by handbags_harris »
24 Aug 2009 17:42
Vision handbags_harris 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?
Some deals simp,ly take longer than others. Neither you nor I know the full extent of the bids offered. Russo knows he has to sell Smith, however doing a deal with us would make him unpopular with Watford fans anyway so this was always going to be a deal that was likely to play out longer than most.
As i say Rodgers hampered the negotiations by going public about Smith's alledged intentions but as I say Sheff Utd's bid is irrelevant because Smith was never going there so its a deal that would never take place.
FWIW if the deal is 1.8m then its wover the odds as far as I'm concerned but if Russo has got that froim us and made us wait until the last possible minute then he's done some good business and saved personal face with his own supporters.
Rodgers public statements aside we've done nothing other than try to privately negotiate the best deal possible for Readiog FC using whatevern leveredge we think we have.. Equally Russo has done the same for Watford FC by using all the aces in his favour.
No-one is cheating anyone. Its business.
Nobody has said that we're attempting to cheat Watford out of anything, but to ignore the extenuating circumstances around this deal is to show a touch of naivety imo.
You can't ignore both Rodger's public statements or Sheff Utd's bid and then say that we've tried to negotiate the best deal possible. I don't doubt that last bit, but I just think there are ways and means of doing business and we haven't done it right. Rodgers, I think, was being too honest for his own good, but Russo then has us over a barrel once he gets wind of it because if Rodgers wants him that much, and Smith wants to go, then it only serves to strengthen Russo's position. You also have our quite frankly appalling start to the season to add to that, and Russo knows that we not only really want Smith, but need him now, and couple that with the transfer window closing in 8 days time Russo could afford to hedge his bets.
Sheff Utd's bid set the benchmark regardless of whether he would move or not. Sheff Utd want Smith and are willing to pay £x, if Reading want him that much then that's what they can pay as well. It's no good Reading then going in with a £x - £1.1 million because the deal won't happen, because Watford won't sell at that price.
Yes it's business, but this deal has some big influencing factors that are quite rare within the world of business. The fact that it's Brendan Rodgers in the middle of it in the first place is a pretty big one...
