by handbags_harris »
24 Aug 2009 16:55
Vision
When Rodger's values his asset he's maximising it , when he's the buyer he's downplaying it. Thats how negotiations work. 6 months is a long time in football when a player only has a year left on his contract and is turning 29.
Russo lknows he has to sell but want to ghet the maximum possible hence public comments about RFC regarding the sums of money he thinks we've taken in. Equally we will try to pay as little as possible for the same player. No-one is cheating anyone. Its business negotiation. If Russo has got the 1.8 upfront he claims Sheff Utd offered then well done to him but frankly all he's done is exactly what we've done. Try to get the maximum possible out of any deal.
However on here that seems to mean we're a bunch of crooks and Russo is a poor victimised sod.
As far as I'm aware, Rodgers only quoted the valuation a month or so before he left Watford. It may be maximising, and then minimising once he's left, but the whole protracted nature of the transfer, notwithstanding the comments in the press from Rodgers himself to the tune of "Tommy Smith wants to be here at Reading", but it's not the way to do business the way we have. You can't ignore the comment from Rodgers before he left Watford but we obviously chose to. We then come in with a bid that is less than half the quoted valuation from the man himself, whilst Sheff Utd come in with a bid that hits the mark. We've come in with a blow that was well below the belt in bidding terms and Russo quite rightly ridiculed it calling it "derisory".
Qute frankly, a respectable way to do business between club to club is to thrash out an acceptable compromise, amd as the buying club I would imagine that usual protocol starts out at a bid level that doesn't insult. That usually starts out as an enquiry as to how much a club would like for a player, and it seems as though we haven't done that. Either that, or we've ignored it completely. Forgive me if this sounds a bit Championship Manageresque, it's not meant to be. It's just my thoughts on the scenario, and the manner in which we've conducted ourselves which I think is pretty pathetic to be honest. We have been consistently well below Watford's valuation in the hope of bullying them into accepting a cut price deal, but they've stood their ground and insisted that we pay the going rate. To be able to do business with a pretty healthy club, you need to be in and around the figures that they find acceptable, yet it's only now that we find ourselves in that situation when we have been at it for what, 6 weeks now?
