heard his demands they decided to look elsewhere? Not a lot of money available outside the Prem, so don't think all deals are off for us. Clubs like Leicester, Birmingham and Boro for example are going to feel a lot of pain if they don't go up next season.
Wages are out of reach due to an overly restrictive wage cap policy, no other reason. Whether realistic or not, the market is what it is. "So clubs need to think about" perhaps should be "So clubs should think about..." How many clubs have not bid for Clayton? Just as impossible a question to answer as how many have bid.
We can't secure Ward or any other of the targets that Neil is after at the moment so players of this calibre we haven't a cat in hells chance.
We should not be scouring the transfer fee market, we all know it will end intears. This free market is our world and we should embrace it
Yeah look at the quality...Michael Owen, Emile Heskey, Owen Hargreaves...we could make a team of ex-England internationals! Also I think Cuellar is a free transfer, although not at all likely
There are some really good deals out there. He would be fantastic, not sure whether we would want to pay those wages, regardless of whether we have a wage cap in place or not. Its all well and good blaming a crappy wage budget but if he wants 20k a week or even 15k, I wouldn't want him
I guarantee Beckford is the only player who wanted those numbers out of all the players we've struggled to sign in the last 7 years.
Your probably right to be honest. Although Gradel reportedly wanted 20k a week but I'm not sure about that source
Same source as the one saying someones asking for 15k a week and that we scared away £20 million of investment Point being I can practically guarantee not a single player we've lost in the last 7 years was asking for figures that we can't afford (assuming all income not spent on essentials like insurance, maintenance, policing costs etc is spent on playing staff), and only Beckford will have been asking for figures that our current budget couldn't afford. It's just the whole "take what we offer and be grateful" thing.
Its all irrelevant at the end of the day what the player is asking for. I would be comfortable with the club making reasonable offers which may, at least, give the player something to think about. The current situation and very recent past all smacks of our offers being at such a low level, for the English Championship Division not what you and I make, as to be insulting to the players.
Exactly, Jonny. bates seems to have this idealistic view where players only earn a reasonable amount based on what they actually do and kicking a football around a field isn't worth squat compared to the amount of effort bates spends following half cooked development plans, valiantly defending the clubs honour in court, and sitting on his fat arse in Monte Carlo. I personally believe they earn every penny, it is an extremely physically vigorous sport and the mental drain of having to perform in front of 25 000 people week in week out as well as constantly being in the media spotlight - it's very difficult. It only gets ridiculous at the top end of the Premier League, La Liga, etc etc. There's a lot of money floating around in football, as is the nature of any entertainment industry, and it is one of the few industries where the majority of the money goes to the people who do the most work to provide the industry's product. While the balance is quite far out and is leading to financial instability, bates view is still completely and utterly wrong.
I believe you but saying practically guarantee implies you have proof which is almost impossible to have unless you have insider knowledge I wouldn't say its irrelevant but I get your point, the bradley johnson thing was just embarrassing
I qualified it with practically. I do not have insider knowledge I just have common sense and I believe this whole "players are greedy" thing has been blown way out of proportion. They are human beings, the majority of human beings care about other things more than money, just very few have enough disposable to stop worrying about it. Most footballers bank accounts will be inflating constantly as they have nothing to spend it on. Most will think "well I don't really need more money unless it's offered on a plate". They are professional athletes. They care more about the rush they get from competing than the wage packet. Unless you're the type that gets a rush from money, such as the kind of person you see going into business, or unless you thrive on attention and adulation (Rooney types) and all the things that ridiculous amounts of money bring, the rush from getting money stops when you've got more than you can spend. To get that rush from competing they need to feel they are competing, so they want a club that has ambition and drive. They want to play with other players that complement their styles, they want to play with players who don't hold them back. I say "practically guarantee" because my common sense and somewhat basic knowledge of human psychology tells me the players care less about money than you think. Agents being manipulative ****s only goes so far if a player does not want to move clubs and will only do so if they do not feel valued.
Marko, I agree with you up to a point, but there is something you've missed here. And that is the fact that all professional footballers are used to getting EVERYTHING done for them, and get used to doing what they're told. Straight from their mammy's tit into the hands of the agents. Most are pampered, arrogant twats, some worse than others. Snoddy seems at the 'good' end of the spectrum, but I cannot believe that every player is. The majority veer the other way. This is not my opinion, btw. Most players will tell you this. The majority of the books I read these days are footballers biographies, and most of them allude to this fact. A high percentage are also fcukin' airheads. I've been on this Twitter thing and following 'Leeds' people. The young players are doing my head in. The shyte that they talk about is unbelievable. Tonight if was fcuking TOWIE all night. And their upcoming holidays, gym, barbies, sunbathing, and loads of stuff that I can't work out. Unbelievably inane, and quite an insight into how they operate. In summary, you can't believe everything you hear from a player. They're fed shyte throughout their careers by agents, and when it comes to negotiations, they believe everything the agents tell them. They're just as bad as bates, and it's unclear who is misleading us the most.
I will always, always assume the player is telling the truth over bates. At the very least, with stupidity comes brutal honesty because they are too dumb to lie. bates lies by default. I will always believe the player over bates. Ridiculous money refers to money that cannot be afforded by the club or more accurately by a typical club in the league they are in. Leeds can afford any typical Championship wage, including the high end ones. None of the players we have will be asking for low end Premier League wages, they will be asking for Championship wages. That, to me, is 7k-15k. 15k is the very, very most I would expect any Championship player who has never played in the Premier League to be asking for, and that is pushing it. I do not, and will not, believe that Ross McCormack, Aidan White, Adam Clayton, Max Gradel, Jonny Howson, Bradley Johnson, Robert Snodgrass were asking for anywhere near 15k a week. I'd be surprised if any have ever asked for more than 12k a week from Leeds. Most of them would surprise me by having asked for 10k a week. It's always going to be a case of the player asking for more than the club is willing to pay, but not more than other Championship clubs are willing to pay. Championship clubs that can afford it and will pay it, and we have more money than every last one of them. Who provides the entertainment we pay for? It's the players. And it's hard work. Say what you want but it's a physical and mental drain. Imagine doing your job in front of 25 000 people 2 hours a week. Would it not have a noticeable effect on your energy levels? The agents are a set of scumbags. Want money for nothing, just like bates. But the player hires the agent. If the player says they are happy at their club then no amount of offers from other clubs will change their mind, they will just want assurances that the club wants them just as much.
And at least from Twitter Clayton seems to be a tad more intelligent than your typical footballer. Some of the things he's done recently seem a bit more interesting, including watching creepy videos about something or other and going to a Manchester Tescos in his Leeds training kit. I hope some scumbag came up to him and said "what you wearing that for" only to have him respond with "well might be because I play for Leeds".
