BREAKING - George Hirst Gone

[Animis]

11 minutes ago, Hillsborough Mole said:

Mr Chansiris statement was extremely careful not to be specific or detailed

 

It was incredibly well written

 

Here it is in full - fairly detailed in event's but not specific numbers as one would expect. It does appear that the relationship had broken down by the end of August 2017.I assume DC has been resigned to losing any value we had in GH for nearly a year. There was only compensation that we could have benefited from, but as people have said, even this was easily circumvented as has turned out to be the case.

 

4th December 2017

There is a lot of speculation about the situation of George Hirst. Could you provide supporters with an update from the club’s perspective?

 

My belief is that the majority of issues at a football club should be kept in-house but sometimes there is so much talk and speculation outside that we must tell our side of the story. A lot of rumour and continued untrue speculation can be damaging so we are left with no choice but to set the record straight. 

We have tried over and over again to negotiate to extend the contract of George Hirst but each offer has been turned down. We were categorically informed just before the closure of the transfer window in August 2017 that “George will not be signing a new deal at the club.”

Coincidentally, the notification that George would not be signing for SWFC came just over an hour after we had turned down an offer from a Premier League club for the permanent transfer of George’s registration. Of course, this made us wonder if there were talks taking place with regards to George’s future which we were not party to. Two other clubs had also showed an interest in the permanent transfer of George during the summer transfer window, one being a nearby rival in the Championship. 

Going right back to when George came through our academy, he did very well and fully earned his first professional contract which was arranged as soon as he was legally able to enter into a professional agreement. This contract runs until June 2018. Offering professional contracts to our young players not only recognises their achievements but also gives them an incentive to further progress on and off the pitch.

In George’s case, he signed and went on to do well for the Under-18s and Under-23s, scoring a lot of goals, so we wished to open discussions on a new, longer term contract prior to the transfer window in January 2017. Our offer broke our current salary structure for the Development Squad on a level never previously matched. We have policies in place to ensure continuity throughout the squad and fairness to all players at pre-first team level.

The reason we broke our structure was based on appreciation of the promising signs that George was showing and in recognition of his hard work and achievements for the Under-23s and England team at youth level. Our policy is based on basic salary but as with all development players is enhanced with bonuses subject to the player participating in first team matches. 

Our offer to George was declined by the player’s advisors and when we asked them to submit a proposal to us, we found they were requesting the basic salary of an established first team player at our club, plus completely unrealistic bonuses, clauses and add-ons. We therefore had no choice but to decline this proposal, not because of the money, but in the interests of fairness and squad morale.

Although negotiations were proving difficult I did not close the door because that is never my style as chairman. More discussions were held over a period of time and we increased our offer to make this contract by far the most lucrative of its kind in our club’s history. The decision was made that subject to George extending his contract with SWFC we would help source a loan move to a League One or League Two club to help him gain first team experience.

This is the best way that young players can develop and gain physical and mental strength, the gulf between Under-18s football and first team Championship football is enormous and such a jump could ultimately set a player back if they are not ready for the competition we face in the Championship. 

Of the numerous League One and Two clubs interested in potentially loaning George, even with our more realistic sums proposed in the contract offer, all but one were very quickly out of the running due to these clubs simply not being able to pay these levels of salary. The loan club remaining was itself willing to break their own wage structure to enable the temporary transfer but when George did not sign with SWFC the move could not materialise. We then received an unwelcome ultimatum from his agents insisting we sell George if a loan move was not forthcoming.

As a club, we respect every player’s right to choose his own career path, but I have to question the advice George has received from his agents and other advisors. I am not pleased with how they have conducted themselves throughout this process. Even now, we are still awaiting the courtesy of a reply to two separate communications, the second of which was sent over three weeks ago. We have simply asked for a meeting to discuss the situation and see if we can find some common ground to resolve this situation satisfactorily for all parties. Unfortunately, they are now unwilling to even talk.

We must channel our time, commitment and resource into those young players who want to prosper at Sheffield Wednesday. The whole situation involving George’s advisors has been disruptive, as was another party close to George who used unacceptable foul and abusive language to a senior member of our academy staff.

Regarding interest from other clubs in George, as previously stated, we did receive offers from the Premier League and another club nearby in the Championship in the most recent transfer windows. But these bids, on all levels, were not in the best interests of our club and were dismissed. In addition, agreeing to sell George, or any player, in these circumstances would send out the wrong message to all players in all age groups at Sheffield Wednesday.

As far as we are concerned, we have tried our best and we are disappointed but it seems there is little more we can do to keep George at Sheffield Wednesday. Ultimately, we are a team on and off the pitch, we all help each other. If we allow an agent or advisor to disturb what we have in place then they will be bigger than the club, which will never happen under my chairmanship.

We will provide a further update should there be any significant developments in due course.

[vulva]

If this does end up in court, Leicester will need a stronger argument than 'DC treated young Hirst reight nastily, like' in their defence of circumnavigating agreed FA and UEFA transfer and third party ownership regulations. If that is what they have done of course, because at present we don't know. 

[Guest Xxxxxxxxcxcc]

On 22/06/2018 at 21:14, cs462772 said:

I don’t like what has happened but Horst is free to sign for who he wants.he has done nothing wrong but I don’t know the ins and outs of it all.

I can't wait for the new season so that this can perhaps be consigned to history. 

Whatever the rights of wrongs though, DH's status in the eyes of many, many fans has most likely been permanently tarnished. He may or may not care.

Roll on the new season.

 

 

Edited June 24, 2018 by Xxxxxxxxcxcc

[Rebowl Yell]

13 hours ago, DEH9 said:

 

An overreaching and irrational love of a group of random blokes thrown together under the banner name of a sports club int it.

It doesn't mean owt really does it. I'll probably be dead in 30 years.  Why bother with football at all.  I could mow the grass.  

Why does a man crawl a thousand miles over broken glass to tell a bird he loves her. Doesn't matter. They'll both peg it eventually. Dust in the etha. 

Why bake a cake. Why cry when you watch Elvis' final few Vegas era shows. None of it matters. 

In fact why care about even breathing itself .

Why care about whether an old woman chucks a cat in a wheelie bin. Or whether a wiggy bloke wants to build a massive wall. 

Why cry when yer mam and dad peg it. Why care about whether yer bog roll is double sheeted. Why cry when yer bird shags the owner of a football forum. 

Why anything. Why breathe. Why live. 

 

 

 

I was enjoying your post up until the little dig at me.

 

 

And for your information I’ve stopped crying now, I’m pretty much over it so you can all stop bullying me.

[Southie_Owl]

4 minutes ago, Xxxxxxxxcxcc said:

Can't wait for the new season so that this can be consigned to the last. 

Whatever the rights of wrongs though, DH status in the eyes of many, many fans has most likely been permanently tarnished. He may or may not care.

Roll on the new season.

 

 

 

DH tarnished his reputation with me when he chose to tell us how desperate he was to sign for Man Utd, something he didn’t need to do and would only cause unrest. Now this has happened with George it furthers the feeling that DH doesn’t have much respect for the owls fans.

 

But anyway, as others have said I hope we have a positive season and the Hirsts start feeling regret about how they left a massive club with brilliant supporters 

Edited June 24, 2018 by Southie_Owl

[Rebowl Yell]

I spoke too soon, Jesus the pain. Why do we feel like this? 

[Guest]

18 minutes ago, @owlstalk said:

 

 

Surely it's the Chairman's responsibility to ensure that this isn't the case?

 

Surely both parties are at fault for what it descended into.

Surely the Hirsts don't think the Belgian 2nd division is the best place for George to develop. Surely the fee that he would have cost to go direct to an English side would have been a relative drop in the ocean for Leicester so the need to screw us over wasn't really needed for them? Leaves a sour taste in the mouth. By not playing him all last season his potential tribunal fee had already decreased to our detriment. George had lost a year of competitive development and experience which would obviously have made their side feel staying with us was not an option but the PL clubs were still seemingly interested and would get him for a smaller cost, no need to put the boot in by doing it in this way.    

[Errol Flashman]

6 minutes ago, Rebowl Yell said:

 

I was enjoying your post up until the little dig at me.

 

 

And for your information I’ve stopped crying now, I’m pretty much over it so you can all stop bullying me.

 

 

 

You'll love again Rebel.

*(Though I suspect brotherly love might be a thing of the past for you)

[pgmetcalf]

7 minutes ago, Rebowl Yell said:

I spoke too soon, Jesus the pain. Why do we feel like this? 

 

Like what? I feel pretty good this morning 

[oldtawnyowl]

After over 12 months of rumours of moves to Everton, Man U, Leicester etc, I wonder why no firm offers have been made for GH's services.

Surely, given his goal scoring record for club and country, he must have attracted the attention of most premier league clubs yet, apparently, these clubs (with the possible exception of Leicester) have decided against making any approach for his services.

Maybe these premier league clubs don't rate him as highly as many of the members of OT and his dad do.

 

I suspect that in a couple of years or so, whenever his name comes up on here, the reaction may be. :-

 

.                  George WHO ??????      

 

Edited June 24, 2018 by oldtawnyowl

[bigdan2003]

I'm sure the chairman wouldn't have acted in the way that he did without good reason. 

 

Sorry state of affairs, and whilst i appreciate that SWFC/Chansiri have probably played their part, the conduct of Hirst camps has been nothing but disrespectful since day one. They are the ones that went to the media first, leaked information, got their pal to slate SWFC on Biggs' show. They tried to get fans on side, put the club under pressure. The club had to respond - hence the candid statement from Chansiri. 

 

All said and done - he was OUR player. Developed by us. Of course we wanted to keep him, and of course we wanted to earn a fee through tribunal. But in the end, they've screwed us over. Perhaps we could have avoided this by offering silly wages for an unproven player. 
 

"He just wants the best for his lad" yeah, shoe horning him into LCFC's reserves via some Belgian L2 cloggers seems wonderful. Maybe i'm biased,  but i'd have thought signing a contract at 4k a week with a championship club was a good starting place. Earn a load of money, get loaned out and earn your stripes. 

 

This is all about money - hardly surprising given the way footballers think or are advised these days. And let's not forget the role their sh*t house agents have played in all of this. 

 

Hirst is a legend of the club - but this has left a sour taste. 

 

[Guest Ash76]

1 hour ago, Hillsborough Mole said:

I think you're missing my point

 

Given the serious nature of the breakdown in relationship it wouldn't surprise me if the decision to join the Belgian club hasn't been taken specifically to ensure the Chairman doesn't see any money from the transfer

 

 

 

There’s still the question of who instigated the move, Leicester or the Hirst camp

 

48 minutes ago, @owlstalk said:

What would you have done in their position?

 

I’d have given some thought to the thousands who hero worshipped me for years. 

[s73owl]

6 minutes ago, pgmetcalf said:

 

Like what? I feel pretty good this morning 

Same here pal, I've got all the bedding in the wash, plenty of beers in the fridge and the icing on the cake is r lass is at work all day 

[Geoffrey]

3 hours ago, vulva said:

The story here is whether Leicester have deliberately circumnavigated this agreed process (agreed by all clubs) by using their sister club in a random European 2nd division. Clubs have to adhere to the rules, and conduct business within the spirit of the law. In my opinion, there is a clear case to answer here, and I would take this one all the way, otherwise football at a lower league level, and youth football as we know it, will be destroyed.

 

Is having sponsorship from non-trading companies conducting business within the spirit of the law?

[Quist]

1 hour ago, Hillsborough Mole said:

So much baseless speculation being used to attack the Hirsts

 

Not just in this post but throughout the whole thread.

 

Throughout the whole saga the Hirsts have remained completely silent, even when David's reputation has been dragged through the mud

 

So much vitriol from Owls fans with very short memories

 

What a very sad reflection on our fans

Clearly a blunt as i have pointed out before i suggest you read post no criticism of anyone but age,nt.

[Lichfield alien]

23 minutes ago, vulva said:

If this does end up in court, Leicester will need a stronger argument than 'DC treated young Hirst reight nastily, like' in their defence of circumnavigating agreed FA and UEFA transfer and third party ownership regulations. If that is what they have done of course, because at present we don't know. 

Why on earth would this end up in court?

[Geoffrey]

6 minutes ago, oldtawnyowl said:

After over 12 months of rumours of moves to Everton, Man U, Leicester etc, I wonder why no firm offers have been made for GH's services.

Surely, given his goal scoring record for club and country, he must have attracted the attention of most premier league clubs yet, apparently, these clubs (with the possible exception of Leicester) have decided against making any approach for his services.

Maybe these premier league clubs don't rate him as highly as many of the members of OT and his dad do.

 

Or maybe the club that employed him deliberately stalled his progress by not letting him train with his peers or play football.

[vulva]

1 minute ago, Geoffrey said:

Is having sponsorship from non-trading companies conducting business within the spirit of the law?

Different subject, pointless argument. You are clearly now struggling. Anyone with half a brain can clearly see that this stinks. 

 

Maybe that's why you can't see it. 

[@owlstalk]

6 minutes ago, Ash76 said:

I’d have given some thought to the thousands who hero worshipped me for years. 

That's just way too romantic a notion

 

[Geoffrey]

Just now, vulva said:

Different subject, pointless argument.

The subject is bending the rules. Those expressing the most outrage seem happy for us to do it.