Adver News: The wait goes on in Rooney saga as manager search continues

[News Monkey]

The wait goes on in Rooney saga as manager search continues
           
           


  SWINDON Town are still waiting to hear back from Adam Rooney and his agent regarding the renegotiation of the striker's proposed contract at the club, chairman Jed McCrory has confirmed.

           

http://www.thisisswindontownfc.co.uk/news/headlines/10575850.The_wait_goes_on_in_Rooney_saga_as_manager_search_continues/?ref=rss
           
           
           

[Peter Gibbons]

44.1 In order to register a Player the prescribed contract, registration form and/or transfer form signed on behalf of the Club by either the Chairman or Manager or club secretary or any duly appointed signatory must be sent to the Secretary at the Office within five days of the Player's signature together with, in the case of a Player signed from a national association other than the Football Association, confirmation from the Football Association that an international transfer certificate has been issued in respect of the Player, and approved by the Secretary. The receipt by the registering Club of confirmation of registration shall determine the eligibility of the Player to play in League Matches.

That the best our lawyers could come up with?  Looks more like a rule that places a burden on the club to file the papers within 5 days - nothing to do with player signing it within 5 days.  Plus, isn't 6 July within 5 days of 1 July anyway?

[cheltred69]

That the best our lawyers could come up with?  Looks more like a rule that places a burden on the club to file the papers within 5 days - nothing to do with player signing it within 5 days.  Plus, isn't 6 July within 5 days of 1 July anyway?

Exactly. That rule is all about registration of players with the FL, nothing about legal validity of contracts of employment.  And nothing to say that the same contract couldn't be resubmitted at a later date if the first deadline was missed.

[Peter Gibbons]

Exactly. That rule is all about registration of players with the FL, nothing about legal validity of contracts of employment.  And nothing to say that the same contract couldn't be resubmitted at a later date if the first deadline was missed.

It's all a bit confusing, but I interpret it as:

• Rooney had a loan contract for 1 year from August 2012
• It was a term of the loan contract that he would be offered a permanent deal for two years on 1 July 2013
• On 1 July 2013 he was offered a permanent deal (presumably automatically, by mechanism of the term of the loan contract)
• On 6 July he accepted the deal

You would think there would be some kind of deadline on the offer of the permanent contract, otherwise he could have waited until he was 65 and used the money to supplement his state pension.  Equally, the offer presumably had to remain open for a certain period of time, otherwise the board could have withdrawn it on 2 July 2013 - perhaps they did put a 5 day limit on it, but I still wouldn't see the relevance of rule 44.1. 

You would think it would be a simple matter of reading the terms of the original contract and that there would be little room for debate, so I can only assume the contract is vague.  Someone must have fucked up there.

[BruceChatwin]

I still can't fathom how anyone ever thought it a good idea to offer before we'd even seen him play an additional 2 year contract of that financial magnitude to a player we were getting on loan for a year anyway.

We had plenty of time during that loan spell to establish whether he was worth it (he was not) so what the hell were we ever expected to gain from offering it except another unnecessary financial liability to add to the many others already hung around the clubs neck?

[Peter Gibbons]

I still can't fathom how anyone ever thought it a good idea to offer before we'd even seen him play an additional 2 year contract of that financial magnitude to a player we were getting on loan for a year anyway.

We had plenty of time during that loan spell to establish whether he was worth it (he was not) so what the hell were we ever expected to gain from offering it except another unnecessary financial liability to add to the many others already hung around the clubs neck?

Am I right in recalling that securing his services was billed as being a bit of a coup because we had persuaded him to drop a level?  I guess we made him an offer he couldn't refuse and now we're paying the price.