Thetownend.com

Adam Rooney: Swindon Town striker in contract row with club
     

Swindon Town striker Adam Rooney is embroiled in a dispute with the club over the validity of his contract.
     

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/22713965
     

Presumably, this means we don't want him then?

Bit of a shambles.......

We're looking a bit tin pot.

Adjusted for you.

I suspect that we don't want him on the wages that may be proposed in the 'contract'. Presumably, the loan deal resulted in Rooney getting his 'Championship wage' whilst playing in League 1 last year. No doubt the deal for next year was an improvement - Because as we know from our current captain, footballers won't sign for less money.

We don't want him, he think's he has a valid contract; only 1 place this is going and that's to the courts/tribunal!

There's only one reason he's so keen to drop a division and sign for a club where he was overlooked most of the previous season and it's got fuck all to do with loyalty.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W25_jgiY51I

If I understand correctly, the Board are trying to claim that Rooney's contract is not valid because it was agreed by the old Board......does that not mean, then, that any of the other players are free to leave if their contracts were also agreed by the old Board?

They are asking for trouble and it's not doing themselves any favours in the eyes of the fans.

Has the board or club actually confirmed this? Because so far its only Radio Swindon or BBC Wilts reporting tjis to be the case. As we know from the past they arent always right.

If we are really going to be paying him £6.5k a week in league 1, I for one are fully supportive of the club in trying to get out of this - pure financial insanity by the previous owners.

Where did I say that, please read what I said before jumping to the defence of your client.

I do not know the full ins and out of the contract (unlike your good self apparently) and would expect such a matter to be solved in the courts or via arbitration of some form.

I do however stand by the statement that a player earning £6.5k a week in league 1 is insane.

Sorry, but I think you are wrong.

I think that the board realise that Adam Rooney ain't that good and is potentially going to cost the club a fortune. I think they are right to try whatever they can to get out of it.

I think they realised with Flint that they could cash in to the max with Brizzle. They have cover for him with an experienced campaigner (Ward) a developing talent (Oakley) and an expensive signing that they can't shift yet (TAH). Now, if they could bring in another youngster, put TAH in the shop window for sale in January and prepare Oakley to take over, they will have done very well!

The DeVita, Ferry and Devera releases are because no one was interested in buying and we couldn't (or maybe wouldn't) match their current (or expected) pay. KMac obviously didn't rate either and probably thought he could get just as good, if not better replacements.

I'm pretty sure that the McCormack 'offer' is along the same lines as the Douglas one a couple of years ago. I think he wants too much money and will be off.

L Rooney and Cox may have to be loaned out with the club then only paying a percentage of theri wage - ie Saving the percentage than another club pays. Again, if they are on a huge whack, they aint going to want to leave and sign for someone else.

I think we are stuck with Roberts, Navarro, Williams, Collins & McEverley. So KMac's job will be to to build a team around them.

Bottom line is I think the boards comms have been poor as they have been focussing their attention on all sorts of shit behind the scenes. I'm not sure that they all realised the scale of some of the problems, which has contributed to some jumping ship and causing yet more problems for the rest. But I would say that the board is actually doing the right thing and tackling some of the big problems and I like the idea of KMac building a generation of footballers at the club.

I'm all for getting the youngsters through, but asking the likes of Oakley to step up to the first team at the first time of asking would be incredibly unfair and may not yield the desired results.

I don't think that is the plan mate.fairly certain we are looking at centre halves and have TAH when he returns

It worked with Thompson (N) though didn't it, just got to hope that lightning strikes more than once......

True. But bench warming with Ward and TAH on the field may be appropriate. KMac can then look for opportunities to blood him when appropriate. If Ward or TAH get injuries then bring in a loan and maintain the same strategy. If Oakley shines or appears ready for more in January then great!

What?!

As things stand, an awful lot rests on TAH playing next season...with the downsizing of the club, we can scarcely afford an expensive resource doing nothing.

We certainly didn't expect him to become a regular first team full back the instant we gave him a few appearances.

Don't get me wrong, he's been quality and thoroughly deserves to be in the first 11. It may be the same with Oakley but we can't rely on it.

If Oakley plays well enough for the first team it will be him going not TAH.

Are you being deliberately obtuse, or just letting your ire get in the way of reading what I said?

Did I say I supported their trying to get out of the contract by way of nefarious means? Did I say I was supportive of the club trying to get out of paying the player his wages by not honouring his contract?

If the contract is watertight (as you obvious believe it is, and unlike yourself I haven’t seen it and thus I cannot comment on that) then they (the club) will be forced to honour it and if that’s the case so be it, if it is not then I suspect they will seek to renegotiate, however as a supporter of a club that is trying to save money I do support them seeking to investigate whether they have means to renegotiate terms or set the contract aside, by legal means.

The club obviously feel they potentially have a case, but hey ho, it’s another part of the chaos they appear to have inherited.

He is our best striker and would have got 15-20 goals next season in my opinion. The board yet again showing how amateur and pathetic they are. Some very grim years ahead, it will be a miracle if we don't go down.

Also we shouldn't forget that Nathan is 4 years older than Oakley.  We can't expect the same from an 18-19 year old as from a 22 year old.

Normally football contracts are watertight. Don't forget we had to pay Ruddock off despite him being totally overweight for being a professional footballer.

http://www.swindonadvertiser.co.uk/sport/swindontown/news/10453917.McCrory_confirms_Rooney_contract_talks/

According to this report he'll be on 8k a week!!

What were the previous board thinking?

I think we've established that they weren't.

Except if you're DV in which case this is perfectly logical.

Yeah.

Eight...thousand...a...week?

Fuck me sideways.

"Yes Paolo. Please don't shout at me Paolo." Mainly.

Well, it's what you wanted...

Wray has a lot to answer for

Why the fuck does anyone in his shoes need living expenses on top of an already lucrative deal?! Phil Spencer is a fucking crook (assuming he was involved in the deal, which I suspect)

Presumably this was all agreed at the time that JW was pandering to every whim of di Canio, before Black put his foot down and reflects the desire to have championship standard players, so paying championship standard wages.

You can just imagine how these talks will go.  "Well, Adam, we know you've got a contract to pay you £800k over the next 2 years, but we wondered if you'd like to give up, shall we say half of this because it would be really helpful to us if you did."

Phil Spencer IS (allegedly) a cunt.

There are probably Premiership players on 8k a week, I'm absolutely staggered (although not surprised) that our old board would think that Adam Rooney was worth paying 8k a week.

£400k a year, so almost a quarter of our wage budget on one player.

No wonder Jed wants to negotiate it!

So if Gary Roberts is on similar cash, thats around half our wage budget on 2 players.  :doh:

Define "quarter".

And we're sure Paolo didn't think we were signing Wayne?

Of course. I've often said we should pay our players 8k a week. All of them in fact.

I've definitely said that on numerous occasions.

It's just plain reckless... from PDC, Spencer, Wray, Black and anyone else who knew/signed it off. Fucking lunacy.

Now I've got a written quote of you saying it. Hah!

IIRC, £8k per week was Blackpool's limit in the Premiership.

Congratulations.

Particularly when at least three of those four knew they wouldn't be around until the end of that contract.

So why has it taken Jed 4 months to decide he wants this conversation when he arrangement will have been in place all along?

That is fucking scandalous.

Lost for words

Pretty sure I'm right in thinking that makes Adam Rooney one of our highest paid players of all time?

It’s scary to think that Rooney hardly got a look in under PDC last year.

And a record he'll probably keep for a long time to come.

Can't see him agreeing to much of a cut (I wouldn't).

The boy had better score lots and lots and lots of goals next season. Quite probably the highest paid player in the league by far. No pressure like.

So I wonder whether that means we will have to sell Caddis to Brum for free in order for them to offer a 1-2 year contract to Rooney so that we can get out of the contract?

Good old Jezza Wray, bet Paolo fluttered his eyelids and Jezza authorised that contract in a heartbeat.

He made 6 starts and 11 sub appearances under Di Canio and 9 starts and 7 sub appearances under MacDonald yet Di Canio offered him a contract on £8k a week.

Utterly bizarre.

He didn't play a single minute of football between Nov 20th - Feb 5th.

Were we paying him these wages this year? If so he earnt damn near 100k to do nothing in that period.

 If true, then it does explain why we'll need to move on a good number of players yet.

So in one year Rooney's contract is worth 1/2 Yeovil's entire playing budget from last season?

Players are being offloaded just so we can pay Rooney's wages.

Not blaming him, not blaming the board . . .

BUT it does show the staggering financial mismanagement of the previous lot.

It does make me feel that bit  more sympathetic towards the new lot.

For Christ's sake £8k a week!!!!

To think Ferry was released because the wages on his extra year would have gone up to £2,800 per week.

Call me a sceptic, but am I the only one wondering if this was released now to divert attention away from the speculative FB comment this morning?

We signed the Thompsons (good news, but news we all expected anyway) and we're paying Rooney £400k a year.

Surely that couldn't have been it?

A bit harsh I think, BBC wilts forced the Rooney story out and Jed was forced to comment is my take on it.

If you think that amount is scary, you don't want to know the amount Roberts is on as our highest earner.

Fuck off.

£900 a week less. He is no longer our highest earner. This is what is fucking up all contract negotiations.Flint and Macca both feel they are worth the same as Rooney

Source or GTFO.

£8,000 a week?

[url width=265 height=211]http://25.media.tumblr.com/d1463a8cb91be061e15d8f830061348b/tumblr_mgw2h7UmFy1qdvmc6o1_400.gif[/url]

Until I see actual evidence that we are due to pay him £8k a week.. I don't believe it
Adver quote is "it is believed that the contract in question, which was agreed by the previous regime at the club, would cost Town around £8,000 per week including agents' fees and living expenses"

Even with Paolo / JW's excesses I don't think they would have sanctioned that before seeing him play for whole period of loan?

And probably rightly so. Surely potential signings are going to have similar thoughts as well?

Can only echo what on earth was di canio and co thinking giving a player they hardly played such a whopping contract! It beggars belief a little.

You or I are never going to see the contract unfortunately...

A better one that you

:)

:Ride On Fatbury's Lovestick: it has to be, because yours isn't based on your own imagination!

If there are two or three earning this much, it's going to be a piece of piss hitting the new budget.

To be fair, Sam Mousehead has said that 8K is full inclusive cost to the club, not singularly player salary.

Not that that excuses it mind.

This worries me how much Roberts, Navarro, Mceverley are also on.

8K seems hell of a lot for a player, I thought was very average and the worst of our strikers most of the year.

comments like the one below on the adver site really pissed me off;
Tough $hit Jed ! You either pay up his contract or pay him to play simple , no different to when Neil Ruddock wad here

Yes he's on a contract it seems, but surely its worth Jed and co, sitting down with the agent and seeing if anything can be negotiated, what to lose.    We don't know the full details, maybe some performance related and Jed can convince him to take a cut or we can't afford to play him.  who knows? but I think its a positive move to try to sort something out rather than just accepting it without trying.

Is it usual for teams to pay a bunch of non-salary costs for a player though, aside from bonuses and signing on fees? Surely it's not usual to pay living costs?

Dunno. I know if a player is moving a certain distance to a club the club has to pay relocation fees, so I doubt it's beyond the realm of possibility

To put that wage in to perspective, the Championship's player of the season, Matej Vydra, looks like joining Watford on a wage of €7500 a week.

Frightening.

Believe me...he aint joining for £7500 a week.

A £2 million 5 year deal on a free transfer. He won't stay there for 5 years of course with Prem interest.

do you have sources at Watford too?

So why have they waited until now to tackle the issue. Surely they've known about this for months and regardless whether we got promoted or not would never pay that. To leave it until almost June to even contact his agent is a bit incompetent, something just doesn't sit right here with me.....

Of course it doesn't. It is the new board isn't it

Quite.

Wray et al do the deal and Jed & Co get the criticism.

How massively out of kilter is 8K. Sounds a massive amount to me even with agent fees, but total cost to the club would also employers tax contributions, living expenses, pension and whatever else wouldn't mean he's taking that home.

It could still of course be several K a week too much.

If I were Adam Rooney, I'd also be sticking to my guns for my weekly wage. The old board offered him it, so he's entitled to it.

To put into some perspective, a survey conducted in 2009-10 season found the average championship basic wage was just over £4,000 per week.  Add on bonuses, appearance money, NI conts etc. and allow for inflation in player's wages over that period and the amount quoted for Rooney becomes a reasonable guess at an average fully loaded cost of a championship player today.

The equivalent figure for an average League 1 player was £1,400 per week.

So it looks as though Wray was simply committing to pay championship wages to him, which would always have been way out of the league of affordability for us.

I've not seen anyone having a go at Rooney for it, only pointing out how absurd the previous board were for offering such a lucrative deal to a bit-part player.

But it's yet again come out in the press as a sensationalised story hasn't it, it's another massive PR own goal. I still can't believe it's only being looked at now, it seems very last minute....

But if they were negotiating its not that surprising they wanted it done behind closed doors. Its not obvious they only started to address this now, but its also understandable they missed this in the expedited takeover process.

Just because it's breaking now doesn't mean nothing's been discussed before now.
How many people are still kissing Wray's arse?

How can people be feeling dejected at the news our Player of the Year has signed a new two year deal, and generally just seems really happy playing for Swindon.

But equally if he was brought in within the then agreed budget he's not done much wrong either. IF.

If that budget forecast was unacceptable Bertie should have grown a backbone/kept closer control on his cash.

I am becoming more of the opinion that if the previous lot had remained in charge for much longer I might not have had a club left to support long term?

Whoever Rooney's agent is he did a hell of a deal.

Possibly hoping that something could be sorted in association with Caddis to Birmingham?  Explains now why due diligence took so long it's fucking carnage.  So if there are at least 2-3 on this sort of cash that's possibility 25% of budget on 2-3 players.

Yes it seems to be a mess now, OK the time but fucked up now the money has gone.

I thought he was just on loan? When did he sign a two year deal?

i've only skim-read this thread, but the impression I got was that people were questioning whether tying him down to a two year contract when he was already under contract for one year really warranted a trailer on facebook.  Which, when you put it like that, makes all the arguing that followed sound a bit of a storm in a teacup :D

People gave me stick about the 7k a week thing but I was spot on as DRS confirms. I don't make a habit of acting 'ITK' but I did hear this from Huddersfield fans at the time.

It's a hideous amount of money for a guy who'd most likely be either our 4th or 5th choice striker in the pecking order this coming season based on Collins, Williams, Storey, Benson and Rooney being the 5 in contract strikers at our disposal when fit (not counting Connor Waldon or the "win a pro kid" in that list obviously).

This temp-to-perm move shows how complete a total and utter cunt Di Canio was. He had no interest in the long-term health of the club and was happy to rape us financially for his own short term career advancement. I look forward to Di Canio transfer listing John O'Shea for napping on the team bus, throwing coffee over Adam Johnson's crotch for no reason and fining Stephane Sessegnon for shopping in Sainsbury's rather than M&S during his 8 month tenure as Sunderland boss - the crazy, lunatic bipolar fuckwit fascista. Spencer, Di Canio and Black should feel ashamed that a really ordinary lower league footballer is on in excess of £7k a week. What a fucking damning indictment of society that is. Feel sorry for Rooney, he can't help being "slower than molasses" and generally pretty shit can he the poor lamb?


Free the Dostoyevsky one.

You're not even banned you lunatic.

haha, I'm not Dostoyevsky.

I just like his posts on account of the constant anarcho-lurching from touching humanity to animal brutality.

You're not him? What's the chances of having 2 unhinged mentalists on the same forum? Spooky.

Wonder if his agent is known as 'Phil' to his friends?

and 7k a week for another player who dropped a division to join us last season as well.  still has a year left on his contract.

Superb write-up that.  He should have that under his avatar.

FWIW I like his posts too, the touching humanity ones mainly, animal brutality ones less so)

Don't get the sniping against Rooney himself however. 9 goals from 15 starts (plus 19 subs appearances) makes him a 5th choice striker?  Let's induct the other 4 striker legends into the Hall of Fame then.

I understand the view that some attempt to renegotiate the contract is necessary but unlike, say Ruddock, Rooney is available to actually play and will not be handed media opportunities like the fat one and nor has he been handed a contract on an old pals act basis like Ruddock was by his next door neighbour Donegan who happened to be STFC chairman.

If I saw my private (except to the TEF's esteemed In the Knowers) contract details splashed across the Adver by the otherwise privacy-loving chairman who knew about my contract (or should have) all along, I might invest some of my earnings in a few pies over the summer and demand an extra large pair of shorts on top of my existing deal.

I actually feel quite sorry for Rooney. If we can't dodge this deal and end up paying him what the contract says the fans will never take to him.

Just keep a look out for any anti Shrews ramblings!

Whereas I remain of the opinion that we would both already have a Championship club to support, a Championship club that would have moved into a purpose-built new stadium at the County Ground within the next couple of years and could eventually have grown sufficiently to sustain itself at that level with minimal ongoing investment. It also feels like they might have been our last shot at such a future.

The only certainty is that we will never know.

fredi says...
8:25am Fri 31 May 13

Ok, time for a little "truth update". And before I get shouted down by the same people who prefer to live in denial, let me state at the outset that certain documents will find their way to STFC Trust within 48 hours to support what is explained here.

Firstly, it should be pointed out that the club has chosen to marginalise all but Sam at the Adver in terms of communication. Jed feeds him what he wants disseminated, ignoring both the BBC and, more importantly, it's own in house communication team, which is why Chris Tanner resigned in frustration. The danger of this is that rubbish such as yesterday's story about Adam Rooney is passed off as fact, leaving fans angry and seemingly justifying the Board's behaviour.

One of the documents to which I refer above, is a spreadsheet showing last year's budgets with complete wage details, contract terms, agents fees, signing on fees etc. It makes interesting reading and to put fans' minds at rest, every player last season and all those contracted for next season are on less than £4k per week. It shows that every last pound was budgeted for and shows how £500k was to be spent from January to fit within a season's budget of £4.5 M. Obviously this £500k was not forthcoming and with the sale of Ritchie, the actual budget was under £3.5M. Further it includes all agents fees and shows that Spencer was on a fraction of what is generally assumed. He took nothing from individual deals but rather received a monthly retainer equivalent to less than 3% of total budget.

Back to Rooney - when KMac last saw him, he praised him for his efforts last season and said he would see him preseason. Two days later, Rooney gets a letter from STFC attempting to renege on his contract. How is the player meant to react ? Where does this leave KMac, once again left totally undermined, just as he was over Benson? He is back from holiday now, so would be good to hear his thoughts.

Lee Power continues to run the show and in recent meetings has openly referred to his ownership of the club. If he cannot pass the fit and proper test, is this acceptable - we don't need to discover we are back to the days of breaching FL regulations ? All players are still up for sale, with at least £500k of sales/wage savings required to get through June. No investment from the Board (bluffer Jed still put in zero, taken out loads) but Power admits they would sell the club if there was a few quid in it for him and his cronies.

Worrying times still, I'm afraid. On the positive side, proper fan ownership like Portsmouth may be a step closer.

Surely anyone with any nous at all can put together a spreadsheet. How can we know that this is an official STFC spreadsheet?

The fact that Fredi was totally wrong about the concerts appears to have damaged his credibility somewhat and I am taking what he says with some salt, however not totally dismissing what he is saying.

The proof will be in the pudding, whenever the hell is it served is another matter!

Well if (s)he is wrong, (s)he's taking some very big risks with libel law.

[url width=764 height=1023]http://i1183.photobucket.com/albums/x480/tanswell2010/77858a85c972c8363b091054ebd3338d.jpg[/url]

If no paperwork lands with the Trust then we'll know he/she can't back anything up.  I don't agree that the concerts coming off is enough to discredit him/her. 

I wasn't aware that Chris Tanner had resigned though and that's a worry if true.  He's been at the club for a fair while and is Swindon through and through.

Nor was I, but funnily enough I did have an inkling the other day that Jed was posting the club FB updates!!

Much funnier than your usual trolling efforts Tans :D

Did you not read all the stuff about redundancy at the club? Tanner was one of the ones who took 'voluntary redundancy' after being at the club for best part of 10 years.

Still no winding up petition notice in the London Gazette, maybe the creditors are hanging on until nearer to the court hearing.

I did this last time a big diatribe appeared.

Nothing in what is said is actually that unlikely, and in fact it is all quite probable.  It is being spun here as negative, but if you remove passion for the club from this and think pure business, it all makes sense:

Reducing budget - £4.5m is quoted, even if we spent a little less, it is too high for us.  We only just rake in £5m in total revenue, the wages cannot be that high without massive capital investment.

So, Fredi is right, and the "business" seems to be doing the sensible thing.

No player on more than £4k per week - which means someone or more than one are close.  The article in the Adver refers to other costs, which would be expensed rather than wages so treated completely differently.  Again, it seems both can be right.  If we have players on £4k a week, plus we are covering some expenses, that is just too much for a club our size in the league we are in.  It also support the large wage bill that Fredi seems to confirm.

Our current owners would sell - no shit.  I imagine once they've realised what they have picked up they'd be happy to pass on the risk.

The Board may have set a budget, Black's parting words seem to suggest he wasn't aware it was as high as it was and hence he replaced the man responsibel for setting it.  We then had no new capital to come in support, so spent less and sold Ritchie.  If anything Fredi's statement is just restating that for us.

The big one though for in this was the mention of meetings - this suggests it is someone from within in the way that sentence was written.  Maybe someone unhappy at the change.

Basically, everything Fredi says is probably based on some decent information.  They just have an agenda so make it all out to be bad.  It sure as hell isn't a great set-up right now, but I don't see it as being some great conspiracy.  We had a Board that got carried away, someone backed them for a while, they pulled out, the shit hit the fan, a mess is being tidied up, it will be painfull, it is necessary and not shady and people in the club will feel this pain directly because of it, the new owners would probably sell if their costs were covered.  Where is the news?

Spot on Rob.That agenda clearly has something to do with the Trust imo and old board members.

I'd disagree with 'Fredi' being to do with the Trust, knowing most of the Board members as I do, they are a measured and sober lot, seriously interested in long term future of the Club. Internet sh*t stirring would harm their efforts as much as it damages the Board.

I don't understand why (s)he was unwilling to talk to Sam Morshead yet is planning to leak an official document to the Trust who presumably won't be able to do anything with it due to the sensitive nature of the document.

The bit about the BBC being blocked out doesn't make sense either, didn't they break the Rooney story yesterday?

Anyway, until fredi comes out with something that turns out to be 100% accurate I'm inclined to disbelieve them given that they were wrong about the concerts.

Sorry wasnt implying Fredi is part of the trust,if it came across that way i apologise.

Didn't Adver Sam mention that he was contacted by 'Fredi' but he/ she couldn't offer any proof. Perhaps Tans wasn't far off with his mock up, and 'Fredis 'proof' was a bit Hitler Diaryish.

fredi = tans

Good work on the spreadsheet Tans!! :)

I asked Sam a while back about it and he said he'd heard from fredi recently (around the 20th) but no proof was provided

Is there any information on this "contract" that certain posters seem to think that Rooney has other than the Adver article?

Because reading that it doesn't say a contract has been signed at all. It says there was a clause in his loan deal that stated he would be offered a 2 year contract this summer, at the end of his deal with Birmingham.

He couldn't (and still can't) sign a formal players contract with us, while still contracted to Birmingham, who will hold his players registration until July by the seem of it.

We're not talking about a board cancelling a players contract here and trying to avoid a court case. We're talking about a board reneging on the promise of a contract made by a previous regime (that were fucking insane by the seem of it), but trying hard to still hang onto the player.

If they manage that, and we keep Rooney on a more reasonable deal in line with the rest of the squad, than all well and good. If ginge throws a strop and fucks off then good luck to him (I'm sure there are clubs queuing up to sign a striker who's barely scored double fingers over a two year period, and pay him more than most players in the Championship).

I know this will open me up to abuse, but for all the stick that the new board have received, I'm struggling to see a decision that they've made so far that isn't pretty sensible in terms of getting the club  to support itself as a business.

This is another one of those for me. What alternative do they have after all? How would people be reacting if in 5 weeks time the Adver were reporting from the press conference of Rooney sitting down to sign his two year deal that would cost us over £800k?

That' too well written with too little swearing to be Tans (sorry Tans).

I don't know if Fredi is spot on or a very good Troll. One thing that doesn't sit right with me personally is the way that on the face of it the old board screwed up. I believe that Nick Watkins is capable and honest and acted in the best interests of the club with the information provided. That information could have been false, or more likely to my mind simply changed when Black pulled the plug.

The reason for mentioning this is the '8K a week' Rooney thing. I am not saying its incorrect as a total cost to the club, but it does seem to have been trussed up a bit of a worst case like an inverse "sky sports Only costs 69p a day". It seems plausible Rooney's actual pay is within Fredi's claims.

It doesn't mean much I suppose. Fact is we seemingly can't afford Rooney and we should not put the club at risk to do so unless we are legally obliged, no matter how much that stinks. But the way things are being presented makes me wary of whether Jed is full of it, or genuine. Time will tell (or hopefully not).

This was from an article on Rooney in early May, at the start it seems to indicate that there is a deal done already for him. But then he seems to say that his loan was with a view to a permanent deal and he hoped to stay.

Quite confusing over whether it’s a done deal and we have to honour the contract or if we are hoping to sign him just not on the original terms. If the latter is the case then I guess we can just pull the plug on the deal still.

http://www.gazetteandherald.co.uk/sport/10397361.Rooney_targets_Town_stay__regardless_of_division/

You won't get any abuse from me. Agree completely.

The trouble is, the average football fan doesn't reason with running a business sustainably.

Fredi aint me. Id come up with a more imaginative name for start

What like tans? Very fucking imaginative given your surname.

Looking at that it seems to confirm that there's no contract. You don't "hope" to still be at a club if there's a deal agreed do you?

I keep meaning to change it

To fredi?

I thought that the wording suggested that too. No wonder he's "hoping" to stay if he's going to be picking up a salary and get all his living costs paid for!

How much involvement did Watkins have on the football side of things, I always got the impression that it was very much just PdC, Spencer and Wray who managed that?

By promising that stuff to the Trust within 48 hours (why not immdiately) 'Fredi' has given himself a deadline and thus will need to deliver to remain remotely believiable. I do wonder whether the pop at Sam M in his latest missive was in response to the fact that SM would not publich stuff without hard facts.

Even if we are only paying players £4k a week with the rest on expenses thats still insane, isnt the average abount £2k in league 1?

The board have ignored Radio peeps since they broke the story on Andy Johnson last season and then he failed to sign, although what they failed to say to radio was the story was embargoed until it was a done deal when radio called for a quote / clarification.

And it has been pretty clear that the club have been using the adver as source as all story's are broken via the adver and anything that needs to be denied admitted etc etc has always come via Sam @ the adver.  You'd assumed that he not changed even after Murrel ? threated the editor with legal action.

It is obviously down to Jed & Co who they choose to use, I pity the new sports editor at RS though as all he will get is matchday news and be left sidelined for anything else unless they do any real journalistic investigation themselves.

Yeah, what kind of numpty would do that.

Yes I did, but the post doesn't read as if he took voluntary redundancy and walked away happily.  It says resigned out of frustration at the way the communications or I assume lack of were being dealt with.  Taking voluntary redundancy and resigning because you're pissed off aren't the same thing.

So you're buying into what fredi is saying then?

Reading through his tweets, he says he's decided to move on and look for something new and suggests that Tom Otrebski (the other media guy) might be stepping into his shoes so perhaps the media department has been shrunk down to one person as it always used to be.

Either way, I wonder if he has seen the comment about resigning out of frustration

That's not very exciting and doesn't fit in with the most negative view though.

Is there a rough deadline which would suggest it was BS?

Such as the Mercs which some people are still stressing about.

I'm more interested in the bottom line of his comments this time round more so than anything else. Fan ownership being a step closer? I didn't even realise it was a possibility?

Chris Tanner has been at the club along time and I expect a few of us have had dealings with him in the past and a few will know him.

I wouldn't have thought it would be difficult for someone to get his side of the story behind why. He left...

Ever heard of a Non Disclosure Agreement?

Yes.

I'm sure at some point in the history of the Internet some information that probably shouldnt have, has been made available...

I honestly don't know what to believe.   I just can't shake this feeling that things at the club aren't particularly great and have the potential to get worse.  People like Fredi popping up with 'inside information' is not doing anything to help the doubts that are already in place.  The concerts may have been more positive, but if I'm honest, I couldn't really give a damn about them.  It's the football side of things that concern me.

Forget about all the off-field bollocks

What it boils down to is this

Support your team - come what may.

I've had enough of the doom and gloom and although I think things aint too great - so what

I think that's spot on.

The problem we have is that there has been possibly too transfer activity and too much information coming out of the club over the last couple of years. Now that we have moved back away from competing for expensive players and are in a 'quiet' period while players are on holiday and transfers can't be signed, we crave news and signings. The fact that we aren't getting any is making us all a bit edgy and making the craving worse.

Interesting to see where we are at the end of July or beginning of August. Think we will have a bit more of an idea about how the club is being run and what the potential might be on the pitch by then.

Jed reckons we will be title contenders.

I hope he's right. What's your point?

Would Power just casually drop that sort of information into a conversation with an employee/ someone he wasn't closely connected to who was in a position to leak it?

I'll wait for Fredi's promised documentation to appear before casting judgement but that line definitely has the ring of lazily invented bullshit to it.

Do you mean this post or his point generally?

This has probably been mentioned before, but should fredi provide evidence, is he either an employee or a former employee and is it legal to publish information like he is claiming.

There are two issues to cover off first. Firstly, is  what they're saying right. Secondly, is it illegal. If both are the case then Fredi could validly claim they were whistleblowing and I think they'd be Ok legally. If it falls down on either then they're in the shit. 

I think it goes before that, when Chris Wise "broke" the story that we were going bust and all the players were up for sale - that too was embargoed so there is a lot of distrust with RS at the moment - I believe Black was in the process of giving the club away to Jed at the time -  and if Jed can get out all he wants to via Sam that's all he really needs in a small town like Swindon.

The only "evidence" that I can see Fredi explicitly referring to, is a spreadsheet of earnings, agents fees etc. showing last season's budget.  (S)He could feasibly have a copy of the letter sent to Rooney "trying to renege on the contract" but everything else is reporting alleged views and conversations.

I can't see that publicising anything (s)he refers to as being whistleblowing, so if anything is illegal it's likely to be publishing private information that (s)he's obtained through unauthorised sources.

The story about the club going bust and all the players being up for sale was embargoed? The club pre-released that info, really?

Its interesting that the comments have been removed from the Nate Dog story in the Adver. Putting 2 and 2 together could this be why Ned was summoned down to the CG today.

You reckon we are signing Jason Roberts

both appear totally unrealistic.

What the fucks that meant to mean??  >:(

No I don't.

As far as I am aware any permanent move for him was dependant on us getting promoted, which of course we didn't.

You had to get one right eventually. We didn't get promoted. Fact.

Beep beep beep beep beep beep beep

The unexpected signing of Joseph Mills this week took many by surprise, but the reason why is even more surprising, Dale Husband writes.

A season long loan from Reading last summer, the left back started on his debut as first choice for the Clarets, and retained his place up until the Leicester City game, where he was replaced by Ben Mee. Mills then went on to make only four more appearances for Burnley all season, playing against Cardiff City, Birmingham City, Nottingham Forest and Bristol City, which all for expect Bristol City, came from the bench or as replacements for the injured Danny Lafferty or Ben Mee.

So not many would expect him to be penning a two-year deal with the Clarets, but that’s exactly whats happened. This clearly highlights the topsy-turvy, confusing, baffling world of contracts. Clauses, agent fees, installments, bonuses (for everything excluding maybe turning up late), are just a few of the terms many of us in the dark get to hear. Gone are the days when just hard cash was transferred from hand to hand. Nothing’s quite that straight forward anymore.

A contractual agreement between Reading and Burnley has apparently stated that by Mills signing on a season-long loan and fulfilling that loan, he has triggered an automatic transfer to the Clarets. This has left Burnley with no choice but to sign on Mills and honour that contract. But this has left us with nothing more than squad member that clearly doesn’t feature in Dyche’s first team plans. It’s something Burnley could do without too, with Dyche summoned to trim the squad and its wage budget, players triggering contract clauses is the last thing he needs. It’s left us a bit red-faced and maybe next time, the Club think twice before signing off deals like this.

Hopefully Mills, who made an impressive start on his debut, can surprise us all and be one of the best decisions we ever made. But, it will certainly give us food for thought the next time we sign up loan deals.

Sound familiar?

Very familiar, I went to school with him (Mills, not Rooney)

Haha, spot on....

I think the difference is that Mills was under contract at Reading until the end of the 2013/14 season. So the deal that took him to Burnley was structured as a season loan followed by a permanent transfer to get him off Readings books - i.e. it was a part of the contract between the two clubs.

That's no the case with Rooney. Birmingham don't have an interest in him once 1st July rolls around, when he'll be a free agent, so I doubt that the deal between the clubs will have contained any such transfer clause.

From what's been published the terms of the loan agreement with the player does apparently contain a clause that promises a permanent contract offer this summer, but I'm not sure how legally binding that will be.