Quote Originally Posted by UlleyMiller View Post
Barlaser was with us on loan in his first season, we signed him after that and his stats and value slowly improved. He's not an isolated example, in fact it's harder to find examples of good contract management, but he's yet another we scouted, had belief in, signed, coached, developed a rapport with, and then sat back, watching his 36 months drift by.

I model financial risk and work around complex contracts all week. It's a far bigger risk to not have adequate resource and to not have security around partnerships than it is to have a small percentage of your cost base not performing. The latter is easily fixable.

What is the evidence that we did nothing in the 36 months to get him to sign? I would have expected that we would have been negotiating from at least half way through that point, and whilst we weren't successful asd we were with Victor, I can't say that we didn't try. If we didn't then you would completely be right but isn't it possible that we offered him terms but they were't agreeable to him and he, and his agent of course, realised by this point that he could do better and earn more in a way that of course proved correct for him. And Chio.

If we did indeed do nothing but let his contract run down and not once spoke to him until the final transfer window, then I'd be furious also with the club. But as Stewart is a business man and is surely aware of the potential value of the better players, I'm sure that such conversations took place.

Didn't Rathbone indicate as much? That there had been discussions and he was open to staying if the right offer came along. That doesn't sound like watching a contract run down - it sounds like conversations were had, but the player vaued his services more than we could/were prepared to offer. In your business, what do you do if someone asks for more money than you can afford to pay or that you think he's worth. I have that quite a lot where I work, where public funds are limited, I train a lot of great people and then lose them to our wealthier competitors in the sector. I work with the directors, I se ethe balance sheets - its the way of the world as far as I can see. I have to find fresh talent and quickly upskill them again.

If it is true that we do as you say, sit back for 36 months and let their contracts run down and opened the door for them to leave, then I completely apologise. Just don't see it somehow.