I didn't think Archie would ever leave let alone this soon. I'm genuinely heartbroken to be honest I'm not seeing many positives besides Rodon joining permanently.
https://preview.redd.it/18b30dev77ad1.jpeg?width=1290&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6c828245c213f8b212edd9fe81f1e1e03e2b799e
BBC Football reporting that the fee was only āaround Ā£30māā¦?
I really struggle to see the positives in this. Yeah Ā£40 million is a lot of money and could well see us putting it towards players who will probably see us promoted... to what end?
We'll struggle in the Premier League against the bigger boys, probably get relegated, and ultimately for what? We've sold one of our greatest academy products who has this brilliant link to our heritage.
After taking out Rodon's fee, this is what BVB paid for Jude Bellingham.
I love Archie. I'm quite sad that's gone. But, overall, this is a big net positive for the club.
I'm gonna be down voted for this, but Ā£40m is crazy money. We have to be happy with that regardless of what he means to the club. He's a good player, obviously loads of potential and the sky is the limit for him, and I hope he smashes it at Spurs and goes on to have an incredible career, but he's not exactly a game changer in my eyes, just a solid player, unproven at Premier League level. I'll probably be proved massively wrong like.
A good price but gutting nonetheless. This is not the 49ers fault, itās a hangover from the previous lot and was inevitable given the mess they made purchasing in the transfer market. I hope we only make considered purchases before next season because the consequences of getting it wrong can last seasons as we can see.
I fall out of love with football more every day. These things are exactly why. Make no mistake, I completely understand *why*, but it doesn't make it right. Fuck this
Totally agree with this. It stinks that there was never really an option to keep our most promising talent for yonks just because somebody waved 40 mill under their nose. Can't get much more homegrown than someone with Gray for a surname. Orta has a lot to answer for though with last 3 years of ridiculous contracts and fees
I genuinely believe he's the biggest talent to come out of our academy since Delph. Ā£40m is hard to argue with for a player of his age and only 1 season in the championship but it's not that black and white.
I do think Delph would've been unbelievable if he didn't tear his ACL and have 1000 muscle injuries.
He can take the ball really well on the half turn, is quality under pressure for his age and I can see him being Ā£100m within the next 3 seasons, he's that good in my eyes.
The other rancid side of football is now PSR, which is shafting clubs with top academies, the bigger teams (Sky 6 mainly) will meet PSR/FFP quite comfortably and snap up all the top youth players.
Archie was the type of player money couldn't buy, he has Leeds in his blood and I don't believe he pushed for this move himself (I know his agent obviously would have).
I wish the lad all the luck in the world but it's a brutal loss for our club and if he was pushed Harry won't be long behind him.
Even without PSR, the super league teams snap up evert other clubās young talent.
We lost Finley Gorman last year to Man city for bugger all. The whole thing is farcical and has been for a while.
I say it again, the 49ers are just as bad as Orta and the previous lot.
If the agent wants to add this sort of thing into the contract you say no and give them something else in return.
Jackās Clarke move to spurs covered our arse with PSR and then we got promoted, if this happens again I wonāt bat an eyelid and Ā£40m for an unproven prem player is insane
> Understanding the attraction of Premier League and European football, the club, with a heavy heart, agreed the transfer,
Weird, because in the first paragraph he was leaving because theyād met a release clause in his contract?
So sad about this.
James Milner, Lewis Cook, Aaron Lennon, Jonny Howson, Sam Byram, Fabian Delph, Matthew Kilgallon, Danny Rose, all would have stayed if we'd matched their ambition / weren't desperate for cash.
We're not as desperate as we were then now which makes it harder to accept the really shitty reality of the PSR.
These are totally different. David Batty was frozen out of the first team. Cantona fell out with Howard Wilkinson and it was easier just to get rid. It doesn't make sense now but it did at the time. Gary Speed refused to sign a new contract and wanted join Everton, the team he supported has a kid.
We may not have had to sell if we went up, but then you see Leicester selling Dewsbury Hall and it's hard not to think the whole thing is just a bit fucked
..... why wouldn't they have a policy that is literally only bad for the club? It makes zero sense for us.Ā
If he had a 40m release clause, we have to sell him for 40m or less. If he's got no clause, we can still sell him for 40m if we want.Ā
If they're set at a price we're happy selling, they're basically pointless. Like, imagine Grays clause was 100m. No need, anyone offers 75m we'd snap their hand off.Ā
If we're happy to accept 40m, then whether there's a clause or not is irrelevant surely? If we think he's worth 41m it's bad for the club. If we think he's worth 35m, then again, it's pointless (unless we think we could force 45m out of someone in a bidding war, otherwise it hurts us still)
Please explain to me how a 40m clause helps us in any way, when we could always sell him for 40m with no clause in place.Ā
Reading the replies, the *only* way it makes sense is that it removes any haggling and player unrest.
Like, look at the gnonto situation at the start of the season. If he had a 30m release clause, we could have just said "if team X want you, they can pay 30m, a price you've agreed you're worth. otherwise shut up" and that *should* have solved it.
But if he had a say..... 15m release, we're fucked, and he's gone for well below market value.
The other big disadvantage is that they're agreed in advance. If Grays has another amazing season, and he's worth a lot more than 40m, his release would still be the same.Ā
Yea I just don't buy the "it makes it easier for us to get a decent fee" argument. Release clauses are for the player only, not for the club. By definition, that's what they're there for. They're not to be an advantage to the club who can sell for below the clause if they wish anyway.
The club clearly think that in the championship a 40m fee is what they think heās worth and are happy with.
Ornstein on the Athletic stated as much, when Gray signed a new deal there were clauses inserted that protected the players value.
Maybe they feel it stops them having to feel pressured into accepted a lower offer. Maybe having a hard cap looks them to point to it to buying clubs and say thatās your price.
Maybe it saves time haggling over a fee when clubs know what the clause is.
To my mind a release clause is just saying 'serious enquiries only, no time-wasters'. It keeps the idiots at bay and allows the player and club to focus on their jobs and not have to be bothered with distractions.
If and when a club comes in with a bid that matches the release clause figure then the relevant parties can have a sit down and say their piece. Archie could've told Spurs or Brentford to do one. Seems like he listened to what they had to say, was probably told by Leeds that the club wouldn't and couldn't stand in his way, and, giving the matter due consideration he signed for Spurs. I really don't think it was any more nefarious than that.
I agree with your first paragraph. Release clauses set a precedent.
I still believe Gray felt forced out. Sure going to Spurs and the Prem isnāt a bad move and he wonāt be unhappy with the alternative, but to me to feels like the club have told him they need the money and he needs to move, rather then he wanted to go.
It certainly suits the passion merchant narrative that he was forced out, but I don't really buy it. We don't know what he felt at the time. What we DO know is that he decided that Spurs offered enough opportunities for his future that he could put his reservations aside, think about immediate financial security and just getting on with playing football.
Maybe Frank and Eddie did give him the hard stare initially but I think behind closed doors there were hugs and handshakes.
He uses the word 'excited' half a dozen times in his presser. He waxes lyrical about Ange and his Celtic connection. He does of course say all the usual things about 'massive club' and 'project'. But overall it doesn't sound like a kid who's broken-hearted. .
All the board really had to do was show indifference to any protestations (assuming there were any) coming from Gray or his family and let pride and righteous indignation do the rest. No 'forcing' necessary. Everyone knew about the release clause but that doesn't make anything a done deal. If they really felt that strongly they could have told Parag - "We're Leeds till we die, go sell Cree and Gnonto, we're going nowhere". Yeah, right.š
As I said in a post last week before these events, when it comes to loyalty think of it like this- ' he wanted to until he didn't '. Minds get changed, money and better opportunities change minds. He's 18, not 28, there's more future than past in his playing career. All the history and family ties in the world are going to struggle when put up against that fact.
?
Release clauses (in any form) serve only to protect the interests of the player.
Iām not saying Archie Gray engineered this move but clearly by inserting this clause into the last revised contract there was a quiet exit strategy in-place with his team in the event of an opportunity arising (which it now has).
To be honest Iād question the sanity of ANY Leeds player who doesnt have an exit strategy in-place for when the club inevitably fails the player in terms of their ambitions.
Clubs only agree to it to get negotiations over the line.
Transfer values are extremely fluid, and within 6 months a playerās value could halve or treble. No club would tie themselves down to a particular figure when the situation could be so much different for them down the road.
Case in point - Mario Gotzeās ā¬37m release clause at Borussia Dortmund that Bayern Munich activated. At the time Borussia probably could have gotten twice that figure by selling to an English club but had no power to prevent the deal from going through as that is what they had agreed with the player a few years earlier. The release clause took away all their bargaining power in the negotiation process, but that is the entire point of that type of clause.
Iām not saying players and agents donāt include clauses for the reasons you listed.
Iām saying, clubs insert them as well as a hard cap to a prevent clubs from trying to undersell.
David Ornstein stated when Archie signed the new deal there were several release clauses that protected his value should Leeds need to sell for PSR reasons. The club wanted them in there.
Thatās a damn shame, but as others have said, Rodon back permanently is excellent (avoids losing a good CB like Ben White). Big Ange at Spurs will love Archie, I honestly wouldnāt be surprised if he gets on the bench later this season
We expect him to compete for a starting place before the end of the season tbh. Hope he settles well. Midfield was weak last year, and heās only competing with a pretty lazy Bissouma, Sarr (Ange likes), Bentancur (Injury prone) and possibly Bergvall for playing time.
Iām looking at it as a Ā£30m plus Rodon deal, and thatās pretty good to be honest.
Obviously gutted he is gone, but he needs to go prove himself at a higher level. Hope he smashes it.
Yeah, love Archie & really hope he continues to shine, but this is good business as far as I can see. Weāre in a place where we need to do this to reinvest in new players.Ā
This is why we all need to stand behind the rest of the squad and support them in their fight for promotion. Premier league money means club can tell totenhem/brentfords to fck off with this kind of deals.
How? What? Why?
In the end it happened.. time to move on.. would have loved to see him stay but it is what it is.. we didnāt get promoted and this is the one of the fall outs..
The real test of ownership will be how we rebuild (still expecting others to leave) and push forward
OK here goes...
...shall we all pile on Archie now for jumping ship after giving us just one season then? Dirty bastard negotiating a release clause and then fucking off as soon as things got tough eh? What a jumped up little snake thinking he's better than the champo after just one season of doing alright. We gave him all the starts he could want, developed him to the player he is and this is how he pays us back.
I for one am disgusted with Jessie Marsch and the 49ers about all this.
As you said earlier I think, no-one here was in the room when all this went down. Right now we can be pleased that Rodon has chosen to stay with us and his Welsh mates.
I don't think we're going to hear many on here say Archie did us dirty. Personally I feel a little sorry for him being the little kid caught in a tug of war between two very self-interested parents. But I'm not crying any tears, it's Chinatown, Jake and we all know how this was going to play out.
Nor do I feel any need to kiss Rodon's ass because he chose us over PL clubs, 'gets Leeds' blah, blah. I dare say he signed on terms he's happy with and will give us another great season. I think he's more likely to contribute to our promotion bid than our erstwhile wunderkind. Which is kind of what it's all about... Still it was fun to see some people thinking the world was coming to an end.
Of course he didnāt do us dirty - this place is incredible at times.
To be clear. Good for Archie and have a great career as Iāve said so many times over. My comment was hyperbole to address hyperbole that none of this is Grays wishes and heās been forced out etc.
This seems like a classic case of a footballer leaving his home club for better things. Better wages. Better opportunities and incentives that his home club canāt provide him with. He hasnāt agitated for it and he hasnāt done anything I wouldnāt have done. He seems like a top lad in general. There should be no problem with it from our fans but they have to invent things that make it seem like he never wanted to leave and is being dragged there by his hair.
Heās gone for the money and the opportunity. Fair fucks to him.
What kind of fool would he be if he didn't want to better himself? This is what some folk can't seem to grasp. It's a business, he's a valuable commodity and the grown up thing to do is back yourself and make sure they pay you what you're worth.
Archie, though only 18, has probably forgotten more about professional football than anyone on this sub Reddit could ever dream of knowing, the good and the bad. Though I'm sure he loves the club and the fans, his loyalty is to himself, his family and his future. His press conference very much seems to suggest that he went into this with his eyes open.
It's barmy that people can be wetting themselves over what a prospect this lad is and yet foam at the mouth when some other clubs turn around and say 'OK, we believe your hype, even though he's done next to nothing and won nothing and been above average though not massively more than that. Here's 40m quid, we'll take a punt '. This 'if we can't have you no-one else can' attitude is some fucked up bunny-boiling nonsense.
It's been heartening to read your comments on this event and know that people can and do support this club without feeling the need to hyper-ventilate when their unicorns turn out to be Shetland ponies.
I wish him all the best too. I really do. I'll feel the same if/when Summerville leaves.
Where exactly is that report youāre referencing? Two people have now mentioned it without actually linking the TA
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5605316/2024/07/02/archie-gray-tottenham-transfer-leeds-rodon/
https://archive.ph/wL7Ns for those who donāt want to pay
āAt no stage did he ask to move onā
Huge if true guysā¦ that would make him part of the unusual 99% majority of player who donāt ask to move on after theyāve just signed a contract.
Thereās nothing about Gray being angry. Eddie throwing his toys. Nothing. At all to corroborate any of the bullshit weāve seen this weekend.
āThough Gray left no doubt he was happy to remain at Leeds and that option was a possibility, there was frustration among those close to Gray about how the situation was handled and the pressure it created. The deal made business sense to Leeds under the circumstances.ā
She's deleted the tweets now and there was more she wrote than this. But here is some of it I got before deletion.
Edit: I can't add pics.
Tldr: He was forced out and told not welcome back to pre season and he was a mess all weekend about it.
āGrayās camp had been assessing their options ever since the play-off final loss because they were under the impression there was a strong chance that Leeds would be required to sell him. However, Gray made it clear throughout the process that his preference was to remain at Elland Road. At no stage did he ask to move on.ā
Source: the athletic article
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5605790/2024/07/02/archie-gray-tottenham-leeds-transfer/?source=twitteruk&utm_campaign=twitterfc&utm_medium=social
>However, Gray made it clear throughout the process that his preference was to remain at Elland Road. At no stage did he ask to move on.ā
Makes it even more clear how rancid the new financial rules are for every club outside the "Sky 6"
Doesn't PSR mean we have to give all these funds away to whoever they're owed to? I'll be honest I don't really understand how all this bollocks works.
Me neither, but most of it seems to be about timing. Maybe we'll pay 30m to our bookies or whoever, then lend 30 million effectively restarting the clock on that amount....dunno tho that could just be bollox I thought up lol.
So far the 49ers have sold us out to a scummy company and sold our best homegrown talent, pissing off a club legend / family of other acadamy talent in the process. Great work so far. Dickheads.
I accept the realities of modern football, I do not however find it very enjoyable at all. If we fall away and donāt get near last seasonās points total the atmosphere at this club will be terrible when all we have for our supposed new investment is a worse team without our young leading light.
Just win at Wembley Leeds, stop doing this to yourself.
āunderstanding the attraction of Premier League and European football, the club, with a heavy heart, agreed the transferā¦ā That really makes it sound like the club is saying Archie forced an exit. If thatās not true, then that is some real next level bridge burning by the 49ers.
Itās definitely not true theyāre trying to save face if you read david ornsteins athletic article paints a more accurate picture of whatās happened. Can see why the club want to convey he wanted to leave though to save face.
Interesting that the narrative that he was as being pushed out of the club to meet PSR is possibly not the case. He appears to have actively wanted to leave given he had a release clause.
Business as usual then, just a normal footballer with ambitions of playing at a higher level a stronger than any emotional ties to a club. Maybe itās not that simple but it seems to be the case. He can be filed under the same column as Delph, Cook, et al.
Kalvin the only one who actually seemed to give Leeds a chance instead of leaving at the first opportunity.
You're aware that it can be much more nuanced than that? The club put a release clause in because they wanted to protect their asset, as it wasn't clear whether we would go up or not in January and vultures would be circling.
Archie agrees because he wants to help the club get proper value and also knows he can't stay in the Championship forever.
I'd say it was the former informing the latter.
I think it's that there was a release clause that was met and was Archie's decision to leave, but not him actively wanting to leave. If anything the Club would've preferred Summerville, Gnonto and or Meslier all going before him to bring in money instead, but no club met their evaluations of them unfortunately.
When a team that is going to play in Europe comes looking for you it's really hard to say no.
Iām sure it wasnāt an easy decision for him and it was very convenient from a PSR standpoint but he chose to have a release clause in the first place so he clearly was hedging his bets. Or his agent was.
> Interesting that the narrative that he was as being pushed out of the club to meet PSR is possibly not the case. He appears to have actively wanted to leave given he had a release clause.
>
Sense.
As a total guess, based on there being rumours he's forced out *and* having a release clause, perhaps he's happy to sign for spurs bit not Brentford?Ā
I could understand having a release clause in case a major team wants to sign him, but perhaps he wasn't thinking "a major team" would be Brentford?Ā
Obviously all speculation on my part, could entirely be he's happy to leave at the first opportunity but he's never gonna outright say that, so throwing some "he didn't want to go" rumours out there as a PR tactic.Ā
He had a medical with Brentford, thatās very far into the process isnāt it? I think he was happy to go tbh, probably spotted the gaping hole in Englands midfield and figured he can be the one to fill it if he plays in the prem.
What I'm saying is, if a release clause exists (as it appears to) then he's obviously prepared to leave for the right offer.
That could be true, while at the same time he thinks Brentford isn't really the right offer, but will go there if the team are looking to send him there.Ā
Its also possibly true that in a vacuum he'd be happy to sign for Brentford, but if he knows the likes of Spurs are sniffing around, then he's not too keen to just accept the first offer that comes along, so wasn't too pleased with the way things played out.Ā
Again, total speculation on my partĀ
No the Grays though... Seriously no one knows anything about this and even waccoe ITKs can shove off because the fact is transfers are easy to validate personal emotions of individuals arent
[https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5605790/2024/07/02/archie-gray-tottenham-leeds-transfer/](https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5605790/2024/07/02/archie-gray-tottenham-leeds-transfer/)
This article seems to suggest he didnāt want to feel and his family arenāt happy with the pressure Leeds put him under to move.
Sad, but we all knew he would attract attention with his performances.
Just hope they don't feel like he needs more development in the championship and loan him to a rival.
Likely not the last one out the door either.
IF he's on loan in the championship, there's surely a 99% chance its to us? (Unless the rumours of a rift are true, but even then, that seems unlikely to impact it to that degree?)
I'd have assumed that would be mentioned, but who knows?Ā
Everton, Forest and Leicester all cheated and are Premier League teams.
Leeds followed and continue to follow the rules and are in the Championship whilst losing a third generation, Leeds mad wonderkid.
Get fkd football, get absolutely fkd
p.s see you all Aug 10th, is that what an addiction feels like?
Knowing that the other teams will get away with cheating the rules, whilst crying that theyāre being unfairly treated (despite all being fucking premier league teams solely because of their cheating) really makes this sting more. Wish weād just cheated and bought the depth that Forest has too instead of having to play Koch in midfield and James up front.
We were screwed twice. Just wish as a club we created more noise about it
[https://www.reddit.com/r/LeedsUnited/comments/1buqh4w/injustice\_thoughts\_on\_ffp\_saga\_everton\_leicester/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web3x&utm\_name=web3xcss&utm\_term=1&utm\_content=share\_button](https://www.reddit.com/r/LeedsUnited/comments/1buqh4w/injustice_thoughts_on_ffp_saga_everton_leicester/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button)
Why? Gray chose to have a release clause in his contract and he agreed terms with Spurs and was happy to talk to Brentford too. We had no option but to sell him, he clearly wanted out of the club.
Remember all of those people that were trying to convince themselves that a second year in the Championship wouldn't be the worst thing in the world for us? LoL
I mean, the ones suggesting a *single* year in the championship wasn't a total disaster never made sense to me.Ā
"Oh, we can sell off the dead wood, blood some youngsters etc etc" (obviously before the whole load debacle was known).Ā
Like..... what's stopping us doing that in the PL? If we wanted to sell Roca for example, why does being in the championship help to do that? We could just do so as a PL club (and from a position of relative strength). Plus, you have much more choice over who you sell and keep (and the likes of Summerville and Gray would be more likely to want to stay anyway).Ā
And giving youngsters a game is true to some degree, except to me it's a bit of a circular argument. If (eg) Joseph wasn't good enough to play PL football, then if we're a PL team, it doesn't really matter, we need someone better than him anyway. Him having a few dozen championship games isn't gonna change him from a good prospect to a PL stalwart.Ā
Maybe Gray would have been on loan in the championship if we were in the PL, or maybe he'd have been making sporadic PL appearances. Maybe it would have taken longer to see him perform as well. But he'd likely still be here, so that's a bit moot.Ā
I think the whole "But relegation wouldn't be the worst thing in the world for us" theory came from the idea that we could go down, sell all of the deadwood players that didn't want to be there, use that money to reinvest, and then leveraging some more money from the 49ers, get promoted back in the first season.
That was the theory at least.
Obviously the loan debacle made that infinitely harder, given that then played directly into profit and loss, meaning that we couldn't really spend the kind of figures we needed to to replace key positions we lost.
And I mean nobody, and I mean literally, absolutely nobody foresore Ipswich and Leicester City having the type of season that they both inexplicably had. Phil Hay said numerous times that in 99% of Championship seasons, 90+ points not only almost guarantees you automatic promotion, you've probably won the league. There's just something about knowing that even if we finished on 95 points, we still wouldn't have gone up automatically.
Last season was an absolute anomaly that nobody could have predicted, everything that could have gone wrong, went wrong.
We've just got to make sure that we learn from last seasons lessons and do it properly this time around.
A new, propest striker is the first bit of business we should be doing.
People also need to get over the whole Red Bull thing.
We get back to the Premier League, and what then? Yo-Yo up and down like Newcastle did for years?
Modern football requires money, something Red Bull have in spades.
We need to stop being a club that only looks two or three years down the track, and start actually planning for a proper future.
Red Bull, as much as I dislike everything they stand for, is going to be a launching pad to bigger and better things for us.
First step is getting back to the Premier League, and making sure we have a foundation to stay there for the foreseeable future.
Down the track, Europe. That's where the real money is, and I dare say that's the long-term goal for Red Bull.
Look at it from a marketing point of view, they're spending the kind of money they are with us because they want the most eyes they possibly can on their brand. For them, that's the Premier League, and ultimately the Champions League.
As long as they leave the badge and the name alone, I'm happy.
I didn't think Archie would ever leave let alone this soon. I'm genuinely heartbroken to be honest I'm not seeing many positives besides Rodon joining permanently.
The heartbreaking thing is he's technically gone for similar money we paid for Rutter! š¬
I hope we see him return to Leeds one day. Imagine Archie and Harry smashing it for Leeds. One can only dream!
We say this every time and it seldom happens. David Batty bucked the trend like
https://preview.redd.it/18b30dev77ad1.jpeg?width=1290&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6c828245c213f8b212edd9fe81f1e1e03e2b799e BBC Football reporting that the fee was only āaround Ā£30māā¦?
40M. But Rodan was 10M
Not what the fans hearts want but using heads it means we can get in another couple of players along with Rodon.
I really struggle to see the positives in this. Yeah Ā£40 million is a lot of money and could well see us putting it towards players who will probably see us promoted... to what end? We'll struggle in the Premier League against the bigger boys, probably get relegated, and ultimately for what? We've sold one of our greatest academy products who has this brilliant link to our heritage.
Wonder who they're going to loan him out to in January
After taking out Rodon's fee, this is what BVB paid for Jude Bellingham. I love Archie. I'm quite sad that's gone. But, overall, this is a big net positive for the club.
I'm gonna be down voted for this, but Ā£40m is crazy money. We have to be happy with that regardless of what he means to the club. He's a good player, obviously loads of potential and the sky is the limit for him, and I hope he smashes it at Spurs and goes on to have an incredible career, but he's not exactly a game changer in my eyes, just a solid player, unproven at Premier League level. I'll probably be proved massively wrong like.
A good price but gutting nonetheless. This is not the 49ers fault, itās a hangover from the previous lot and was inevitable given the mess they made purchasing in the transfer market. I hope we only make considered purchases before next season because the consequences of getting it wrong can last seasons as we can see.
Guttingā¦ but thatās what happens when you bottle promotion.
If we do not have an absolute blockbuster of a summer now, it's 49ers out all the way
I fall out of love with football more every day. These things are exactly why. Make no mistake, I completely understand *why*, but it doesn't make it right. Fuck this
Totally agree with this. It stinks that there was never really an option to keep our most promising talent for yonks just because somebody waved 40 mill under their nose. Can't get much more homegrown than someone with Gray for a surname. Orta has a lot to answer for though with last 3 years of ridiculous contracts and fees
I genuinely believe he's the biggest talent to come out of our academy since Delph. Ā£40m is hard to argue with for a player of his age and only 1 season in the championship but it's not that black and white. I do think Delph would've been unbelievable if he didn't tear his ACL and have 1000 muscle injuries. He can take the ball really well on the half turn, is quality under pressure for his age and I can see him being Ā£100m within the next 3 seasons, he's that good in my eyes. The other rancid side of football is now PSR, which is shafting clubs with top academies, the bigger teams (Sky 6 mainly) will meet PSR/FFP quite comfortably and snap up all the top youth players. Archie was the type of player money couldn't buy, he has Leeds in his blood and I don't believe he pushed for this move himself (I know his agent obviously would have). I wish the lad all the luck in the world but it's a brutal loss for our club and if he was pushed Harry won't be long behind him.
Even without PSR, the super league teams snap up evert other clubās young talent. We lost Finley Gorman last year to Man city for bugger all. The whole thing is farcical and has been for a while.
I say it again, the 49ers are just as bad as Orta and the previous lot. If the agent wants to add this sort of thing into the contract you say no and give them something else in return.
If theyād said no then the longer term contract wouldnāt have been signed and weād have lost him for free at the end of the season
Yep. Then they will flip us to Red Bull. Can't wait....
Is this not reminding us of Jack Clarkes move to Tottenham and how it didnāt work out
I was upset about the Ronaldo Vieira deal at the time as well. Still, I think Archie is so much better than either of them.
Jackās Clarke move to spurs covered our arse with PSR and then we got promoted, if this happens again I wonāt bat an eyelid and Ā£40m for an unproven prem player is insane
> Understanding the attraction of Premier League and European football, the club, with a heavy heart, agreed the transfer, Weird, because in the first paragraph he was leaving because theyād met a release clause in his contract?
I read that as club spin and nothing more.
Ah, it's such a shame
So sad about this. James Milner, Lewis Cook, Aaron Lennon, Jonny Howson, Sam Byram, Fabian Delph, Matthew Kilgallon, Danny Rose, all would have stayed if we'd matched their ambition / weren't desperate for cash. We're not as desperate as we were then now which makes it harder to accept the really shitty reality of the PSR.
David Batty. Gary Speed. Eric Cantona. Nothing has changed really.
These are totally different. David Batty was frozen out of the first team. Cantona fell out with Howard Wilkinson and it was easier just to get rid. It doesn't make sense now but it did at the time. Gary Speed refused to sign a new contract and wanted join Everton, the team he supported has a kid.
I was sad about Delph, and I thought/hoped Cook might be the last time, yet here we are in 2024 still fucking around in the EFL doing the same shite
We may not have had to sell if we went up, but then you see Leicester selling Dewsbury Hall and it's hard not to think the whole thing is just a bit fucked
Had to happen. Damn you PSR! At least we get Rodon back till 2028 (if not sold)
That was the official email Leeds sent out. No mention of Archie Gray.
Shame, but at the same time cash and players happy days
I'm gutted..
Wasted your career by going to spurs
But we got 40m and Joe rodon
Well, JR cost us Ā£10m
a steal
Steal
Adios, broccoli head
Leeds owners could have really damaged his career here. Way too soon for that move
And today's speculation special is...... š¤
Awful move.
Shane heās gone to Spurs - awful club!!!
The athletic confirming he was happy to stay at Leeds and the Gray family not particularly happy *
Why did they insert a release clause into his contract then?
All players now have release clauses. 49ers policy.
..... why wouldn't they have a policy that is literally only bad for the club? It makes zero sense for us.Ā If he had a 40m release clause, we have to sell him for 40m or less. If he's got no clause, we can still sell him for 40m if we want.Ā
Release clauses arenāt bad for the club if they set a fee that the club are happy with selling.
If they're set at a price we're happy selling, they're basically pointless. Like, imagine Grays clause was 100m. No need, anyone offers 75m we'd snap their hand off.Ā If we're happy to accept 40m, then whether there's a clause or not is irrelevant surely? If we think he's worth 41m it's bad for the club. If we think he's worth 35m, then again, it's pointless (unless we think we could force 45m out of someone in a bidding war, otherwise it hurts us still) Please explain to me how a 40m clause helps us in any way, when we could always sell him for 40m with no clause in place.Ā
You're correct. The downvoters are just trying to make themselves feel better about it.Ā
Reading the replies, the *only* way it makes sense is that it removes any haggling and player unrest. Like, look at the gnonto situation at the start of the season. If he had a 30m release clause, we could have just said "if team X want you, they can pay 30m, a price you've agreed you're worth. otherwise shut up" and that *should* have solved it. But if he had a say..... 15m release, we're fucked, and he's gone for well below market value. The other big disadvantage is that they're agreed in advance. If Grays has another amazing season, and he's worth a lot more than 40m, his release would still be the same.Ā
Yea I just don't buy the "it makes it easier for us to get a decent fee" argument. Release clauses are for the player only, not for the club. By definition, that's what they're there for. They're not to be an advantage to the club who can sell for below the clause if they wish anyway.
The club clearly think that in the championship a 40m fee is what they think heās worth and are happy with. Ornstein on the Athletic stated as much, when Gray signed a new deal there were clauses inserted that protected the players value. Maybe they feel it stops them having to feel pressured into accepted a lower offer. Maybe having a hard cap looks them to point to it to buying clubs and say thatās your price. Maybe it saves time haggling over a fee when clubs know what the clause is.
To my mind a release clause is just saying 'serious enquiries only, no time-wasters'. It keeps the idiots at bay and allows the player and club to focus on their jobs and not have to be bothered with distractions. If and when a club comes in with a bid that matches the release clause figure then the relevant parties can have a sit down and say their piece. Archie could've told Spurs or Brentford to do one. Seems like he listened to what they had to say, was probably told by Leeds that the club wouldn't and couldn't stand in his way, and, giving the matter due consideration he signed for Spurs. I really don't think it was any more nefarious than that.
I agree with your first paragraph. Release clauses set a precedent. I still believe Gray felt forced out. Sure going to Spurs and the Prem isnāt a bad move and he wonāt be unhappy with the alternative, but to me to feels like the club have told him they need the money and he needs to move, rather then he wanted to go.
It certainly suits the passion merchant narrative that he was forced out, but I don't really buy it. We don't know what he felt at the time. What we DO know is that he decided that Spurs offered enough opportunities for his future that he could put his reservations aside, think about immediate financial security and just getting on with playing football. Maybe Frank and Eddie did give him the hard stare initially but I think behind closed doors there were hugs and handshakes. He uses the word 'excited' half a dozen times in his presser. He waxes lyrical about Ange and his Celtic connection. He does of course say all the usual things about 'massive club' and 'project'. But overall it doesn't sound like a kid who's broken-hearted. . All the board really had to do was show indifference to any protestations (assuming there were any) coming from Gray or his family and let pride and righteous indignation do the rest. No 'forcing' necessary. Everyone knew about the release clause but that doesn't make anything a done deal. If they really felt that strongly they could have told Parag - "We're Leeds till we die, go sell Cree and Gnonto, we're going nowhere". Yeah, right.š As I said in a post last week before these events, when it comes to loyalty think of it like this- ' he wanted to until he didn't '. Minds get changed, money and better opportunities change minds. He's 18, not 28, there's more future than past in his playing career. All the history and family ties in the world are going to struggle when put up against that fact.
You are assuming that was his side that wanted that.
? Release clauses (in any form) serve only to protect the interests of the player. Iām not saying Archie Gray engineered this move but clearly by inserting this clause into the last revised contract there was a quiet exit strategy in-place with his team in the event of an opportunity arising (which it now has). To be honest Iād question the sanity of ANY Leeds player who doesnt have an exit strategy in-place for when the club inevitably fails the player in terms of their ambitions.
No they donāt at all lol. Release clauses are put in by clubs all the time.
Why would a club instigate a stipulation that takes away their agency in a decision? Clubs only agree to them as part of the negotiation process.
Or they add a clause that represents the amount they would want. And it shows buying clubs the amount they have to pay.
Clubs only agree to it to get negotiations over the line. Transfer values are extremely fluid, and within 6 months a playerās value could halve or treble. No club would tie themselves down to a particular figure when the situation could be so much different for them down the road. Case in point - Mario Gotzeās ā¬37m release clause at Borussia Dortmund that Bayern Munich activated. At the time Borussia probably could have gotten twice that figure by selling to an English club but had no power to prevent the deal from going through as that is what they had agreed with the player a few years earlier. The release clause took away all their bargaining power in the negotiation process, but that is the entire point of that type of clause.
Iām not saying players and agents donāt include clauses for the reasons you listed. Iām saying, clubs insert them as well as a hard cap to a prevent clubs from trying to undersell. David Ornstein stated when Archie signed the new deal there were several release clauses that protected his value should Leeds need to sell for PSR reasons. The club wanted them in there.
You think the family did that? It was still ultimately down to the club
Do you know how a contract works? Hint: it has to be agreed by two parties.
Thatās a damn shame, but as others have said, Rodon back permanently is excellent (avoids losing a good CB like Ben White). Big Ange at Spurs will love Archie, I honestly wouldnāt be surprised if he gets on the bench later this season
We expect him to compete for a starting place before the end of the season tbh. Hope he settles well. Midfield was weak last year, and heās only competing with a pretty lazy Bissouma, Sarr (Ange likes), Bentancur (Injury prone) and possibly Bergvall for playing time.
I loved the kid, but we move on, I wish him all the best.
"We're all heartbroken at this decision we've made." Bit disingenuous that.
Post nut clarity
Very cringe
Iām looking at it as a Ā£30m plus Rodon deal, and thatās pretty good to be honest. Obviously gutted he is gone, but he needs to go prove himself at a higher level. Hope he smashes it.
Yeah, love Archie & really hope he continues to shine, but this is good business as far as I can see. Weāre in a place where we need to do this to reinvest in new players.Ā
Good luck to the lad, pick ourselves up and get promoted this season Very happy to see Rodon back!
It was going to happen. We pick ourselves up and we move on. The real test is what the 49rs do now.
This is why we all need to stand behind the rest of the squad and support them in their fight for promotion. Premier league money means club can tell totenhem/brentfords to fck off with this kind of deals.
How? What? Why? In the end it happened.. time to move on.. would have loved to see him stay but it is what it is.. we didnāt get promoted and this is the one of the fall outs.. The real test of ownership will be how we rebuild (still expecting others to leave) and push forward
Boooooooo!!!
OK here goes... ...shall we all pile on Archie now for jumping ship after giving us just one season then? Dirty bastard negotiating a release clause and then fucking off as soon as things got tough eh? What a jumped up little snake thinking he's better than the champo after just one season of doing alright. We gave him all the starts he could want, developed him to the player he is and this is how he pays us back. I for one am disgusted with Jessie Marsch and the 49ers about all this.
As you said earlier I think, no-one here was in the room when all this went down. Right now we can be pleased that Rodon has chosen to stay with us and his Welsh mates. I don't think we're going to hear many on here say Archie did us dirty. Personally I feel a little sorry for him being the little kid caught in a tug of war between two very self-interested parents. But I'm not crying any tears, it's Chinatown, Jake and we all know how this was going to play out. Nor do I feel any need to kiss Rodon's ass because he chose us over PL clubs, 'gets Leeds' blah, blah. I dare say he signed on terms he's happy with and will give us another great season. I think he's more likely to contribute to our promotion bid than our erstwhile wunderkind. Which is kind of what it's all about... Still it was fun to see some people thinking the world was coming to an end.
Of course he didnāt do us dirty - this place is incredible at times. To be clear. Good for Archie and have a great career as Iāve said so many times over. My comment was hyperbole to address hyperbole that none of this is Grays wishes and heās been forced out etc. This seems like a classic case of a footballer leaving his home club for better things. Better wages. Better opportunities and incentives that his home club canāt provide him with. He hasnāt agitated for it and he hasnāt done anything I wouldnāt have done. He seems like a top lad in general. There should be no problem with it from our fans but they have to invent things that make it seem like he never wanted to leave and is being dragged there by his hair. Heās gone for the money and the opportunity. Fair fucks to him.
What kind of fool would he be if he didn't want to better himself? This is what some folk can't seem to grasp. It's a business, he's a valuable commodity and the grown up thing to do is back yourself and make sure they pay you what you're worth. Archie, though only 18, has probably forgotten more about professional football than anyone on this sub Reddit could ever dream of knowing, the good and the bad. Though I'm sure he loves the club and the fans, his loyalty is to himself, his family and his future. His press conference very much seems to suggest that he went into this with his eyes open. It's barmy that people can be wetting themselves over what a prospect this lad is and yet foam at the mouth when some other clubs turn around and say 'OK, we believe your hype, even though he's done next to nothing and won nothing and been above average though not massively more than that. Here's 40m quid, we'll take a punt '. This 'if we can't have you no-one else can' attitude is some fucked up bunny-boiling nonsense. It's been heartening to read your comments on this event and know that people can and do support this club without feeling the need to hyper-ventilate when their unicorns turn out to be Shetland ponies. I wish him all the best too. I really do. I'll feel the same if/when Summerville leaves.
Speaking of opportunity, if he plays for Spurs he will walk into the England team after a short while. That wouldn't happen at Leeds.
So the athletic have reported Archie wanted to stay and his family arenāt happy heās gone. Which backs up the WACCOE rumours.
Where exactly is that report youāre referencing? Two people have now mentioned it without actually linking the TA https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5605316/2024/07/02/archie-gray-tottenham-transfer-leeds-rodon/ https://archive.ph/wL7Ns for those who donāt want to pay
[https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5605790/2024/07/02/archie-gray-tottenham-leeds-transfer/](https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5605790/2024/07/02/archie-gray-tottenham-leeds-transfer/)
āAt no stage did he ask to move onā Huge if true guysā¦ that would make him part of the unusual 99% majority of player who donāt ask to move on after theyāve just signed a contract. Thereās nothing about Gray being angry. Eddie throwing his toys. Nothing. At all to corroborate any of the bullshit weāve seen this weekend.
āThough Gray left no doubt he was happy to remain at Leeds and that option was a possibility, there was frustration among those close to Gray about how the situation was handled and the pressure it created. The deal made business sense to Leeds under the circumstances.ā
The WACCOE rumours were always going to be right, they always are (hairy). Then add on Heidi as well.
Heidi Haigh? Whatās she said?
She's deleted the tweets now and there was more she wrote than this. But here is some of it I got before deletion. Edit: I can't add pics. Tldr: He was forced out and told not welcome back to pre season and he was a mess all weekend about it.
Wonder why she deleted the picsā¦probably threatened by an American at Gunpoint.
Yeah it all adds up. Shame some have to constantly dick ride the club and defend it like itās their sworn honour lol.
No soul in modern football
āGrayās camp had been assessing their options ever since the play-off final loss because they were under the impression there was a strong chance that Leeds would be required to sell him. However, Gray made it clear throughout the process that his preference was to remain at Elland Road. At no stage did he ask to move on.ā Source: the athletic article https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5605790/2024/07/02/archie-gray-tottenham-leeds-transfer/?source=twitteruk&utm_campaign=twitterfc&utm_medium=social
>However, Gray made it clear throughout the process that his preference was to remain at Elland Road. At no stage did he ask to move on.ā Makes it even more clear how rancid the new financial rules are for every club outside the "Sky 6"
Time to call up Harry
He'll be at Spurs within 6 months š
Leeds current RB option count = 1 injury prone Sam Byram
We've got Rasmus. All our problems are solved!
God help us...
I'm sure Ā£30m will help us find one
Doesn't PSR mean we have to give all these funds away to whoever they're owed to? I'll be honest I don't really understand how all this bollocks works.
Me neither, but most of it seems to be about timing. Maybe we'll pay 30m to our bookies or whoever, then lend 30 million effectively restarting the clock on that amount....dunno tho that could just be bollox I thought up lol.
Can we loan him back for the next 5-10 seasons?
I can't see him bragging until the first team straight away at spurs, so maybe a loan until January may be part of the deal. This would be amazing.
Canāt wait for the Angus interview with TSB
Only had him in the first team for one season and we had him doing right back shifts the entire time ffs
So far the 49ers have sold us out to a scummy company and sold our best homegrown talent, pissing off a club legend / family of other acadamy talent in the process. Great work so far. Dickheads.
Child
Shill
Think the club were professional re the release clause being referenced in media later on could've been easy to stick it to cynics at Archie's expense
I accept the realities of modern football, I do not however find it very enjoyable at all. If we fall away and donāt get near last seasonās points total the atmosphere at this club will be terrible when all we have for our supposed new investment is a worse team without our young leading light. Just win at Wembley Leeds, stop doing this to yourself.
āunderstanding the attraction of Premier League and European football, the club, with a heavy heart, agreed the transferā¦ā That really makes it sound like the club is saying Archie forced an exit. If thatās not true, then that is some real next level bridge burning by the 49ers.
Itās definitely not true theyāre trying to save face if you read david ornsteins athletic article paints a more accurate picture of whatās happened. Can see why the club want to convey he wanted to leave though to save face.
Interesting that the narrative that he was as being pushed out of the club to meet PSR is possibly not the case. He appears to have actively wanted to leave given he had a release clause. Business as usual then, just a normal footballer with ambitions of playing at a higher level a stronger than any emotional ties to a club. Maybe itās not that simple but it seems to be the case. He can be filed under the same column as Delph, Cook, et al. Kalvin the only one who actually seemed to give Leeds a chance instead of leaving at the first opportunity.
You're aware that it can be much more nuanced than that? The club put a release clause in because they wanted to protect their asset, as it wasn't clear whether we would go up or not in January and vultures would be circling. Archie agrees because he wants to help the club get proper value and also knows he can't stay in the Championship forever. I'd say it was the former informing the latter.
Kalvin's gran
I think it's that there was a release clause that was met and was Archie's decision to leave, but not him actively wanting to leave. If anything the Club would've preferred Summerville, Gnonto and or Meslier all going before him to bring in money instead, but no club met their evaluations of them unfortunately. When a team that is going to play in Europe comes looking for you it's really hard to say no.
Iām sure it wasnāt an easy decision for him and it was very convenient from a PSR standpoint but he chose to have a release clause in the first place so he clearly was hedging his bets. Or his agent was.
> Interesting that the narrative that he was as being pushed out of the club to meet PSR is possibly not the case. He appears to have actively wanted to leave given he had a release clause. > Sense.
As a total guess, based on there being rumours he's forced out *and* having a release clause, perhaps he's happy to sign for spurs bit not Brentford?Ā I could understand having a release clause in case a major team wants to sign him, but perhaps he wasn't thinking "a major team" would be Brentford?Ā Obviously all speculation on my part, could entirely be he's happy to leave at the first opportunity but he's never gonna outright say that, so throwing some "he didn't want to go" rumours out there as a PR tactic.Ā
He had a medical with Brentford, thatās very far into the process isnāt it? I think he was happy to go tbh, probably spotted the gaping hole in Englands midfield and figured he can be the one to fill it if he plays in the prem.
Iām wondering if the World Cup had an impact on this too. 2 years in the PL vs zero or one with Leeds.
What I'm saying is, if a release clause exists (as it appears to) then he's obviously prepared to leave for the right offer. That could be true, while at the same time he thinks Brentford isn't really the right offer, but will go there if the team are looking to send him there.Ā Its also possibly true that in a vacuum he'd be happy to sign for Brentford, but if he knows the likes of Spurs are sniffing around, then he's not too keen to just accept the first offer that comes along, so wasn't too pleased with the way things played out.Ā Again, total speculation on my partĀ
I think the club are saving face by saying it meets the release clause. I don't think we'll know but I'm a bit suspicious of the way it's worded
Yeah maybe thereās more to it but donāt put a release clause in your contract if you love Leeds so much.
Good point on that.
No the Grays though... Seriously no one knows anything about this and even waccoe ITKs can shove off because the fact is transfers are easy to validate personal emotions of individuals arent
[https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5605790/2024/07/02/archie-gray-tottenham-leeds-transfer/](https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5605790/2024/07/02/archie-gray-tottenham-leeds-transfer/) This article seems to suggest he didnāt want to feel and his family arenāt happy with the pressure Leeds put him under to move.
Yeah exactly. The only facts we have are the release clause and he left - it seems pretty simple.
The sad realization that Archie will likely never play for Leeds again hurts just a bit
Sad, but we all knew he would attract attention with his performances. Just hope they don't feel like he needs more development in the championship and loan him to a rival. Likely not the last one out the door either.
IF he's on loan in the championship, there's surely a 99% chance its to us? (Unless the rumours of a rift are true, but even then, that seems unlikely to impact it to that degree?) I'd have assumed that would be mentioned, but who knows?Ā
Good luck Archie, please don't destroy him Spurs, he's a good lad.
Left without ever officially scoring a goal. š¢
At least he got to celebrate one on the pitch š„²
Jack Clarke Part II
Rhubarb leaves a sour taste in my mouth too.
Everton, Forest and Leicester all cheated and are Premier League teams. Leeds followed and continue to follow the rules and are in the Championship whilst losing a third generation, Leeds mad wonderkid. Get fkd football, get absolutely fkd p.s see you all Aug 10th, is that what an addiction feels like?
Knowing that the other teams will get away with cheating the rules, whilst crying that theyāre being unfairly treated (despite all being fucking premier league teams solely because of their cheating) really makes this sting more. Wish weād just cheated and bought the depth that Forest has too instead of having to play Koch in midfield and James up front.
We were screwed twice. Just wish as a club we created more noise about it [https://www.reddit.com/r/LeedsUnited/comments/1buqh4w/injustice\_thoughts\_on\_ffp\_saga\_everton\_leicester/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web3x&utm\_name=web3xcss&utm\_term=1&utm\_content=share\_button](https://www.reddit.com/r/LeedsUnited/comments/1buqh4w/injustice_thoughts_on_ffp_saga_everton_leicester/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button)
Page not found, deal off!
Football is shit isn't it.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Why? Gray chose to have a release clause in his contract and he agreed terms with Spurs and was happy to talk to Brentford too. We had no option but to sell him, he clearly wanted out of the club.
There are reports stating he was clearly forced out and the Gray family is noticeably angry
There are exactly zero "reports". Only heresay from a man named "hairy crackling" on Waccoe.
Confirmed in the athletic now
Care to send a technologically disabled millennial a link? I canāt find this
Reports from who? Hardly a Richard cresswell situation
The line states Leeds will always be his home. That clearly isnāt the case regardless the whys and why nots
I think thatās just a sentiment rather than meant to be taken literally
You mean he *wont* be travelling down the M1 and back every day?
I mean he can buy a *very* fast car now with his massive pay rise so perhaps heāll commute?
What "I pReFeR tHe ChAmPiOnShIp AnYwAy" means in reality.Ā
Remember all of those people that were trying to convince themselves that a second year in the Championship wouldn't be the worst thing in the world for us? LoL
I mean, the ones suggesting a *single* year in the championship wasn't a total disaster never made sense to me.Ā "Oh, we can sell off the dead wood, blood some youngsters etc etc" (obviously before the whole load debacle was known).Ā Like..... what's stopping us doing that in the PL? If we wanted to sell Roca for example, why does being in the championship help to do that? We could just do so as a PL club (and from a position of relative strength). Plus, you have much more choice over who you sell and keep (and the likes of Summerville and Gray would be more likely to want to stay anyway).Ā And giving youngsters a game is true to some degree, except to me it's a bit of a circular argument. If (eg) Joseph wasn't good enough to play PL football, then if we're a PL team, it doesn't really matter, we need someone better than him anyway. Him having a few dozen championship games isn't gonna change him from a good prospect to a PL stalwart.Ā Maybe Gray would have been on loan in the championship if we were in the PL, or maybe he'd have been making sporadic PL appearances. Maybe it would have taken longer to see him perform as well. But he'd likely still be here, so that's a bit moot.Ā
I think the whole "But relegation wouldn't be the worst thing in the world for us" theory came from the idea that we could go down, sell all of the deadwood players that didn't want to be there, use that money to reinvest, and then leveraging some more money from the 49ers, get promoted back in the first season. That was the theory at least. Obviously the loan debacle made that infinitely harder, given that then played directly into profit and loss, meaning that we couldn't really spend the kind of figures we needed to to replace key positions we lost. And I mean nobody, and I mean literally, absolutely nobody foresore Ipswich and Leicester City having the type of season that they both inexplicably had. Phil Hay said numerous times that in 99% of Championship seasons, 90+ points not only almost guarantees you automatic promotion, you've probably won the league. There's just something about knowing that even if we finished on 95 points, we still wouldn't have gone up automatically. Last season was an absolute anomaly that nobody could have predicted, everything that could have gone wrong, went wrong. We've just got to make sure that we learn from last seasons lessons and do it properly this time around. A new, propest striker is the first bit of business we should be doing. People also need to get over the whole Red Bull thing. We get back to the Premier League, and what then? Yo-Yo up and down like Newcastle did for years? Modern football requires money, something Red Bull have in spades. We need to stop being a club that only looks two or three years down the track, and start actually planning for a proper future. Red Bull, as much as I dislike everything they stand for, is going to be a launching pad to bigger and better things for us. First step is getting back to the Premier League, and making sure we have a foundation to stay there for the foreseeable future. Down the track, Europe. That's where the real money is, and I dare say that's the long-term goal for Red Bull. Look at it from a marketing point of view, they're spending the kind of money they are with us because they want the most eyes they possibly can on their brand. For them, that's the Premier League, and ultimately the Champions League. As long as they leave the badge and the name alone, I'm happy.
It's been inevitable since we lost to Southampton, but it's a very sad day.