Adam Wharton

[Eddie]

7 hours ago, roversfan99 said:

Duff, Jones, Santa Cruz and Bentley raised nearly £70m (a long time ago) from a cost of probably £4-5m. With these players especially Bellamy, it was likely the only way they would sign up. If Venkys were regularly bringing in massive fees and continuing to sign top players as we continue to punch above our weight, I doubt there would be much uproar. 

Hold on.

No.

Because, actually, we are sort of doing that and that is still a big issue. In part because we aren't spending it - although we never spent it all under the Walker Trust either - but mostly because supporters, rightfully, want us to hold onto good players in order to put together a competitive squad.

I'm not trying to compliment our current owners, but those saying that they turned us into a selling club are absolutely wrong. 

[Mattyblue]

Every club is a selling club, apart from maybe Real Madrid, especially in the FFP environment of now, look at oil state club Newcastle’s rumoured summer of sales for evidence of that.

Nobody has a problem with that, especially here, we’ve been doing it from day dot, even in Jack’s day. What is different now is the team sees none of it and as a result we are at best hoping to stay out of the third division despite big money sales.

Edited April 17 by Mattyblue

[Admiral Nelsen]

19 hours ago, Oldgregg86 said:

Bit young to remember that but didn’t shay given go about that time. Does anyone remember what happened with that ?

 

To be fair I was only about 7 or 8 myself. I'm sure it didn't take long for those at the time to realise it was bad deal, but I think it's only with hindsight you realise *just* how bad it was. It's the equivalent now of spending well upwards of £50 million (probably more) on a dud whilst at the same time giving away a Rovers fan who ended up playing for England just a couple of years later. An absolute scandal.

 

Given I think was much more forgivable. It was a couple of years earlier and he couldn't get a game when Flowers was fit, so didn't sign a new deal. 

[bluebruce]

On 16/04/2024 at 10:56, Eddie said:

Right, so think about it. How hard were we fighting to keep players when we'd made it a standard policy to put release clauses into contracts?

Under the Walker Trust and John Williams we had accepted the idea that we had to be a selling club and turn a profit on players when possible. In some instances, this probably helped us to sign certain players (Bellamy), but we also created a culture that made that the standard approach for contracts.

I'm not defending Venkys, but they would be crucified if they were putting in release clauses at the rate that we were in the 2000s. You'd struggle to find another club that not only put release clauses in for virtually all of their key first team players, but also set them at a relatively low number. 

Just because a handful of high profile players insisted on release clauses in their contracts doesn't mean it was standard policy at the club. There might be other players who had clauses, I guess we'll never know, but I never got the impression it was standard policy from us. That would be a weird thing to do, as being a selling/trading club is one thing, but restricting your bargaining power isn't a wise way to go about that model. And Williams was a very shrewd operator. Much more likely, these particular high profile players (maybe one or two others) insisted, or rather their agents insisted, on the clauses in order to sign their deals.

Santa Cruz didn't go via a release clause, which further suggests it wasn't standard policy as he was very high profile. Neither did Bentley. The Bellamy clause is the only one that was really low (barely above what we paid for him) but it would seem he wasn't coming in the first place without it as frankly he saw himself as better than us (backed up by quotes in Robbie Savage's autobiography).  Duff and Jones, theirs were lower than we could have got, as nearly every minimum fee release clause ever triggered is (that's pretty much the point of them), but probably only by a few million in each case. In Duff's case, the contract was signed before Abramovich upturned the established order for what players cost.

[Upside Down]

On 16/04/2024 at 22:03, Polky said:

Here’s a hoping it is 10/15% of the future fee rather than profit.

15% would be around £7.5m for a fee of £50m 😄

 

More money that won't be reinvested in the squad.

[Upside Down]

11 hours ago, bluebruce said:

Just because a handful of high profile players insisted on release clauses in their contracts doesn't mean it was standard policy at the club. There might be other players who had clauses, I guess we'll never know, but I never got the impression it was standard policy from us. That would be a weird thing to do, as being a selling/trading club is one thing, but restricting your bargaining power isn't a wise way to go about that model. And Williams was a very shrewd operator. Much more likely, these particular high profile players (maybe one or two others) insisted, or rather their agents insisted, on the clauses in order to sign their deals.

Santa Cruz didn't go via a release clause, which further suggests it wasn't standard policy as he was very high profile. Neither did Bentley. The Bellamy clause is the only one that was really low (barely above what we paid for him) but it would seem he wasn't coming in the first place without it as frankly he saw himself as better than us (backed up by quotes in Robbie Savage's autobiography).  Duff and Jones, theirs were lower than we could have got, as nearly every minimum fee release clause ever triggered is (that's pretty much the point of them), but probably only by a few million in each case. In Duff's case, the contract was signed before Abramovich upturned the established order for what players cost.

True, the fees for players was actually starting to trend downwards before Abramovich took over Chelsea. After that it just went mental and got even more ridiculous when City were taken over.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

I was reading an article in my paper by Jonathan Wilson today -  

“  When the authorities introduced the maximum wage for players in 1901, the aim was less to protect the profits of club owners ( although by time the maximum wage was abolished in 1961, that had certainly been the effect ), who were restricted in the dividends they could draw, than to prevent wealthier clubs offering higher salaries to lure the best players, upsetting the competitive balance that made the league viable.

The two factors that have done most to destabilise existing league structures - the inflationary soaring of players wages and the ever growing gulf between rich and poor  - were foreseen and addressed by the Victorians who established the football league “.

[doctorryan]

There is so much incorrect information posted about the Duff transfer in particular on this thread that it belies belief.  To quote it all & correct it point by point would take an hour plus & I don't see the need.  It's 21 summers ago, so why beat on the ground a dead horse is buried in.  Suffice to say, Duffer did not want to leave; to the contrary, he wanted to stay.

[roverandout]

Adam wharton apparently sensational again tonight.  What an absolute farce that we got such a low number for him

[riverholmes]

1 hour ago, roverandout said:

Adam wharton apparently sensational again tonight.  What an absolute farce that we got such a low number for him

I think that farce follows the farce that we weren’t able to get better performances and results with him in the team. He should’ve been our Dewsbury-Hall, albeit he is still very inexperienced.

It’s something of a pattern as we see Branthwaite having another good game for Everton. We’ve had talents at the club but rarely been able to put together a coherent team.

I’ve been cautious about overstating Wharton’s performances but I think one thing he is doing for Palace is simplifying their game. He plays clever passes but he also plays with minimal touches. Palace’s lauded individualists probably need a player like Wharton. He also seems to have helped Will Hughes improve past few games.

Edited April 25 by riverholmes

[superniko]

Man it's depressing going back reading the first few pages of this thread. 

There was some real optimism at the club that hasn't been around since Hughes' days I'd say. Wharton signed a new contract, everyone was on board with JDT, we had other youngsters like Phillips, Carter and Leonard. 

There's also some funny stuff like the 'gaming until 2am', 'walked out of training as someone put a hard tackle on him', 'personally threatened Broughton'. I think there was plenty of moaning about him being at the Etihad for a match one evening too when injured

Edited April 25 by superniko

[Andy]

I find it bizarre that some folk make things up for the sake of attention / causing chaos (like all of the above instances).

There must be better ways to spend your spare time.

[Mattyblue]

AW vs GB, like Tyson/Holyfield.

[J*B]

18 minutes ago, Andy said:

I find it bizarre that some folk make things up for the sake of attention / causing chaos (like all of the above instances).

There must be better ways to spend your spare time.

If it was all made up how do you think BRFCS ended up with the first message to Rovers fans from Adam after he left? Released before the club, in fact?

[Crimpshrine]

On 17/04/2024 at 02:08, Eddie said:

I'm not trying to compliment our current owners, but those saying that they turned us into a selling club are absolutely wrong. 

But they did turn us into a club that sells our top players to the likes of Luton, Brentford and Crystal Palace.

[roversfan99]

51 minutes ago, J*B said:

If it was all made up how do you think BRFCS ended up with the first message to Rovers fans from Adam after he left? Released before the club, in fact?

What message did he leave?

I doubt he reads the messageboard to be fair.

[J*B]

57 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

What message did he leave?

I doubt he reads the messageboard to be fair.

He sent us a video thanking all the fans for their support, he’ll be watching his brother as a fan and can’t wait to one day come back. It was included in a podcast episode. 

[AspRover]

BBC has an article up about Eze and Olise attracting attention from big clubs and having £60m+ price tags slapped on, and about halfway down it there's a paragraph or so about Adam where they seem to be already laying the groundwork for his next move saying he has 'also caught the eye of other teams in the Premier League' [ie. as well as Eze and Olise]

For the love of all that's holy please tell me there's a hefty sell on clause here.

[Bbrovers2288]

Thought he was superb v Newcastle and probably will have another big move on the horizon but palace fits him well at this time, play nice stuff and got some great young players there. Everything I wish rovers were tbh 

[Upside Down]

1 hour ago, Bbrovers2288 said:

Thought he was superb v Newcastle and probably will have another big move on the horizon but palace fits him well at this time, play nice stuff and got some great young players there. Everything I wish rovers were tbh 

You mean everything we used to be.

[roverandout]

I think in a years time he'll become the third English 100 million pound midfielder 

[Waggy76]

10 hours ago, AspRover said:

BBC has an article up about Eze and Olise attracting attention from big clubs and having £60m+ price tags slapped on, and about halfway down it there's a paragraph or so about Adam where they seem to be already laying the groundwork for his next move saying he has 'also caught the eye of other teams in the Premier League' [ie. as well as Eze and Olise]

For the love of all that's holy please tell me there's a hefty sell on clause here.

Highly unlikely  , they just wanted rid and a few quid !

No , replacement signed !

Whilst , the team are staring relegation in the face , tells you a lot about the owners and higher management ..

[oldjamfan1]

18 hours ago, roversfan99 said:

What message did he leave?

I doubt he reads the messageboard to be fair.

I'm pretty sure you're wrong about that

[Ianrally]

Top of the Palace player ratings again today against Fulham. It’s enough to make me cry. 

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

19 minutes ago, Ianrally said:

Top of the Palace player ratings again today against Fulham. It’s enough to make me cry. 

If we do go down selling him will be the reason why.