Poyet right

[Giraffe]

The other point worth highlighting is that so far we have only heard the club's standpoint, as well as Poyet's comments, but not Forster's side of things. There are two sides to every argument and we have only heard one.

 

[drew]

There is so much bollocks being spouted on here by GP arse lickers. The guy is not god, he has faults. He may go on to be our best manager, he may leave at the first opportunity but why are you so keen to worship a man who has only been involved with the club for 4/5 months yet you castigate a player who has done more to ensure we are still in this division than most others at the club, certainly more than El Abd.

To me, both parties are at fault but the majority of the blame rests with the club because they singled out El Abd for special treatment. If they don't want Forster at the end of the season, sit him down and tell him. Keep him onside and playing and scoring goals because that is what will earn him a better deal at his next club. But to say we are not going to tell him until later but announcing to the world you have given a contract to El Abd stinks of playground politics.

The clubs man management in this case is very poor and that reflects badly on Poyet, except of course to those who's heads are in complete darkness and surrounded by shit!!!

 

[mona]

...so why give him a contract..."because he stands in the right position"

That statement is bollocks

and to suggest that positional play is unimportant is absolute mega-bollox.

Gus has steadily improved the defence. Nobody is happy with the Forster situation but BHA have had too many defenders who tried hard but were too often in the wrong place.

 

[beorhthelm]

That's a fair position. Two things contradict this though. Firstly the offer of a new contract to El Abd which could be seen that the club were willing to discuss contracts.

Also you could argue that the club's top scorer who has given several years of very professional service is very different from the others on the out of contract list?

theres no contradiction. the El-abd situation seems to be well covered. i think the big difference is his age. maybe the question we should ask is, why didnt Forster pus the issue before Xmas? prehaps he could have offered a sensible, attractive 2 year more service for a pay cut/appearance/goal bonus that would have been silly to turn down? of course this is naive, agents would never advise that and seems players dont think for themselfs (does someone like Forster really need an agent?)

As for years of service Gus and Oatway pointed out that Kuipers and Hart were also in this meeting and they accepted this, what makes Forster different??

Hart and Kuipers know they will be around as part of the furniture now , seriously though they probably happy to grind out the season as they have before. for the right wage i think they know they will be renewed. other, younger players probably arent overly concerned, being confident of alternative oppurtunities. Hawkins knows his situations too....

The time of the offers are completely irrelevant. Either you have a principle of not discussing all contracts or your don't.

no the timings are the whole point. maybe somthing changed in the policy or those up for renewal didnt make the right approach before a cut off or something. maybe theres a contract clause? dont assume El Abd has special treatment just because it was different.

 

[The Large One]

The clubs stance of not talking to players about contracts until they have run out is flawed in my opinion. If I was on a fixed term contract that was nearing it's end, I would certainly like to have some idea as to whether it was likely to be renewed or not. If my employer was not prepared to give any indication one way or an other, I'm damn sure I'd be putting out feelers to other employers in advance of my contract ending, just in case there wasn't a new contract on offer.

There's nothing to stop them talking to other clubs irrespective of whether an offer looks to be forthcoming.

 

[Box of Frogs]

Gus/the club have made a decision (presumably after the El-Abd decision) which Forster does not like. Instead of talking to the club about it, he went to the media presumably in an attempt to force the clubs hand. It failed, he has been dropped from the squad and any bargaining power he had has disappeared.

 

[Deportivo Seagull]

The other point worth highlighting is that so far we have only heard the club's standpoint, as well as Poyet's comments, but not Forster's side of things. There are two sides to every argument and we have only heard one.

... and that is interesting because Forster has been strangely quite. Is it a case of defending the indefensible ....

 

[Uncle C]

The clubs stance of not talking to players about contracts until they have run out is flawed in my opinion.

You seem to have conveniently forgotten the fact that there is doubt over which division we may be playing in next year.

Would you like to bankrupt the club by offering new juicy contracts now to players that may be in League Two in the future.

Get real. This is a business decision.

 

[strings]

There is so much bollocks being spouted on here by GP arse lickers. The guy is not god, he has faults. He may go on to be our best manager, he may leave at the first opportunity but why are you so keen to worship a man who has only been involved with the club for 4/5 months yet you castigate a player who has done more to ensure we are still in this division than most others at the club, certainly more than El Abd.

I agree 100%. Poyet may go onto be a shit manager and Forster has, in his time here, been more sucessfull then El Abd. However, I would guess that El Abd has more potential for the future. He has come on leaps and bounds of late and is nearer his mid-20s than his mid-30s.

To me, both parties are at fault but the majority of the blame rests with the club because they singled out El Abd for special treatment. If they don't want Forster at the end of the season, sit him down and tell him. Keep him onside and playing and scoring goals because that is what will earn him a better deal at his next club. But to say we are not going to tell him until later but announcing to the world you have given a contract to El Abd stinks of playground politics.

The clubs man management in this case is very poor and that reflects badly on Poyet, except of course to those who's heads are in complete darkness and surrounded by shit!!!

I agree that both parties are at fault. Where I disagree is that you seem to make a difference between 'the club' and Poyet. I'm sure Poyet would have singled out El Abd for a new contract and not as you have said 'the club'. I agree things could have been handled a lot better. But I don't think the club would have chosen only to issue a new contact to El Abd, unless instructed to do so by the manager.

 

[The Large One]

One of the main issues out of this whole sorry saga does appear to be 'does Poyet feel Forster merits special attention?'

The answer, from Poyet, seemingly is 'no'.

That, I feel, is where the dividing line is.

 

[Rookie]

There is so much bollocks being spouted on here by GP arse lickers. The guy is not god, he has faults. He may go on to be our best manager, he may leave at the first opportunity but why are you so keen to worship a man who has only been involved with the club for 4/5 months yet you castigate a player who has done more to ensure we are still in this division than most others at the club, certainly more than El Abd.

To me, both parties are at fault but the majority of the blame rests with the club because they singled out El Abd for special treatment. If they don't want Forster at the end of the season, sit him down and tell him. Keep him onside and playing and scoring goals because that is what will earn him a better deal at his next club. But to say we are not going to tell him until later but announcing to the world you have given a contract to El Abd stinks of playground politics.

The clubs man management in this case is very poor and that reflects badly on Poyet, except of course to those who's heads are in complete darkness and surrounded by shit!!!

But you don't know all the facts. Maybe clubs were sniffing around El Abd knowing he was out of contract and Poyet didn't want to lose him for a nominal fee last month or for free at the end of the season. Maybe Poyet doesn't see Forster being a member of his squad next season but didn't think he would react like he has done. Detecting a slight dislike towards Poyet from you but the only people that know all the facts are within the club and I doubt will talk about what has/is going on

 

[Deportivo Seagull]

There is so much bollocks being spouted on here by GP arse lickers.

The clubs man management in this case is very poor and that reflects badly on Poyet, except of course to those who's heads are in complete darkness and surrounded by shit!!!

If you got your head our of Forster's arse you might not be so blinkered ...

 

[FamilyGuy]

The club seems have taken the view that they don't yet want to offer contracts to players other than El Abd - which they are entitled to do

By doing so they've implied that other out of contract players need to consider their future options - which they are entitled to do.

They've offered El Abd a contract - which they are entitled to do.

It's simply business and it's apparently the clubs chosen method of negotiation. It's hard nosed and it may be risky - but that doesn't make it wrong.

Unfortunately it happens in businesses all over the UK every day of the week.

Just my reading of things.

 

[Lord Bracknell]

There's another forum coming up. Why doesn't someone just turn up and ask Poyet why he's given a new contract to El Abd?

All the speculation / criticism in this thread is pointless, because no-one asked that question last night. As always, it's the supporters who let us down.

 

[hillbilly]

There's another forum coming up. Why doesn't someone just turn up and ask Poyet why he's given a new contract to El Abd?

This is indeed the question that needs to be answered. Could we use Ask the Club for this, and get an answer before the next forum?

 

[Danny-Boy]

El Abd is very different, he is younger, in his prime and I'd imagine his wage is in the middle of the scale meaning if we went down, he is still useful and would not break the bank and if we stayed up, he would be useful for next seasons "promotion push".

Forster is reaching the end of his career, is at the top of the list for wage [we assume] and I'd imagine if we stayed up, maybe Poyet does not see him as a vital 'top earner' for next season and if we go down, then maybe we would not want to be paying him the money he wants / is on.

I sem to remember when he signed Forster made a declaration that he had never played in a relegated side and wanted to keep that record to the end of his career.

So maybe this is his way of jumping off the "SS Albion" before it hits the rocks...

 

[Father Jack]

There's another forum coming up. Why doesn't someone just turn up and ask Poyet why he's given a new contract to El Abd?

All the speculation / criticism in this thread is pointless, because no-one asked that question last night. As always, it's the supporters who let us down.

the question was asked and Poyet said El Abds contract was offered early December after that the decision was made in January to inform the rest of the squad at the end of the season. well thats how i interpreted it.

 

[mona]

There's another forum coming up. Why doesn't someone just turn up and ask Poyet why he's given a new contract to El Abd?

All the speculation / criticism in this thread is pointless, because no-one asked that question last night. As always, it's the supporters who let us down.

And the managers who say the least are often the best. Cappello, Sir Alf and, in the Albion's case, Steve Coppell who had a knack of sounding bored, miserable and resigned but his teams served up some excellent performances.
Managing a football team is not a computer game.

 

[Lord Bracknell]

This is indeed the question that needs to be answered. Could we use Ask the Club for this, and get an answer before the next forum?

I wouldn't recommend that, if you want a full 'horse's mouth' answer, complete with nuances.

I would expect Insider to answer the "Why was El Abd given a new contract?" question by saying "Because Gus Poyet decided to give him one". We know that already.

 

[drew]

If you got your head our of Forster's arse you might not be so blinkered ...

If you took the time to read my posts properly you would see that I think Forster has not done himself any justice, if he has done the things he is alleged to have done. I don't know all the facts other than the statements given by the club.

The club seems have taken the view that they don't yet want to offer contracts to players other than El Abd - which they are entitled to do

By doing so they've implied that other out of contract players need to consider their future options - which they are entitled to do.

They've offered El Abd a contract - which they are entitled to do.

It's simply business and it's apparently the clubs chosen method of negotiation. It's hard nosed and it may be risky - but that doesn't make it wrong.

Unfortunately it happens in businesses all over the UK every day of the week.

Just my reading of things.

I agree with everything you have said but the club should not have taken the stance that they are not discussing contracts until later on when this clearly contradicts what they have done with El Abd. Tell Forster they don't want to renew his contract but that they are grateful for his service and wish him well. Let him score goals for the team and attract offers for his services. The goals will keep us up and they will earn him a better contract elsewhere. Not playing serves neither party.

But you don't know all the facts. Maybe clubs were sniffing around El Abd knowing he was out of contract and Poyet didn't want to lose him for a nominal fee last month or for free at the end of the season. Maybe Poyet doesn't see Forster being a member of his squad next season but didn't think he would react like he has done. Detecting a slight dislike towards Poyet from you but the only people that know all the facts are within the club and I doubt will talk about what has/is going on

I have never claimed to know the facts but I can't recall one rumour either on here in the Argus about El Abd being looked at. As for Poyet, I don't dislike him but I am yet to be convinced, as some others seem to be, that he is the messiah!!! He did pick Carole on Tuesday. Having said that, Jesus wasn't a great judge of people as he had Judas in his camp. (surely he would have guessed from his name that he would stab him in the back!!!!!)