AVB on Modric & Daniel Levy

[ultimateloner]

I see very little downside to us playing hardball given our strong financial and contractual position.
This is because it could only hurt us in 3 ways:
1) makes us a notorious counterparty in transfers; which we are because we bully the small guy as much as anyone else but we have deep enough pockets now to resist bigger fish.
2) Destroys team performance; can't see this happening as we have until now till mid August to learn to play without Modric.
3) make us less attractive as employers because we have shown we are not interested in player development. I think most players these days are more interested in where they go next than where they go in 3 years so thats ok too.

 

[danielneeds]

Fuck me reading this thread proves what a bunch of consumerists we have become. A good 60% - 70% couldn't negotiate there was out of a paper bag (or something...). Cave in. His market value is what the other lot offer you. I want rid so just sell. Just let them buy... etc.

You can't waver. You have to stick to your principles. And the more the player kicks and shouts about it the more intransigent you've got to be. Work with us, and we'll work with you, work with the other lot and you'll never get what you want, has got to be the message. And not just for this transaction but for all future ones. We want buying clubs to know that if they want to buy our crown jewels, then they've got to pay the King's ransom, and no matter what tricks they try to get the price down, we won't cave, or even budge. It's straightforward with Levy, pay up, or fuck off. If it become pay up, or when you play your silly games we'll knock 30% of the price, then what do you think people will do in the future when they want our players?

The ridiculous thing was we had the exact same argument last year, with fans of this club, and others getting all old womany, saying we should simply get rid, finally they were proven to be no-nothing numpties, and yet here we go again and they're coming out with the same shit again...

The problem is that there are only a handful of clubs in the world that could afford to pay £40m for Modric, and Levy has taken 3 of them out of the game by allegedly pledging not to sell him to a PL rival.

Chelsea, Citeh and United, along with Real, Barca and PSG are the only clubs that could afford it. Levy's taken the first three out, Barca have shown no interest, so that leaves Real and PSG.

Chelsea would probably pay £40m tomorrow if we agreed to sell, and maybe Real would meet the price too, but as there are no other buyers Levy is unlikely to get a top end price.

 

[Bus-Conductor]

Anyone remember what happened when VDV wanted to go to Real from Ajax ? Only he referred to this when he said he spoke to Modric.

 

[StartingPrice]

Caveats accepted my friend.

If RM stay low in their offer then we should simply not accept and continue to fine Modric until he reports back for training. I think man City mostly did it right with the Tevez saga and eventually he came back and was still important to them in the latter games of the season. Not to say Tevez hasn't greatly gone down in my estimation, but he did come back and play.

Now, we could say that's what Modric did last season, ok fine, but a contract is a contract and he needs to abide by it. So for this reason I dvocate the fining stance... money not spent on Modric's wages is money saved. Not paying him another penny until his contract expires is approx 20m!

The chaos of suing players though is one to not be taken lightly and I would rather pursue other means first.

True, and that is why I said in my original post that it should only be as a last resort and only if we were pretty certain of winning any court case. I would prefer for it to sorted as amicably as can be, and, as said to BC, I am hoping that this is, for the most part, conjecture, hot air, and posturing, and we can ease the modric-Pony on his loathsome little way for a huge donga of wonga and/or a decent player (C&P).

Tevez wnt down in my estimation, but Modric stood so much higher in that and now I can barely stand the tosser. He has shown the club and us fans zero consideration, after we took a massive chance on him on a pretty hefty fee, and took him into our hearts.

 

[ultimateloner]

True, and that is why I said in my original post that it should only be as a last resort and only if we were pretty certain of winning any court case. I would prefer for it to sorted as amicably as can be, and, as said to BC, I am hoping that this is, for the most part, conjecture, hot air, and posturing, and we can ease the modric-Pony on his loathsome little way for a huge donga of wonga and/or a decent player (C&P).

Tevez wnt down in my estimation, but Modric stood so much higher in that and now I can barely stand the tosser. He has shown the club and us fans zero consideration, after we took a massive chance on him on a pretty hefty fee, and took him into our hearts.

I agree with the general sentiment around how we should negotiate (ie: not release Modric at lower than what we think is acceptable) but I can't agre with your last sentence. Look at it from his perspective. The club has shown no consideration for his career. He is in his best years and understandbly would like to play for the best clubs around; who knows what would happen if he breaks his leg or something during this year. Obviously he knows he can't go for anything less than market but as THFC we are haggling for 5mil (35 vs 40) while we have marginalized players who are worth considerably more (Krancjar/Corluka) so for all the commercial acumen alot of it is personal. So if you were him how can you not lament? And then when you are a desperate man....this follows. Im sympathetic to him.

 

[L-man]

Didn't know where to put this and probably not worth it's own thread.

But did anyone see the interview with Bale on Sky. Apparently they asked him about Modric and he just walked off, just wondering if there was anything else said as I didn't see it myself

 

[We'llWinThePrem]

Didn't know where to put this and probably not worth it's own thread.

But did anyone see the interview with Bale on Sky. Apparently they asked him about Modric and he just walked off, just wondering if there was anything else said as I didn't see it myself

http://www.skysports.com/video/inline/0,26691,12602_7927984,00.html

 

[L-man]

http://www.skysports.com/video/inline/0,26691,12602_7927984,00.html

Cheers, had a quick look on there and couldn't see it

 

[We'llWinThePrem]

Cheers, had a quick look on there and couldn't see it

Looks like Bale had a dig at the old management aswell

 

[PLTuck]

Didn't know where to put this and probably not worth it's own thread.

But did anyone see the interview with Bale on Sky. Apparently they asked him about Modric and he just walked off, just wondering if there was anything else said as I didn't see it myself

It was Bales advisor/press bloke/chaperone that said something along the lines of "No Modric questions, we're not answering that" and guided Bale outta there.

I saw that at about 6.30 this morning though so I could have been tripping

 

[SpurSince57]

I agree with the general sentiment around how we should negotiate (ie: not release Modric at lower than what we think is acceptable) but I can't agre with your last sentence. Look at it from his perspective. The club has shown no consideration for his career. He is in his best years and understandbly would like to play for the best clubs around; who knows what would happen if he breaks his leg or something during this year. Obviously he knows he can't go for anything less than market but as THFC we are haggling for 5mil (35 vs 40) while we have marginalized players who are worth considerably more (Krancjar/Corluka) so for all the commercial acumen alot of it is personal. So if you were him how can you not lament? And then when you are a desperate man....this follows. Im sympathetic to him.

What? How absurd!

We don't actually know what Levy is asking, let alone what Real have offered and what we got for Niko and Charlie is irrelevant.

This appears to be a complete contradiction of your last post, in which you state that there's no downside to Levy's playing hardball.

 

[SlickMongoose]

How come Bale needs a chaperone but VDV doesn't?

 

[sloth]

In theory I wholeheartedly agree Sloth, but in practice it is not quite as easy as that. We need to replace someone this good preferably. If we accept that he can go but only for the right price, we can end up with another Berbatov situation. It rankles on all summer, disrupts the group, heaps negativity on the club, and you end up losing your best player at the last minute and unable to replace him with the connotations for the team that all that brings. It was catastrophic for us last time this happened, ended up with a disastrous start and a managerial sacking.

I'm not saying bend over either, but it's hard. It really is best for us to get this concluded sooner rather than later as well. Not at any price, but the price can be more than monetary to us.

The Berbatov situation worked out better for us in the long run. Maybe in the short term it's a spanner in the works, but long-term it's was good.

It was also slightly different as the player he knew he was a short-time from being able to buy out his own contract, so the player and the buying club thought that Levy would have to crack eventually.

You cannot back down to these sorts of tactics even once, or you lose control now and forever more. In fact once a player goes public like this you can't even compromise in private because the wider world will see at bowing to pressure. The deal was Modric would be sold if the price was right, and that we would actively look to sell him, in return he had to keep schtum. Now Levy's got no option but to play hard-ball.

 

[ultimateloner]

What? How absurd!

We don't actually know what Levy is asking, let alone what Real have offered and what we got for Niko and Charlie is irrelevant.

This appears to be a complete contradiction of your last post, in which you state that there's no downside to Levy's playing hardball.

No I'm not contradicting myself. Theres no downside to the club playing hardball because our position cannot be comprimised; financially, team performance and future transfers. We are not worse off by treating Modric badly. We are only worse off if we are underpaid.

My reply to SP outlines why i am sympathetic to Modric, not related to how the club should handle the situation. I talked about niko/Charlie because to speculate on how Modric would feel to rationalize his actions. He wants to move on to progress his career but it's not going to happen because the employer is haggling for a relatively small sum of money in the context that it had marginlized and sold cheaply good players.

 

[chinaman]

I agree with the general sentiment around how we should negotiate (ie: not release Modric at lower than what we think is acceptable) but I can't agre with your last sentence. Look at it from his perspective. The club has shown no consideration for his career. He is in his best years and understandbly would like to play for the best clubs around; who knows what would happen if he breaks his leg or something during this year. Obviously he knows he can't go for anything less than market but as THFC we are haggling for 5mil (35 vs 40) while we have marginalized players who are worth considerably more (Krancjar/Corluka) so for all the commercial acumen alot of it is personal. So if you were him how can you not lament? And then when you are a desperate man....this follows. Im sympathetic to him.

Sympathetic to a good for nothing rat? Be real, Levy is not running a charity. We'are not saying he can't go, only that we should be properly compensated. I just don't understand why we should give up 5 million pounds just to please him. Good thing do gooders don't run the club. Otherwise we'll gift-wrap Bale to Chelscum for 5 million pounds.

 

[StartingPrice]

I agree with the general sentiment around how we should negotiate (ie: not release Modric at lower than what we think is acceptable) but I can't agre with your last sentence. 1) Look at it from his perspective. 2) The club has shown no consideration for his career. 3) He is in his best years and understandbly would like to play for the best clubs around; who knows what would happen if he breaks his leg or something during this year. 4) Obviously he knows he can't go for anything less than market but 5) as THFC we are haggling for 5mil (35 vs 40) 6) while we have marginalized players who are worth considerably more (Krancjar/Corluka) so for all the commercial acumen alot of it is personal. 7) So if you were him how can you not lament? 8) And then when you are a desperate man....this follows. Im sympathetic to him.

1) I have done and I do. In several threads over the alst couple of months I have pointed out that when we first signed him I specifically stated that if we got three years out of him and then made a huge profit I would be happy as he was clearly an immense talent (that at a time when most folk on these forums thought he was gonna be a flop, I may add) - so I have absolutely no issue with the theoretical concept of him leaving to a European giant.

2) Hasn't it. The club offered him a 6 year contract with the promise of building a team around him, and we are one of the best run, financially secure and ambitious clubs in the EPL and, basically, a top four team. And that at wages pushing £75 - £80 K pw (ignore the talk of £40 k pw). There is a contract offer on the table as we speak, reputedly for upwards of £100 K pw. Inspite of all of this (particularly the building a team around him), we have shown ourselves willing to listen to reasonable offers for him. Seems to me like the club has shown a massive amount of consideration to his career.

3) Yes, I have made the same point myself, several times - but, there again, at 26 he could still give us another two years and still only be 28. And, if he had not kyboshed our first two games last season, and actually put in 100% (no, I don't believe he did - not an absolute disgrace, but not 100% either), we might jsut have finished third and he could've been playing for a CL team, or, at the least, he could be leaving us all happy and waving him off. But, talking about consideration, surely he must recognise, aside from his actual effect on whether we finished 3rd or 4th, that we did actually finish 4th and are desperately unlucky to not be in the CL, and think it might be nice to give us one last year to get us firmly in the top 4...now that would be showing consideration!

4) No, he really doesn't. He moved immediately, last Summer, trying to force a move, after Cheslea offered £23 million. This Summer the only figure we have EVER been given as being what Real are prepared to pay is £27 millionand that is not market value.

5) Are we? See 4, above. The only value EVER to ahve been quoted as being what Real are prepared to pay is £27 million (oh, yeah, and Carvalho - who they are letting go for free anyway ),and, are you awaare, Dinamo Zagreb can claim five percent of that(?), and the figure I have seen most often as what we are prepared to accept is not £40 million, it is £35 million. Personally, I think that is pretty generous. We offered that, or more, last Summer, adn the player has enhanced his reputation at the Euros, while he still has 4 years on his contract. Afaiac, £27 million would be a stinky shitey cloth that I would throw back at them for the low-balling insult it is. Unless you have any evidence that they have offered £35 million and we have point blank refused to negotiate, this claim is unsupportable.

6) What does that even mean? Redknapp marginalised Corluka/Krankjar on the field - there were worth considerably more than what? What Levy got for them? I don't think so.

7) Neither myself nor anyone else, so far as I know, could give a monkeys bollock if he laments. What we do care about is that he is (apparently) refusing to do what he is paid £75 to £80 K pw to do, and, again, trying to help potential new employers who have made a low-ball offer and then relied on him to throw his toys out of the pram in order to force his current employers (who he should owe some loyalty to) to accept the lowball offer.

8) A desperate man! Oh, please, he is getting paid more a week than most folk can even dream of making in a year, to do something he enjoys, at one of the top clubs in the EPL, and one that, without him, could have genuine chances of silverware in the immediate future, and that chance would be enhanced massively if he stayed. Get a grip

What I find interesting, and am reflecting on as I type the above, is that last year he claimed that he only signed his 6 year contract (and said he believed he could fulfill all of his footballing ambitions with us, presumably) because he wanted to ensure we would get a good price for him, in thanks for our faith in him and helping to advance his career - and yet, both then and now, all his energies are directed towards forcing us to accept a low-ball offer - intriguing (would love to see what he does when he is going out of his way to shaft someone ).

 

[ultimateloner]

Sympathetic to a good for nothing rat? Be real, Levy is not running a charity. We'are not saying he can't go, only that we should be properly compensated. I just don't understand why we should give up 5 million pounds just to please him. Good thing do gooders don't run the club. Otherwise we'll gift-wrap Bale to Chelscum for 5 million pounds.

I agree with you which is why i said the club should play hardball. I'm just saying that you can't say Modric's being a bad person by going against the club. He has good reason.

 

[SpurSince57]

No I'm not contradicting myself. Theres no downside to the club playing hardball because our position cannot be comprimised; financially, team performance and future transfers. We are not worse off by treating Modric badly. We are only worse off if we are underpaid.

My reply to SP outlines why i am sympathetic to Modric, not related to how the club should handle the situation. I talked about niko/Charlie because to speculate on how Modric would feel to rationalize his actions. He wants to move on to progress his career but it's not going to happen because the employer is haggling for a relatively small sum of money in the context that it had marginlized and sold cheaply good players.

Again, you have no idea of the actual figures involved. None of us has. Whatever we got for Niko and Charlie is irrelevant.

 

[chinaman]

I agree with you which is why i said the club should play hardball. I'm just saying that you can't say Modric's being a bad person by going against the club. He has good reason.

He has good reason but what he is doing is against proper behaviour.

 

[ultimateloner]

He has good reason but what he is doing is against proper behaviour.

Proper behavior = wait and hope? Doesn't seem like it's going to work. Maybe he could lower his wage demands to RM so that they can pay us extra.