TheSheik wrote:
A player, who wanted to sign a new contract mid-season but was told to wait till season's end, gets made an offer he couldn't refuse to play elsewhere and Blues fans are up in arms over it. For F@%&#! sake, we are talking about professional footballers, it's their livelihood, they have to make decisions about their future security and wellbeing based on what is best for them, not the club.
If the Blues had any business savvy at the time (ie. mid-season), they would have had him locked away at a far more competitive pricing structure. They left the door open and the Saints walked in, threw a big cheque at him and he accepted it. Gee, I seem to recall another club using the same tactics to lure over the best players in the league some years back - short memories anyone ??
It's not like the club's are loyal to them either, they can be traded away at the drop of a hat if the deal is good enough yet we as supporters expect unconditional loyalty in return. Why is Hamill being contantly crucified for changing clubs. He would have been judged as severely braindead if he had of knocked back the Saints offer, it has set him & his family up for the rest of their natural days. Besides, who's to say that him (or any player for that matter) couldn't be ruled out of playing due to a crippling career ending injury and therefore not being able to make that sort of cash.
How many of you people here would decide to stay with your current employer if a competitor offered you an alternative position with a 50K payrise ?? Anyone who says they wouldn't move is either full of shit or lying out of their arse.
Easily the best post on this subject. Added to that, Elliott screwed up the whole negotiation process. At the time, the powers that be ranked Hamill as the 8th most talented player in our club, but they didn't think about his value in team structural terms.
Hamill was offered double what we were prepared to give, and the club wouldn't budge. When you recall that Koutoufides and others were getting extraordinary handouts at the time, it's little wonder Hamill was disappointed.
Family security will always be more important than anything else, and Hamill recognized that.