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
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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.
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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.
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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.
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“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.
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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.
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At the moment I see a greater need in the CB are than anywhere else.
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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
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I think it’s move on time.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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PSR has buffet this slightly it’s like some pundits will bang on about cartels.
It’s allowed for competitive spending, Chelsea got lucky really as they went from sizeable debt to a clean slate.
No doubt it’s kept the clubs going down from really overspending and without it you’d have more issues
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We could do with another Brazilian attacking midfielder because give it another couple years and that Coutinho money will finally have all been spent and we’ll need to refill the coffees again.
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I don’t think contracts are about holding a player until the expiration, and clubs certainly don’t see it that way.
How often do we see a club force a player out, to sign with anyone who will take him at a decent fee. Many club will try every trick in the box to make a player take the hint and just fuck off.
So I understand that there is no loyalty from players towards clubs, because there is certainly none from clubs to players.
A contract is just a means of ensuring that one party is compensated if the other wants to call it a day.
You see a lot of Newcastle fand shouting he signed a six year contract. Well, yeah but did you really think the plan was for him to see it out? Aww bless.
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craig hope on ssn - saying that Isak will be able to go to LFC if they a) come back with a better offer (£130m) and b) Newcastle sign 2 forwards and theyve not been able to sign one in 2.5 months.
He also said LFC signing Ekitike has effectively killed this deal as if newcastle had signed him Isak would be a LFC player already as Ekititke is so highly rated
He expects isak to stay now and tomorrows game is irrelevant to the deal. Newcastle wont be able sign 2 top replacements in 8 days.
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Craig Hope has been aggressively towing the Newcastle line, so I wouldn’t take anything he says as objective truth but especially those Ekitike claims. I’d bet Newcastle would still have done everything they can to refuse to sell Isak if they’d managed to get Ekitike.
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I think LFC have made a massive mistake in letting 2 forwards go. We also lost jota - we havent replaced 2 of them.
Star players dont tend to move this late in the window.
We need to get someone else in, go back in Jan for Isak and we can get him for £30m cheaper.
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By Christmas Newcastle may be in a relegation dogfight and won’t be selling anyone. It’s not like they are blessed with strikers without Isak.