Constable Gone?

[Kernow Yellow]

There's any number of ways of reading the situation:

- A clever stunt by STFC to cause unease at OUFC?
- A clever stunt by OUFC to piss STFC off?
- A badly-managed way of OUFC showing they don't value their star striker much?
- A well-managed way of JC getting improved terms at OUFC?
- Manouevering by JC to get the deal he really wants to a different club?
- Simply standard practice when a decent bid comes in for a player?
- As above, but with OUFC changing their mind when they realised how much they were pissing off their fanbase?

I have my suspicions, but I don't suppose we'll ever really know. Beano's reported badge-kissing on twitter is interesting. Time for him to start banging in the goals I reckon. I hope we don't get to April and start wishing we had sold him and got someone else in...

[recordmeister]

Agreed that the wording of the clubs announcement yesterday could have been much better.

However, there are still a lot of people on here who are complaining that we shouldn't sell Beano for less than £200 / £250 / £300 / £500k||||* yet are shocked that the club have announced that they're willing to sell him (by accepting a bid).

I hope I am wrong, as I would like to see Beano stay at the club, but if OUFC are to sell him and do have an offer, or other offers, from clubs in L1, why not let them believe that Beano is on his way to Slumdon for a 'much improved' offer. It's all negotiation farce and you can't on the one hand complain that we might sell Beans for less than he's worth, but on the other hand kick up a fuss if the club chooses to use Slumdon as a stalking horse in the bidding process, to up the fee the we eventually get for the man.

Fair play, I say. If he's going to go (which, reluctantly it looks like he will be) then let's get AS MUCH MONEY AS POSSIBLE for him and if that means foreplay with Slumdon, then so be it. That's the way business works.

How many times have you looked around a property, only to be told an hour later that the owners have &quotaccepted an offer already&quot. What does that do to you? If you *really* want the property, you fight for it, all to the befit of the seller. No different here.


*delete as appropriate

[slappy]

If we are to bring in a Championship level striker player, it seems idiotic to have a striker of Constable's calibre effectively playing second fiddle (as in Midson/Smalley always on the bench or late subs, very rare starts).

Assuming Constable was offered better wages/signing on fee at PigHill, it seems that our fans determination to keep up the rivalry beyond all financial considerations has caused this:-
1 - a transfer fee from say Bournemouth is lower
2 - JC's wages at say Bournemouth will be lower (so he has shot himself in the foot because of the abuse - my gut feeling that being from the West Country he would be amenable to playing there).
which then means the club have less to spend on a replacement.

There are many many decent fans who have been saying &quotanywhere but PigHill&quot, without taking the financials into account. As for the fans who downright slagged him off, there is rivalry, and there is trying to run a football club without a wealthy sugar daddy to bankroll whatever you want in the 21st century.

[SmileyMan]

There's any number of ways of reading the situation:

- A clever stunt by OUFC to piss STFC off?

An interesting idea, if the scum need a striker for their promotion push, what better way to scupper their plans than to let them think their going to steal ours for the whole of the transfer window, and then leave them high and dry with only a week or so left.

[JoeyBeauchamp]

I don't think this has been handled badly by the club at all. As pointed out on here, Scumdon would have announced the news that the bid was accepted themselves, so we had to acknowledge it. 'Talking to a club' doesn't mean that a player is going, just that he is discussing what they have to offer, as Beano reportedly did with Bournemouth last year.

As for accepting the bid, we still don't know how much it was for. If it was £500k, then I for one - much as I love Beano and couldn't abide the idea of him playing for them - would think it is good business. We would have then been able to get two/three good players in and still keep a healthy profit. Sworn enemies are one thing, but in the cold light of day football clubs are businesses and need to make money.

[Mooro]

Club website:

&quot....it has been decided that James Constable will decline the opportunity to talk to s*****n....&quot


Decided by whom?

I think the wording of the statements is interesting, because there is no indication in the above that the club are pleased that he is staying, which is what you would like to think that they would say (whether they actually believe it or not!).
To me that line suggests either - i) JC has turned it down and we are mightily p155ed off about it - because either we want him out regardless or we were planning on using ongoing talks to up the bid from another club OR ii) JC has been told to turn it down whether he wanted to or not (to either p155 Slumdon off and/or upset their striker search).

If they were hoping to use JC staying as a morale boost to the fanbase (to cover for the lack of a new signing) then it has backfired somewhat, and to my mind whether it is (i) or (ii) above, I think it has come too soon to achieve whatever goal they had in mind....

[recordmeister]

I don't think this has been handled badly by the club at all. As pointed out on here, Scumdon would have announced the news that the bid was accepted themselves, so we had to acknowledge it. 'Talking to a club' doesn't mean that a player is going, just that he is discussing what they have to offer, as Beano reportedly did with Bournemouth last year.

As for accepting the bid, we still don't know how much it was for. If it was £500k, then I for one - much as I love Beano and couldn't abide the idea of him playing for them - would think it is good business. We would have then been able to get two/three good players in and still keep a healthy profit. Sworn enemies are one thing, but in the cold light of day football clubs are businesses and need to make money.

I think it is more the mixed message that OUFC said in one statement that Beano was talking to Slumdon and then in their last statement that he wasn't. You either are, or you aren't. Does the club even know, is the question that it begs.

[GodalmingYellow]

In the cold light of day, you do not pass your best employee to your competitive rival. That is very bad business in all but very exceptional circumstances and even £500k (I understand it was much less than that) in this case would not be near exceptional enough. Kelvin Thomas and Chris Wilder have damaged themselves badly by these events and lost a lot of credibility and goodwill by accepting a bid from a competitive rival in this way, and that it was Swinedown just makes it worse.

Lots of people keep talking about a Championship striker coming here if Beano went. The term Championship striker is a complete misnomer. Any player whose registration is held by a Championship club could be described in that way. It doesn't make them any good and it certainly doesn't make them better than what we have. Any Championship striker who is any good will be regularly playing for and scoring goals for their club, and their club won't want to get rid of them, and even if the club did want rid, the player would want to remain in the Championship. So let's put this ridiculous idea to bed that because a player comes from a higher division that automatically makes them better than Beano, because clearly it does not.

That JC has refused to talk to Swinedown, does him great credit, showing loyalty and understanding to supporters of OUFC. The same would apply if he was going to sign for Shrewsbury or Cheltenham say. If the club accepts a good offer from a higher division club, who is not a competitor of OUFC, and Beano accepts, then that is a different matter, provided the players we signed to replace Beano were significantly better and recognisably so.

[JoeyBeauchamp]

And now Crawley! I think I'd find it almost as hard to stomach as Slumdon had he gone there

[theox]

Premature headline.........

http://www.dailystar.co.uk/football/vie ... Constable/

[pottersrightboot]

In the cold light of day, you do not pass your best employee to your competitive rival. That is very bad business in all but very exceptional circumstances and even £500k (I understand it was much less than that) in this case would not be near exceptional enough. Kelvin Thomas and Chris Wilder have damaged themselves badly by these events and lost a lot of credibility and goodwill by accepting a bid from a competitive rival in this way, and that it was Swinedown just makes it worse.

Lots of people keep talking about a Championship striker coming here if Beano went. The term Championship striker is a complete misnomer. Any player whose registration is held by a Championship club could be described in that way. It doesn't make them any good and it certainly doesn't make them better than what we have. Any Championship striker who is any good will be regularly playing for and scoring goals for their club, and their club won't want to get rid of them, and even if the club did want rid, the player would want to remain in the Championship. So let's put this ridiculous idea to bed that because a player comes from a higher division that automatically makes them better than Beano, because clearly it does not.

That JC has refused to talk to Swinedown, does him great credit, showing loyalty and understanding to supporters of OUFC. The same would apply if he was going to sign for Shrewsbury or Cheltenham say. If the club accepts a good offer from a higher division club, who is not a competitor of OUFC, and Beano accepts, then that is a different matter, provided the players we signed to replace Beano were significantly better and recognisably so.

What if that replacement was a full international? (And no I'm not talking St Kitts and Nevis. You do Wilder and Thomas such a disservice, they are not mugs! Any replacement for a talismanic figure like Constable would to my mind have a very decent pedigree.

Beano will go in the window now, don't buy this 'mind games with Slumdon' theory one bit Mr A-Ro,

[GodalmingYellow]

In the cold light of day, you do not pass your best employee to your competitive rival. That is very bad business in all but very exceptional circumstances and even £500k (I understand it was much less than that) in this case would not be near exceptional enough. Kelvin Thomas and Chris Wilder have damaged themselves badly by these events and lost a lot of credibility and goodwill by accepting a bid from a competitive rival in this way, and that it was Swinedown just makes it worse.

Lots of people keep talking about a Championship striker coming here if Beano went. The term Championship striker is a complete misnomer. Any player whose registration is held by a Championship club could be described in that way. It doesn't make them any good and it certainly doesn't make them better than what we have. Any Championship striker who is any good will be regularly playing for and scoring goals for their club, and their club won't want to get rid of them, and even if the club did want rid, the player would want to remain in the Championship. So let's put this ridiculous idea to bed that because a player comes from a higher division that automatically makes them better than Beano, because clearly it does not.

That JC has refused to talk to Swinedown, does him great credit, showing loyalty and understanding to supporters of OUFC. The same would apply if he was going to sign for Shrewsbury or Cheltenham say. If the club accepts a good offer from a higher division club, who is not a competitor of OUFC, and Beano accepts, then that is a different matter, provided the players we signed to replace Beano were significantly better and recognisably so.

What if that replacement was a full international? (And no I'm not talking St Kitts and Nevis. You do Wilder and Thomas such a disservice, they are not mugs! Any replacement for a talismanic figure like Constable would to my mind have a very decent pedigree.

Beano will go in the window now, don't buy this 'mind games with s*****n' theory one bit Mr A-Ro,

Even then it would not be acceptable to pass Beano to a rival competitor.

Wilder and Thomas have behaved very badly in my view.

There are no good international strikers who are prepared to play in our division.

[Hog]

It's taking a long time to cobble together these &quotfurther details to follow&quot...

[SmileyMan]

And now Crawley! I think I'd find it almost as hard to stomach as s*****n had he gone there

Looks like the scum have done us a favour by setting a nice high bar for Beano. Crawley have gone to look elsewhere.

[Radley Rambler]

It's taking a long time to cobble together these &quotfurther details to follow&quot...

Indeed which is disappointing. For the first time in a long time, I feel a little let down by the actions of the 'Management'. There appears to have been no desire from the player to go to Slumdon, the bid appears not to have been that amazing (considering the 20% to Shrewsbury, 10% to the player due to his not requesting a transfer &amp also the need to fund a replacement) and yet we have no explaination.

No explaination leads to speculation so I'll start:

1) Cashflow issues?
2) Constable and Wilder not getting on?
3) Lenaghan wants some payback?

Any more thoughts?