Quote Originally Posted by Swissclaret View Post
As I understand it, Ben was offered a contract by the club. He did not accept it. Clearly, whoever decides such matters decided that the Club could not or did not want to offer an improved contract. I am guessing that he is a reasonably wealthy individual. If the club mattered so much to him, he could have accepted the contract on.

A player has every right to put a value on himself. Whether or not his employer agrees is another matter.
Agree with what you are saying Swiss, however, no matter how much you love anything, would you be willing to take a massive reduction in your salary when you know that you can move on and earn more.
Ben served us well and also helped develop two other centre backs who we then sold on for more money. He owes us nothing and with a very young family to bring up he has to look after his own interests. We have certainly had our money's worth out of him and he is free to say whatever he wishes as far as I am concerned.