Joel to Union

[butt monkey]

:exc: Fans need to stop believing the bullshit players / club officials spout. The only loyalty players have is to themselves and their families (probably nothing wrong with that) so unless fans want to delude themselves they need to realise that their influence upon players is zero.

In which case the sooner RL players realise they are not dissimilar to Modrik or Tevez in attempting to force a club to negotiate against it's own wishes - the better!

Club officials know it happens and they are powerless to prevent it. All Wigan can do is either negotiate a fantastic financial compensation package which they are doing or let a player rot for X seasons whilst preventing the club from using the maximum salary cap. A player who incidentally has a brother, whom could take his ball home too and really screw us up. In that situation there is only one choice and Wigan have made it.

What's to say this doesn't happen matter of factually though, irrespective of what happens with the Joel Saga?

[butt monkey]

He would have signed a 5 year deal because it's the best deal for all concerned. At the time I'm sure he was committed to playing for Wigan for the foreseeable future and didn't expect an offer to come in for a potentially life changing amount of money.

You take the best options available to you at the time. If a player gets offered an excellent deal then why wait around for another 4 years until your contract expires and potentially miss out, just because you signed a long term deal which is as much in the clubs favour as it was his own.

You obvious do not know how contract work or are supposed to work?

I underlined that is exactly what happens.

The only reason players move is because release clauses are triggered (re certain amounts of money are offered), players do not figure in the first team and become superfluous (so hence are made available), contracts approach the end and before they are available to sign "for free" are sold.

No one moves in the instance that Joel/his agents are attempting to broker! This is an illegal approach for an already contracted player - I keep writing it as it is a fact (read up about it please)

[Panchitta Marra]

I am with you on this one. If he goes after signing a five year deal he definitely deserves criticism. The idea he should be some how immune form this because he will earn a lot more money doesn't wash with me.

He would have signed a 5 year deal because it's the best deal for all concerned. At the time I'm sure he was committed to playing for Wigan for the foreseeable future and didn't expect an offer to come in for a potentially life changing amount of money.

You take the best options available to you at the time. If a player gets offered an excellent deal then why wait around for another 4 years until your contract expires and potentially miss out, just because you signed a long term deal which is as much in the clubs favour as it was his own.

If Wigan can get suitable compensation then what can you expect? If silly money gets thrown around then he'd be a fool not to take it. He could earn more in one year than he would for the rest of his RL career.

Dont agree here Cherry.
Wheres the blokes loyalty to WWRLFC, his colleagues and the thousands of fans who pay good money week in week out cheering him on.
He got his peice of cake and no doubt thought it was a decent slice when he signed for Wigan for 5 years.
He has just thrown that peice of cake in your face and said good riddance to you.

[DaveO]

You take the best options available to you at the time. If a player gets offered an excellent deal then why wait around for another 4 years until your contract expires and potentially miss out, just because you signed a long term deal which is as much in the clubs favour as it was his own.

I can't believe you wrote that. Why wait around because you signed a contract? How about because you signed a contract! A legally binding document in which you agreed to render your services in return for the specified remuneration.

If you don't want the security such a deal brings as a player in case a better offer comes along, don't enter into such a long agreement. If you do want that security, don't try and get out of your commitments.

You bet your bottom dollar if Joel had a long term injury like Roberts he'd be very glad of his long contract. They are not shackles but provide benefits to players beyond their wages.

The attitude players can just walk away from contracts stinks and something needs to be done about it. It's all take , take, take.

[Panchitta Marra]

You take the best options available to you at the time. If a player gets offered an excellent deal then why wait around for another 4 years until your contract expires and potentially miss out, just because you signed a long term deal which is as much in the clubs favour as it was his own.

I can't believe you wrote that. Why wait around because you signed a contract? How about because you signed a contract! A legally binding document in which you agreed to render your services in return for the specified remuneration.

If you don't want the security such a deal brings as a player in case a better offer comes along, don't enter into such a long agreement. If you do want that security, don't try and get out of your commitments.

You bet your bottom dollar if Joel had a long term injury like Roberts he'd be very glad of his long contract. They are not shackles but provide benefits to players beyond their wages.

The attitude players can just walk away from contracts stinks and something needs to be done about it. It's all take , take, take.

:eusa2: :eusa2:
Too bl**dy true.

[thegimble]

I am with you on this one. If he goes after signing a five year deal he definitely deserves criticism. The idea he should be some how immune form this because he will earn a lot more money doesn't wash with me.

He would have signed a 5 year deal because it's the best deal for all concerned. At the time I'm sure he was committed to playing for Wigan for the foreseeable future and didn't expect an offer to come in for a potentially life changing amount of money.

You take the best options available to you at the time. If a player gets offered an excellent deal then why wait around for another 4 years until your contract expires and potentially miss out, just because you signed a long term deal which is as much in the clubs favour as it was his own.

If Wigan can get suitable compensation then what can you expect? If silly money gets thrown around then he'd be a fool not to take it. He could earn more in one year than he would for the rest of his RL career.

Dont agree here Cherry.
Wheres the blokes loyalty to WWRLFC, his colleagues and the thousands of fans who pay good money week in week out cheering him on.
He got his peice of cake and no doubt thought it was a decent slice when he signed for Wigan for 5 years.
He has just thrown that peice of cake in your face and said good riddance to you.

At last people are getting the point. Regardless of what he is been offered, inside 6 months he wants to tear up a 5 year deal to go and play a game he had no desire for back in March.

He should show some loyalty to the club who produced him. Tbh if he goes i hope he breaks his cruciate knee ligament in both knees. Have no time for people like him who will jump asap at the first sign of a bigger pay check.

And before anyone shoots me down for wanting a player injured he is the biggest judas you will ever see in sport if 3-4 years into the contract he wanted to go fair enough or even before he actually signed a 5 year deal he said no and went to union, but 6 months into the new deal thats taking IL,SW and the rest of us for mugs. He was more than happy to accept that deal but greed can corrupt people.

[jobo]

Sorry Panchita and Butt M, the genie is out of the bottle and you can't go back in time. Back in the day, it was a case of Wigan directors saying to players that they should be honoured just to wear the shirt, never mind also earning money from it. I could name you ex players who the board well and truly shafted for no reason other than they could. It's only in the last few years that some of the truly outstanding athletes we have playing our game have come to realise their real worth and many of them turn it down because they love their team, club, culture and the game. I hate this situation as much as anybody but the RL have got to realise that sporting success at a professional level is a 2 edged sword. Our best players should be made financially secure for life from the money they earn during their playing career. I'd guarantee if this happened then hardly any of them would go.

[jaws1]

Why dont they just add a clause into the contract if you want out it will cost you xxxxxx thousand pounds that way it would be legally binding as both the agent and the player both know the implications of signing the contract.

[cpwigan]

:doz: :conf: I cannot believe people even believe or think a contract matters. What planet are you on and are you not just a tad hypocritical, nay deluded.

Whatever job you do I defy anybody to tell me that they have not encountered either a situation where they left a position because somebody offered them a better opportunity, a higher wage AND/OR where you consider you are being treated badly in your present position, under valued, abused SO you move. Whatsmore, life is not fixed, it is dynamic. Your circumstances 6 months, 6 weeks ago may be very different to those today.

Long contracts are a 2 way street. 1) The club is protected from losing everything with no compensation 2) The player gets some security, a slightly better deal financially

BUT let's not kid ourselves SPORT is a brutal business. It is short and at the whim of a coach / owner your career can nose dived and end in oblivion.

There is no loyalty in sport. There never has been. Fans are no better YET they want their 'heroes' to act in a farcically loyal masochistic self harming manner. Get real

If IL or whomever wanted to make a stand why not use a time with mass media presence to start to affect change. Obviously not hijack the key news but slowly start to talk about raising the cap, retention of key young players, central contracts. It is time for those with power and influence to stand up and be counted AND then you may be able to stop worrying. At the moment RL has its head in the sand and needs to look at the bigger picture. Whining about a meaningless contract achieves nothing.

[thegimble]

Tell Luca Modric a contract does not matter.