Dale Stephens Summer 2016 shenanigans (Merged Thread)

[FatSuperman]

I completely side with this view.

In ANY OTHER walk of life the worst an employer can do is hold you to your full notice period. Football exists in this bizarre microcosm where employee rights are limited to handing in a transfer request and hoping their club does the right thing.

If any one of us was offered a new job doing the same thing at a similar institution for a shed load more money in a geographically advantageous location we'd take it.

I blame neither the club nor the player in this instance.

What we do and what top sportspeople do in a team are not comparable, the contracts are utterly different. I daresay if I left my workplace there wouldn't be too much of an issue, however when all the members of a team are absolutely vital to the success of the team, you have to work in a different manner. There's really no point comparing this sort of thing with 'normal' jobs.

Jesus, imagine if players could just leave football clubs at any point, giving a statutory four weeks notice... at least the ridiculous transfer fees would start to disappear. Nobody would pay €100m for a player who could just leave after a month or two.

 

[Munchkin]

Couple of points:

I cannot believe the club haven't considered Dale being sold today and with that I'm pretty confident the club would have a recruitment policy in place to deal with that situation (even at this late stage)

Secondly, now the transfer request has been submitted, we have to demand the highest price we can and get rid IMO. If he were to stay it's like telling your missus you don't love her anymore and sticking around for the kids, no counselling is going to change the way you feel and your heart simply won't be in it.

 

[Knotty]

Agreed and the club would have known this. Just us suckers for fans who get told last.

Why are we suckers? We should be the last to know! We can't influence anything and contractual and financial arrangements between clubs and players should be private. We'll all know soon enough!

 

[FatSuperman]

If he were to stay it's like telling your missus you don't love her anymore and sticking around for the kids, no counselling is going to change the way you feel and your heart simply won't be in it.

Except my missus doesn't pay me a shit ton of money each week to play with the kids. I do it for free, and frankly no amount of money would convince me to leave them, move to Burnley and play with someone else's kids

We really need some better analogies...

 

[Bozza]

Secondly, now the transfer request has been submitted, we have to demand the highest price we can and get rid IMO. If he were to stay it's like telling your missus you don't love her anymore and sticking around for the kids, no counselling is going to change the way you feel and your heart simply won't be in it.

The club have been pretty open in the past that when a player wants to leave, it becomes a matter of negotiating the best possible deal for the Albion and not standing in their way.

It would be somewhat strange if that didn't take place now.

 

[fleet]

Naylors latest tweet - "not sure of the wisdom of playing poker with Tony Bloom". Sums the situational well.

 

[spring hall convert]

I'd rather he rotted in the reserves for the rest of the season. If he wanted to go the time to do it was last week given there has been interest all summer. We now don't have time to replace him. Don't have anytime for players like that.

Why cut our nose off to spite our face?

A couple of things.

a) This is where the recruitment team really earns its money. I strongly suspect that they have been contingency planning for Stephens going, it's tough but we can get someone in today, maybe a half season loan from the PL, we get to have a look at them whilst sizing up a big target for January.

b) I'm not sure Stephens handing in a transfer request actually changes that much from the club's perspective. The question remains, does Hughton think he can get the best out of Stephens post-tomorrow?

 

[Doc Lynam]

Burnley's transfer policy

Make derisory bids for a month then at the last minute offer full whack. What a joke!

 

[heathgate]

What full whack?...

 

[Taybha]

I bottled it last night waiting for the train home from southend last night i was going to ask our Tony if Dale would be staying , i managed a meek hello then shriveled back into my shell , then blow me down he starts waffling footy to a couple of other Brighton fans , think we now know the answer sadly .

 

[TWOCHOICEStom]

Basically, Burnley have an absolute MOUNTAIN of cash and Stephens is under contract. If they really want him and he really wants to go as much as it seems, they'll come up with the money and the deal will be done by this evening.

 

[perseus]

I wonder how much Hull or Burnley are offering as wages for Dale Stephens? And what conditions attached. I would want to know that before handing in a transfer request.

 

[Ceej]

Funny old business. At what point would a players like Stephens decide it's time to go? Straight after we didn't quite make it? After paying his sick bill for 10 months in a 28 month period you can see why TB would want things properly squared (including getting the right player replacement) for the benefit of his club.

 

[Meade's Ball]

Clump satchel! I better meet my daily work targets quickly so I can be on here for the rest of the day, refreshing like a madman.

 

[Hugo Rune]

I have to say that Stephens would keep them in the Premier League if he (and a scoring Grey) kept fit. He is that good and we all know it on here. Full whack is surely £10m+ no?

 

[Triggaaar]

I have to say that Stephens would keep them in the Premier League if he (and a scoring Grey) kept fit. He is that good and we all know it on here. Full whack is surely £10m+ no?

Indeed.

They can, of course, have him for free next summer, when they are back in the Championship.

 

[Munchkin]

The club have been pretty open in the past that when a player wants to leave, it becomes a matter of negotiating the best possible deal for the Albion and not standing in their way.

It would be somewhat strange if that didn't take place now.

I hope you are right Bozza, the ramifications of him staying would surely outweigh the benefits now.

We can only hope the club have a suitable replacement lined up and that is a tough ask at this late stage.

For a player to hand a transfer request in at this late stage is shambolic. Cuts deeper when you look back at how the club stuck by him when recovering from serious injury.

 

[Triggaaar]

I better meet my daily work targets quickly so I can be on here for the rest of the day, refreshing like a madman.

For sanity, I think it would be better if we could all find something else to keep us busy and take our mind off things.

 

[Insel affe]

frankly no amount of money would convince me to leave them, move to Burnley and play with someone else's kids

I fecking hate penny shove aswell

 

[Garry Nelson's Left Foot]

I'm sure it's already been said but did he really have to wait until the final day of the transfer window before handing in a request?