Is Rotherham Chairman being unprofessional ?

[bigash_swfc]

We should have tapped him up

Took him on a tour of hillsborough

He'd have signed by now if we'd have shown him the four lanes chippy

[TrickyTrev]

So this ten bob millionaire see's fit to go talking to the press about how much money we have to spend on a striker?

Perhaps next time they come to Hillsborough with the begging buckets, I'll just stay in the Rawson for an extra pint instead.

[Mike Hunt]

TBH i am a bit ambivalant at the prospect of signing Alf , I admit i have not seen him a lot but i am wary that he may find the step up a chalenge to say the least but if MM and Meggo want him then fair do`s . I think The Rovrum chairman is resigned to him going he is just trying to get another club interested to crank up the price .

[Guest scott_andrew_william]

If they value him at 500k then that's their right too, and I guess that's what we would have to pay. If we got promotion with him and he scored a lot of goals then we wouldn't be bothered. But if he doesn't produce, then it could look like bad business. I wouldn't mind knowing who the other striker is though.

[neo hippy]

If they value him at 500k then that's their right too,

But if he doesn't produce, then it could look like bad business.

if the total value came to 400k they pretty much got their deal if he plays well, if he flops we didnt waist all that much on him, win win if you ask me

I too thought Stewart was an owl. Although now I just know he is a greedy unprofessional ***, there's no chance a player in league 2 with less then a year on his contract is worth anything over 350k. Stewart needs to sort himself out soon or they'll fail to get promotion again and Alf will be gone for free next summer

[striker]

As others have said, move on sign up mystery target 2 and if we still want ALF, this can be done by pre contract in Jan where Rotherham get nothing.

[oh_weds_we_love_you]

What I don;t understand about Rotherham's stance on ALF is this.

ALF is by far and away their most valuable asset. Rotherham aren't exactly flush and no way can they afford to lose their prized asset for free next summer. They also have a new stadium to finance. Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but haven't Rotherham been in administration twice in recent times, even resulting in begging with buckets outside Hillsborough to save their club? Isn't it this sort of mis-management that put them in administration twice? Rotherham of all clubs should have learned a valuable lesson about managing your club correctly and gambling on your most valuable asset certainly isn't the way to go for a club who can't afford to lose.

In no way am I saying Rotherham should sell on the cheap, of course not, but they should be talking realistic money. I heard the Chairman on Radio Sheffield last night saying he wouldn't welcome any further approach from Wednesday or anyone else and wants ALF to see the season out. That was probably just talk, but even so, don't attempt to burn bridges with clubs looking to offer you decent cash for an asset that will be worthless (in terms of cash, I understand he's still valuable to Rotherham in a promotion bid) on Feb 1st.

[Guest highamowl]

think about it. rotherham want to be in league 1 when they move to their new ground. promotion, new stadium, buzz around the club. If they go up this year they can use it as a real catalyst so this is a big season for them

[oh_weds_we_love_you]

think about it. rotherham want to be in league 1 when they move to their new ground. promotion, new stadium, buzz around the club. If they go up this year they can use it as a real catalyst so this is a big season for them

They've had ALF and his 25+ goals for the past two seasons - and they are still in League 2. 0% success rate. Can Rotherham afford to gamble on ALF's last season given that record?

[Guest highamowl]

They've had ALF and his 25+ goals for the past two seasons - and they are still in League 2. 0% success rate. Can Rotherham afford to gamble on ALF's last season given that record?

But which is worth more, promotion or £400k (what we have offered). Its a gamble, but combined with the new ground, potential higher interest around the club and ticket sales, it really could be worth a lot to them to go up now. turn the situation around and imagine the reaction if we sold our top player just after the season had started when we were suposed to be pushing to go up. Unless we got a mega deal we would be fuming. They are joint top at the moment and appear to be in a position where if they do not sell it does not matter to them.

If we really want him, we will end up getting him, but we are going to have to pay their price due to the circumstances. Their chairman is being very careful how this deal is portrayed in toy town as he knows the potential reaction to ALF being sold. Cant blame them really.

[sjowl]

Cannot find a link as of yet, but in this mornings Edition of the Star Rotherham VChairman Tony Stewart seems to be giving detais of what and how we wanted to do the Deal for Alf, apparently a down payment of 100k was offered to them.

Stewart says something along the lines of he is a Business Man who wont be taken to the cleaners, by a derisory bid which he just laughed at, according to the Star (and i know thats not reliable) the deal was worth a total of 400k in total.

Seems a bit unusual in this day and age of deals being usully done for undisclosed fees that Lighting company owner, sorry Buisness man Stewart should be giving out details of a deal that maybe Wednesday and chairman MM ( quite a succesfu business man himself) would have prefered to keep private and out of the eyes of clubs and agents of other targets they may have, like i said its just my opinion thats its a tad unprofessional, probably others see it differently ?

Can't help but feel we'd be paying more for him purely because they are local rivals. Stewart won't want to lose face from the fans who will obviously be unhappy about losing their best player.

In terms of the transfer fee. The price quoted is 500k, but like any business negotiation you start with your most optimistic price. I doubt he fuly expects to get that amount.

Why don't we offer a fee that would near their valuation with add ons, such as when le fondre scores 30 goals and on Wednesday promotion? Then the extra transfer would have paid for itself! Surely this would satisfy both parties??

[gurujuan]

And if they go up he could always sign a new contract

[edinburghowl]

Mr. Stewart is entitled to value his players as he wishes... and if ALF is happy to see out the rest of his contract there (no transfer request), there is really no pressure on him to change his stance.

The high valuations are frustrating but they aren't unprofessional. They don't want to sell him, and probably won't for the prices they're wanting.

Agreed. If they don't want to sell that is their prerogative. Personally I don't think any unproven and out of contract 4th Division player is worth more than £400k. Their chairman obviously does and we have to accept that. Le Fondre is most certainly not worth breaking the bank for and would be a huge gamble at that price.

Let them keep him for the year. Hopefully afterwards he will join the far bigger and better neighbours for nothing when his contract has expired and we can have the last laugh over the bucket shakers.

[Russy]

Still a big IF though. He doesn't guarantee them promotion as already seen.

Just depends if TS is wiling to risk it with the assumption they go up. I don't think many businessmen work on assumptions. At least successful ones anyway.

[oh_weds_we_love_you]

But which is worth more, promotion or £400k (what we have offered). Its a gamble, but combined with the new ground, potential higher interest around the club and ticket sales, it really could be worth a lot to them to go up now. turn the situation around and imagine the reaction if we sold our top player just after the season had started when we were suposed to be pushing to go up. Unless we got a mega deal we would be fuming. They are joint top at the moment and appear to be in a position where if they do not sell it does not matter to them.

If we really want him, we will end up getting him, but we are going to have to pay their price due to the circumstances. Their chairman is being very careful how this deal is portrayed in toy town as he knows the potential reaction to ALF being sold. Cant blame them really.

Promotion is probably worth more and I could see Rotherham's stance had having ALF at the club pretty much guarenteed them promotion. But it doesn't. They've had ALF for 2 years, he's bagged around 25 each season and they've still fallen short - way short in fact.

If Wednesday had the option of selling our best player for a reasonable fee (£400k for a League Two player in the final year of his contract is very reasonable) or gambling on promotion - which had failed twice in the previous two seasons with the player at the club - and risk losing him for free, I'd hope the club would sell to secure the club's future - especially if the club had been in administration twice in its recent past.

I can understand the Chairman trying to get the best price for ALF, I'd expect MM to do the same for us, but if the interview on Radio Sheffield is to be believed, the Rotherham Chairman wants to keep him and is prepared to gamble. If I was a Rotherham fan I'd be very p*ssed off at the Chairman's stance.

Edited August 24, 2011 by oh_weds_we_love_you

[oh_weds_we_love_you]

Can't help but feel we'd be paying more for him purely because they are local rivals. Stewart won't want to lose face from the fans who will obviously be unhappy about losing their best player.

In terms of the transfer fee. The price quoted is 500k, but like any business negotiation you start with your most optimistic price. I doubt he fuly expects to get that amount.

Why don't we offer a fee that would near their valuation with add ons, such as when le fondre scores 30 goals and on Wednesday promotion? Then the extra transfer would have paid for itself! Surely this would satisfy both parties??

I think the rival part could well be true. Annoying thing is, we aren't rivals. We have a rivalry with Sheffield United, I couldn't care less either way about Rotherham or Barnsley, and actually quite like Chesterfield and Doncaster.

And according to reports, our offer was £400k with add-on's - can't get much closer to £500k without paying it!

[Guest highamowl]

the blue and white tinted specs in this thread are amazing. If you are mounting a promotion charge you are entitled to put a big fee on your star players head and demand that amount. They do not want to sell. we want to buy. We have to offer what they see as being worth letting him go if we want him. it is then up to us to decide whether he is worth that.

If they let him go on the cheap it really does not look like they have any ambition of getting out of that league, which im guessing they do. If they wait until January, his fee will not fall that far, as were not talking millions, rather a couple of hundred thousand. In that sense they have a fall back plan and would not take that big a hit.

[BRADDAZ]

the blue and white tinted specs in this thread are amazing. If you are mounting a promotion charge you are entitled to put a big fee on your star players head and demand that amount. They do not want to sell. we want to buy. We have to offer what they see as being worth letting him go if we want him. it is then up to us to decide whether he is worth that.

If they let him go on the cheap it really does not look like they have any ambition of getting out of that league, which im guessing they do. If they wait until January, his fee will not fall that far, as were not talking millions, rather a couple of hundred thousand. In that sense they have a fall back plan and would not take that big a hit.

Big fee on your star player?

He's in the final year of his contract, i very much doubt he'll sign a new one, even if Rotherham are promoted. He'll be worth around the zero pound mark as of September onwards and has been pointed out throughout this thread his goals alone will not get them promoted.

300k to 400k or whatever it is, is a lot of money for a club like Rotherham, who are moving into a new stadium. That money could be put towards that stadium, which obviously needs playing for, or it could be put back into the playing squad. And for a League Two side you could easily sign 3+ players to give you a better team, with more chance of promotion than a team with just Le Fondre spearheading it.

Mr. Stewart will look foolish if Rotherham don't get promoted (like the last two seasons) and they lose ALF on free next summer, having turned down the money being offered.

It's an amount of money for a player that doesn't come clubs like Rotherhams way very often. Be very silly to gamble like we think he's planning to.

[Guest highamowl]

but why do they need to accept a lower value than they want? IF they dont mind losing him for free, that is their choice. it is not ours. they are the ones who hold the player, so they have the power. it might be a lot of money for them, but it is up to them whether it is the right amount of money or not. Again, not our decision.

They know where they are, and what ALF is worth to them. That will be more than his market value, and if they are not in a financial position where they need to sell, then they can hold out for him.

If someone came in for one of our players that we didnt want to sell as he featured in our plans, what sort of price would we put on his head, and would we sell below that?

[Russy]

If someone came in for one of our players that we didnt want to sell as he featured in our plans, what sort of price would we put on his head, and would we sell below that?

In the past - yes.

Recently no one has wanted our players.