Sandcastle are asking him to train alone and not attend team BBQs. Eddie is saying ‘he needs to get his head straight’. Seems Sandcastle need to take responsibility
2 Likes
I don’t care about Newcastle; at all. I care about this particular player having questionable ethics or not. It’s what matters to me, not that Howe tells him to train alone (after he downed tools, but whatever).
I understand that everyone is expecting him to join us and therefore wants to defend him, but again, i don’t care about how intelligent or not intelligent Newcastle is handing this. It’s been widely covered.
What should he be doing, Magnus? Sandcastle reneged on an agreement to let him leave/new contract. Do you expect him just to waste 3 years with SandCastle anyway?
Hand in a transfer request and then play grudgingly like a professional would ? Refuse to sign a new contract ? Telling the club clearly, that he will never sign a new contract and if they want any value, they need to sell him as soon as possible, preferably in this window ? It is then exceedingly unlikey that they would keep him for years. The only reason why he hasn’t been sold, is that they have fucked up, after all. It happens (to some), but gives Isak no right to behave in this manner in my view.
In football, we have the Bosman Ruling. But we have no ruling where it is said that a highly payed player under contract can just decide on a whim if he wants to play for his contracted club or not.
Obviously, normally, a well run club would not end up in Newcastle’s position at all (but again, I care not about their follies) and would have sold an unhappy player that wants out if they were able, like we wisely do. But Newcastle fucked up, which is their prerogative to do. I absolutely dislike the pedestal that Isak has placed himself on, going on an illegal strike when whatever fool newcastle has to do transfers, were unable to comply with his wish as soon as he expected. It puts both parties in a bad position (well maybe, it doesn’t put Isak in one, since most seem to think he is well within his rights to do whatever he feels like). He would hardly be the first player to not get his wish in a given window because of fuck ups.
I suppose, at the end of the day, being a football fan, which is about emotions, also includes then having to be a fan of players in your club. But since I am not a fan of Isak’s behaviour, I would rather he didn’t join so I didn’t have to “like” him.
4 Likes
What power do you think that has?
“You’re under contract, so you’re fucked, Jimmy”
“Behold this piece of paper I have unilaterally signed saying I want to void my contract”
4 Likes
I mean, I asked you a question above. Why not answer that instead of trying to be so fucking funny.
After all, many players do indeed hand them in. I understand that they then lose out on some loyalty bonuses etc. But please, as I said, do correct me if I wrong.
You asked a question that had already been answered. They are an anachronism, an artifact where transfers were done by managers calling managers. They have no legal weight and any violation of loyalty bonus terms are violable without having to sign a pice of paper saying you want to leave
6 Likes
Thank you.
I think a relevant point is a lot of journalism is written by people who have no idea what they’re talking about. Even at places like the bbc
4 Likes
nods So in reality, a transfer request is just an unecessary proforma that some still do, but a verbal request or statement is just as binding in regards to contract stipulations.
I realise that it’s a thankless task informing me twice, but thank you regardless.
Of course, it doesn’t entirely change my opinion on how Isak has dealt with this, but it is very good to know how exactly this works in the technicalities. I honestly thought he was skimming it, so it’s not as bad as I thought then.
Again, my thanks.
1 Like
I’m not the most sensitive towards being politically correct but this is probably crossing the line somewhere.
No criticism but you should probably delete any sort of autism joke.
3 Likes
Magnus is upset. I think he just needs to realise that Isak is really just doing what he can to facilitate a move just like so many other footballers this summer including our own; unfortunately Sandcastle and the murderous owners are having a toddler tantrum.
1 Like
“Alex can only help his situation by playing well,” Howe said. “We have to be really careful regarding our spending… It’s not a clear-cut situation with Alex. (Nov 2024)
I understand that I am cherry picking Howe’s past comments, however I find this interesting. Alex played well, and by all accounts help NU to get back into CL, and helped win the Cup, so how has this helped Isak in the grand scheme of things?
I am 99.9% sure they would not have CL football without his goals (nobody else in that side could have filled in).
So Isak pulls up his sleeves in Nov, delivers and doesn’t really help his “situation” as nothing’s changed, he is still going to be a also ran in NU champions league campaign, and maybe if he’s lucky, win another cup. I doubt he thinks this has helped improve his situation, and by all accounts it seems to have been detrimental to his ambitions as NU now have CL revenue coming in.
3 Likes
Sadly I think we have spent far too much time worrying about a Newcastle player. We need to be concentrating on what is available if we need.
.
At the moment I see a greater need in the CB are than anywhere else.
.
We saw last year the Slot is not big on rotation so it was injuries that pushed us at times. Konate can be injury prone and VD can’t play forever. Up the other end we have some brand spanking new players with some very promising kids coming through. Rio and Danns for example
.
I think it’s move on time.
3 Likes
I can’t quite understand this take because Isak’s stance isn’t happening in a vacuum. It’s harsh in the extreme especially as it’s been well reported, with the player himself has come out in public no less, to say how Newcastle have reneged. We can argue till we’re blue in the face the merits of such promises not being in writing or perhaps from people not at the club anymore but anyone in a management position at the time acts as an agent of the Club surely, and so the club still bears responsibility, whether they are they or not.
4 Likes
I’ll try to be as fair as I can. Newcastle have a leadership vacuum with no CEO or DOF. There are many ways the current situation might have been avoided, or improved, with some leadership in place.
In addition, there have clearly been some broken promises and unmet expectations, so the player feels wronged, and justified in his efforts to leave.
On Isak’s part, there is some fault too, as it is all a bit unseemly. Still, I’m not willing to go overboard on the player, and I put a lot of it down to the tawdry business of football.
On his agent’s part, there is a lot of fault as he has allowed his client to get into this situation and apparently didn’t get things in writing that might have smoothed an exit.
On the owner’s part there is some fault, as they appear to be taking it personally. If they had a sober assessment of the situation they would realize that they are not the biggest club, and in their hoped-for rise to the top losing top players is part of the journey. The key is to reinvest well, and try to get better overall.
I don’t blame the fans much. Football is tribal, and they need a baddie. They’ve got that in Isak, PSR, the cartel, and in Liverpool FC as we are the ones who want their man.
All together the whole thing is a shit-show, but I do expect Isak to be sold to us next week. If not, they are stuck with a divided camp and an unhappy player who then just looks to January to try to get out. Or maybe they force his hand to trigger Article 17?
I think a sale happens. At the outset I guessed £130M + 10M add-ons would do it. Arguably now, with all the attrition, a slightly lesser sum might work, but time is running out for much to and fro in negotiating, and that assumes they will come to the table which might be too much to expect.
3 Likes
I think the problem with PIF is that they want the Saudi League to do well.
Newcastle is more of an afterthought. They did invest sensibly and they have gotten in a decent manager. But they aren’t desperate for Success and relevance the way City’s owners are.
2 Likes
The problem is more of the entitlement being shown by the Newcastle fans. They might be the richest club in the world , but that doesn’t guarantee you’ll become like City on year 3.
Like to weigh in here from my experience as contracts director…
The footballer and football is different from the employee and employer situation.
The employee can hand in his notice and leave accordingly. His career is typically until retirement at 65 or so.
A footballers tenure is governed by a contract, same as a regular employee. But his career timeline is vastly different.
Unlike a regular employee he can’t simply hand in a notice and leave. A transfer request doesn’t have the same legal and contractual significance.
On the other hand a club can enforce their contractual rights over a player. But their is no contractual mechanism to force an unhappy player to play well or to his optimum.
That is where football is especially different.
For the footballer that is the only real leverage. Its the last option- a nuclear option…
And an option that a smart club never allows to happen.
As sanctimonious as fans, pundits or ex footballers maybe, as messy as this may be, the reality is that this is the only really significant tool available to a player who must maximize his talents within a limited time frame.
It will be malpractice for any agent or player to do otherwise having exhausted other options.
You may then ask, what about professional responsibilities?
A player is both an individual and a business. His professional responsibility is to maximize his assets at both levels.
10 Likes
The BBC is rife with articles which show a comical lack of knowledge regarding the topic of the article.
Most things written by Phil McNulty fall in this category.
1 Like