Ward Off to Burnley?

[KZNSeagull]

Perhaps it was a deliberate middle-finger salute. I.e. You've dicked me around all summer haggling over a few grand here and there, now I'm going to go all the way and p1ss off elsewhere at the last minute. Wrong, on so many levels, but entirely out of the question?

Not entirely out of the question, no. But I doubt it - the assumption here is that we are the ones that have been doing the dicking - this may have been his/his agents game all along?

 

[Icy Gull]

Not entirely out of the question, no. But I doubt it - the assumption here is that we are the ones that have been doing the dicking - this may have been his/his agents game all along?

Not a reliable source I know but the Argus suggests that the Albion folded on the transfer fee and the wages so it would suggest that we have actually been doing the dicking. If we'd agreed this a few weeks ago it may have cost a few grand more but we'd either have the player in place by now or we would have had longer to find an alternative if Burnley were always in the wings waiting. Not sure why they would have been though as they are paying more than Wolves and Ward were allegedly holding out for?

I am not convinced that Ward is worth 13k a week either so I am not as upset about this as I thought I would be.

 

[HantsSeagull]

If the latest argus article online is correct (big IF) then burnley have offered 500k for him and if we were really planning on paying him 13k a week then we are bonkers and good f@@king riddance.

 

[Prince Monolulu]

If it IS just money then best place for him, reckon Burnley might well struggle this year. That said, you could say that with conviction about a few in the top league this year.
Wasn't that good, let's face it.

 

[OSRGull]

As far as I'm concerned, Ward can **** off. He knows we've been chasing him all summer, we've been patient enough with Wolves, then he throws it back in our faces all to be a second choice left back for Burnley.

 

[blockhseagull]

If we were haggling all summer over the £500k fee I wouldn't accuse us of being the ones dicking around.

£500k for a player who they have clearly said isn't in their plans and only has a year left on his contract is a lot of money.

 

[Bold Seagull]

Perhaps he has looked at our current squad, our players in and players out and thought f*ck that. We are not a particularly attractive team to play for at the moment as we've sold all our best players. It's easier to attract players to play in a good team, much harder to attract players to join a mid-lower championship squad.

Rather than he saw a chance to play in the Premier League and took that?

How many players would choose a Championship side over the opportunity to play in the PL?

Nothing to do with our squad, our offer or anything else. The PL is everything to a players career pure and simple.

 

[British Bulldog]

If we were haggling all summer over the £500k fee I wouldn't accuse us of being the ones dicking around.

£500k for a player who they have clearly said isn't in their plans and only has a year left on his contract is a lot of money.

Not sure I agree, If we can spend £500k on Chris O'Grady then surely a similar fee for our second best player of last season has got to be worth it.

 

[casbom]

If we were haggling all summer over the £500k fee I wouldn't accuse us of being the ones dicking around.

£500k for a player who they have clearly said isn't in their plans and only has a year left on his contract is a lot of money.

Exactly! Imagine if we did pay that back in July and his 13k pw wages, there would have been plenty of people saying we shouldn't have paid that much.

 

[jamie the seagull]

This is great news.
It really shows how desperate the club must be getting if we had agreed to a £500K fee and £13k a week for a left back!!
Chicksen deserves is chance.

 

[blockhseagull]

Not sure I agree, If we can spend £500k on Chris O'Grady then surely a similar fee for our second best player of last season has got to be worth it.

I'd agree to a point but to make him what must be one of our highest earners I would guess the value of the deal far far exceeds that of O'Grady. And this for a a left back who is in the last year of his contract and looked like had very little interest elsewhere.

In hindsight maybe a poor decision but on this one I'm not sure the club made the shambles that they seemed to have done with other deals this summer

 

[Sheebo]

This is great news.
It really shows how desperate the club must be getting if we had agreed to a £500K fee and £13k a week for a left back!!
Chicksen deserves is chance.

He's had a chance & is clearly not up to it. Too lightweight & doesn't even look confident in himself. My opinion like....

 

[jamie the seagull]

http://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/sport/football/burnley_fc/news/11411421._/?ref=mac

 

[Ecosse Exile]

Could be worse.



Could have been Palace!

 

[Bold Seagull]

He's had a chance & is clearly not up to it. Too lightweight & doesn't even look confident in himself. My opinion like....

Really? Thought he did well in the cup games last season. Bit unfair to judge him on the circumstances of the 2nd leg of the Play off.

 

[keaton]

As far as I'm concerned, Ward can **** off. He knows we've been chasing him all summer, we've been patient enough with Wolves, then he throws it back in our faces all to be a second choice left back for Burnley.

Or he could have thought, I had a good season with Albion last year and they don't seem in any great rush to close the deal.

 

[Greg Bobkin]

Or he could have thought, I had a good season with Albion last year and they don't seem in any great rush to close the deal.

But even if we had met the demands of the club, the player, whoever, nice and early, who's to say that Premier League Burnley wouldn't have come THEN, and spoiled the party.

As I've said before, I don't think anyone is to blame, just the agent looking after his client, or the player looking after himself.

We move on.

 

[Acker79]

But even if we had met the demands of the club, the player, whoever, nice and early, who's to say that Premier League Burnley wouldn't have come THEN, and spoiled the party.

As I've said before, I don't think anyone is to blame, just the agent looking after his client, or the player looking after himself.

We move on.

I believe the argument is that if it happened nice and early, we'd have the rest of the summer and pre season to go after our next choice, and wouldn't have the threat of lost points or impending deadline taking away some of our bargaining power - we're getting quite desperate now and players/selling clubs will know and will up their prices accordingly.

 

[Seagull73]

I believe the argument is that if it happened nice and early, we'd have the rest of the summer and pre season to go after our next choice, and wouldn't have the threat of lost points or impending deadline taking away some of our bargaining power - we're getting quite desperate now and players/selling clubs will know and will up their prices accordingly.

Quite. The issue here now is that we 'appear' to have caved in on both wages and transfer fee, which suggests that not only were we clearly never in the driving seat on this deal (although I think we all knew that) and trying to play too much hardball, but that secondly, even the club acknowledge this can't go on, we need players and sharpish.

Which will put a lot of teams on alert that we are desperate for players and make us pay over the odds. Whether this is the clubs fault or not, our hardball stance over it could well have massive consequences for upcoming deals.

 

[Thunder Bolt]

When do the Prem League clubs have to name their 25 man squads?