We need to talk about Dale

[Thunder Bolt]

TBF any employee has the right to walk away from an employment contract under the terms of the agreement.
No employer turns around to an employee who hands in their notice and says "we gave you a contract you must work until the end of it"


During this window he can choose one of the following options within the terms of the agreement:
-Stay with us and run out his contract
-Put in a transfer request
-Sign a new improved contract with us

We do not know what the current status is and to the best of anyone's knowledge Stephens is not refusing to play and is not in breach of his contract.

I suspect Stephens view is he should be looking seriously at any options to play in the premier league and maximising his earning potential.

Putting in a transfer request will penalise him financially, so he will need to be absolutely sure of the terms on offer before doing that.
Running out his contract is one option - he will be a free agent and should command a decent signing on fee.
The club will not want tis to happen.
They will be keen to negotiate a new contract in the next week or accept Burnley's offer and cash in now.
Therefore the club will be forcing the agenda as much as the player.
This is what happened last year with Dunk.

Signing a new contract with us, with enhanced terms should we go up and a release clause if we don't, will require some serious negotiations.
I suspect this is what is happening at the moment.

What Burnley offer? The last offer Burnley made was weeks ago, and they've bought Defour (sp) since then.

 

[Icy Gull]

1. He was injured pre-season. This WILL affect affect him if he doesn't finish his pre-season.
2. Kayal was rested in a league last Tuesday, Stephens played.
3. Norwood was bought to play. I wouldn't be surprised if he rotates all season as our midfield were dead on their feet by the end of the season. Why not keep switching to make sure each player knows how to play with each other?

Or 4. He's lying.

I get the rotation completely just don't see why Stephens is being held back. The reasoning sounds really weak. To my mind it definitely has everything to do with his refusal to sign and/or transfer negotiations. I accept I may be wrong but that's how I see it

 

[Munchkin]

Stephens has had his head turned by Burnley, that is without question the case.

Whilst that goes on CH is right to take him out the side and concentrate on the players that are fully focused, I dont blame Dale I'm sure the lure of PL football and a huge increase in earnings is an attractive proposition.

But the bottom line is the club hold the cards here (excuse the pun) we don't need to sell and we have no intention of selling subsequently I'm confident Dale will be here once the transfer window closes. He can then get back to focusing on football and realising he's here till at least January.

The club will then have a bigger decision to make in the new year and ultimately that will depend on Dales performance levels, our league position and his desire to stay, I would suggest if we are there or thereabouts and Dales performances are good then the club will remain with there stance and he will be allowed to see out his contract or if he doesn't reach the levels he did last season and isn't seen to be key in our promotion push he will be sold and the club will get the best deal for us and ensure we have done our recruitment work to replace him.

All the time he is being left out of the squad there is of course going to be rumours and speculation but I think the club are doing the right thing and simply waiting for the window to close and allowing the attention on him to move away and putting all the focus on the players who are 100% focused.

TB has said we arnt selling, CH has said we arnt selling and I trust both of them whole heartedly.

 

[Uh_huh_him]

What Burnley offer? The last offer Burnley made was weeks ago, and they've bought Defour (sp) since then.

Fair comment. I have read elsewhere that Burnley still require a CM and may come back in for him.
That is complete conjecture of course.

 

[Machiavelli]

TBF any employee has the right to walk away from an employment contract under the terms of the agreement.
No employer turns around to an employee who hands in their notice and says "we gave you a contract you must work until the end of it"


During this window he can choose one of the following options within the terms of the agreement:
-Stay with us and run out his contract
-Put in a transfer request
-Sign a new improved contract with us

We do not know what the current status is and to the best of anyone's knowledge Stephens is not refusing to play and is not in breach of his contract.

I suspect Stephens view is he should be looking seriously at any options to play in the premier league and maximising his earning potential.

Putting in a transfer request will penalise him financially, so he will need to be absolutely sure of the terms on offer before doing that.
Running out his contract is one option - he will be a free agent and should command a decent signing on fee.
The club will not want tis to happen.
They will be keen to negotiate a new contract in the next week or accept Burnley's offer and cash in now.
Therefore the club will be forcing the agenda as much as the player.
This is what happened last year with Dunk.

Signing a new contract with us, with enhanced terms should we go up and a release clause if we don't, will require some serious negotiations.
I suspect this is what is happening at the moment.

Really isn't anything to argue about this.

 

[Machiavelli]

What Burnley offer? The last offer Burnley made was weeks ago, and they've bought Defour (sp) since then.

I think Burnley have already made three offers; it's not beyond the realms of possibility that they'll come back with a fourth. They also only have two or three senior CMs in their squad, so need more. When they bought Defour, they sold David Jones to

It'll all be over in eight days.

 

[ditchy]

Stephens has had his head turned by Burnley, that is without question the case.

Whilst that goes on CH is right to take him out the side and concentrate on the players that are fully focused, I dont blame Dale I'm sure the lure of PL football and a huge increase in earnings is an attractive proposition.

But the bottom line is the club hold the cards here (excuse the pun) we don't need to sell and we have no intention of selling subsequently I'm confident Dale will be here once the transfer window closes. He can then get back to focusing on football and realising he's here till at least January.

The club will then have a bigger decision to make in the new year and ultimately that will depend on Dales performance levels, our league position and his desire to stay, I would suggest if we are there or thereabouts and Dales performances are good then the club will remain with there stance and he will be allowed to see out his contract or if he doesn't reach the levels he did last season and isn't seen to be key in our promotion push he will be sold and the club will get the best deal for us and ensure we have done our recruitment work to replace him.

All the time he is being left out of the squad there is of course going to be rumours and speculation but I think the club are doing the right thing and simply waiting for the window to close and allowing the attention on him to move away and putting all the focus on the players who are 100% focused.

TB has said we arnt selling, CH has said we arnt selling and I trust both of them whole heartedly.

Did we not act in the same way with Dunk this time last year . His head was being turned by the Fulham riches and a couple of games left out and Das Boot playing well focussed his mind !

 

[Sheebo]

He owes us nothing!

Sorry, but that's complete rubbish. It's Sky Sports Generation attitudes like this that ALLOW players to be spoilt whiney twats. He signed a 3 year contract - he most certainly DOES owe us something at the very least. I appreciate we all 'worship' whoever the current players are etc but making excuses for them acting like utter ***** is just deplorable.

PS - I'm not necessarily talking about DS in this instance as not sure either way what's going on. *

 

[NooBHA]

TBF any employee has the right to walk away from an employment contract under the terms of the agreement.
No employer turns around to an employee who hands in their notice and says "we gave you a contract you must work until the end of it"




You are of course correct and that is 100% true reflection of ''Employment Contract Law''


That is the way it should be; however Governments all over the world trat football and other sports very differently when it comes to Employment Law.

The main difference being that they allow for the ''sale of human beings'' for a monetary value in terms of their labour. That does not happen in any other field of work as it is against the law, since it would amount to ''slavery''


The Governments around the world allow it because they raise VAT on the movements of the transfer monies. That plain and simple the only reason they allow and the fact that it is historically acceptable plus the fact the ''Commodity'' (the players) are in agreement to it.

I don't actually agree with transfer fees on a point of law but they are an accepted part of football and life in general and whilst both parties agree to it then it will remain so. If we interoperate the ''Bosman Ruling'' to the letter and had expanded on it then transfer fees should really be a thing of the past.

 

[Thunder Bolt]

I think Burnley have already made three offers; it's not beyond the realms of possibility that they'll come back with a fourth. They also only have two or three senior CMs in their squad, so need more. When they bought Defour, they sold David Jones to

It'll all be over in eight days.

They may, but it will be expensive, and Burnley are one of the teams that don't throw money away. As you say, 8 days to go.

 

[tinycowboy]

TBF any employee has the right to walk away from an employment contract under the terms of the agreement.
No employer turns around to an employee who hands in their notice and says "we gave you a contract you must work until the end of it"

You are of course correct and that is 100% true reflection of ''Employment Contract Law''

I'm not sure I follow. An employee can walk away from their contract only if the contract says they can, for example, if certain conditions are met. Otherwise, a contract is legally binding. If I resign from my job and I have a three month notice period, then I am obliged to work out that period. Are we saying that DS's contract has conditions that have been fulfilled (eg if an EPL club makes an offer of greater than £x million, the club are obliged to accept this)?

 

[Ernest]

In 'Football shorts' in todays Daily MALE 'Dale Stephens has told Chris Hughton he wants to leave Brighton amid interest from Burnley AND Crystal Palace' , ruined by breakfast reading that

 

[atomised]

So the Mail are so short of stories theyre just picking up stuff from twitter theyve previously reported anyway

 

[spence]

In 'Football shorts' in todays Daily MALE 'Dale Stephens has told Chris Hughton he wants to leave Brighton amid interest from Burnley AND Crystal Palace' , ruined by breakfast reading that

They also sad we agreed a 4 million deal for Duffy which was bull

 

[maltaseagull]

So the Mail are so short of stories theyre just picking up stuff from twitter theyve previously reported anyway

More of a worry is what is Ernest doing with the daily Male?
I would have thought the Morning Star was more his choice.

 

[ThePompousPaladin]

More of a worry is what is Ernest doing with the daily Male?
I would have thought the Morning Star was more his choice.

Surely the 'Moaning Tsar'.

 

[shabba]

He blatantly has. If his fitness needed improving he wouldn't be missing out again against Oxford tonight. As said above, we've only had one good season out of him. He owes the club more. He's a prick and he can do one.

Absolutely! I couldn't of put it better myself!

 

[NooBHA]

I'm not sure I follow. An employee can walk away from their contract only if the contract says they can, for example, if certain conditions are met. Otherwise, a contract is legally binding. If I resign from my job and I have a three month notice period, then I am obliged to work out that period. Are we saying that DS's contract has conditions that have been fulfilled (eg if an EPL club makes an offer of greater than £x million, the club are obliged to accept this)?

In normal Contracts in every day employment people walk away and do not work their notice at all and there is nothing an employer can do except not pay them. Obviously it does not look good but that is a fact of life and often happens.

Footballers are very different in that regard - They are Governed by the Football League regulations as well. if a Club holds a footballers ''registration'' and does not release it then they cannot get clearance to play for another club. That's what makes football different because due to this an employer can force a player to see out their contract should they choose to do so.

 

[NooBHA]

In 'Football shorts' in todays Daily MALE 'Dale Stephens has told Chris Hughton he wants to leave Brighton amid interest from Burnley AND Crystal Palace' , ruined by breakfast reading that

If this is true it has only happened recently.

 

[shabba]

He is going or sulking for 1 year, end of!