Tomkins Leaving - Official

[medlocke]

They hadn't agreed to pay anything, they had an option. If I had wanted to make sure I was paid something I would put it into a contract.
Here, the club can point to what 2 good games in 2 and a bit years, plus a fortune spent on his rehab, including for a self inflicted injury.

I agree. He should have had a 3 year deal signed without an option if he wanted guranteed money. 2 previous seasons he has been absent more than he has been on the field.

The club has done the right thing for me. Got a replacement ready and announced it early.

Or can we put it this way we have let him go before he did what he did last time and jumped. He will not do 4 in France either he will up sticks inside 2 years.

I'll put 50p on it that he is at Warrington inside of 2 seasons

[Exiled Wiganer]

I still stand by what I said Dave, it’s my opinion. I’m very disappointed with him & the club.

Of course Josie, you would not think of your family you would only want to please the club and fans .

That is uncalled for.
Is he unable to live off a 6 figure salary? No - so putting the family's future first is complete bull. Tbh, it would be beneath a lot of people even to use that as an excuse. He would have been more credible had he put his hand up and simply said - look, this is a very hard game, and who knows when it can all come an end, and so I have chosen whichever offer paid me more. Because such is life. He is using his kids like a shield to hide behind.

[Wigan_forever1985]

I dont get anybody saying that they are disappointed in Tomkins i dont see what he has done wrong. The club have caused the problems not Sam.

The club signed him on a Marquee wage when he was injured - whats Sam supposed to do in that situation? say "no i can't take that wage, im injured and i may not regain my form", of course he was going to take it so the club knew they effectively were going to pay him 1 of the 3 years at least for basically nothing. They should of also assumed that year 2 would be a slow burner, year three would be the only year you could expect him to perform which he has done, however do to the club throwing a massive wage at him from the start it would of almost been impossible for him to justify that wage convincingly.

All of that is at the door of the club, not Sam.

So he's now taking a contract that he believes offers more for him and his family after serving his total 3 year contract with us.

I dont see how you could have a problem with Sam in this

[DaveO]

That is complete nonsense.
It was an option, which worked like this:

- at some point we will decide aboput 2019. If we want to keep you for 2019 we will pay you X; and

Completely and utterly false. It's in the press release.

"...the club felt that the option salary set when Sam returned from New Zealand was too high..."

That is plain English telling you the option salary for 2019 was set back in 2015 when he signed the deal. The club have gone back on that agreement and have at a stroke rendered all such option agreements offered by the club meaningless. They may want you to stay but despite agreements made as to wages if you do, they might not want to pay them.

Instead of exercising the option, we offered him terms for 2019 and 3 additional years, on a very good wage.

This is not bad faith, it is doing exactly what the contract envisaged. It simply can't be that difficult to get your head around.

Signing a contract with a player and then asking him to sign another covering the same period for less money is acting in bad faith. A fair deal would have been exercise the option for 2019 and if as they claim they wanted him for another three years after that negotiate a subsequent three year deal.

Now, there is an argument that we should have taken up the option because he was worth it. I don't agree and think that all the evidence of the last 4 years suggest that was not the route to follow. But that is a matter of opinion, and views can differ on it.

That is a matter of opinion but the fact his salary was set for 2019 had the option been taken is a matter of record. We can't expect players to honour deals if the club won't either.

"We agreed this but now want you to accept less" is not going to curry favour from any player.

The level of salary offered back in 2015 including that agreed for the option year will be what he will have based his decision to sign on. For the club to not take the option saying it is now too high but you can continue for less means they have undermined the basis upon which the player made his decision back then.

[shaunedwardsfanclub]

Yes they do

Go on then, tell me where it happened?

Wigan

Close but not close enough! Which pub or bar?

[shaunedwardsfanclub]

He wasn't out on the town.

He was

That's what I was led to believe on numerous occasions. Obviously rumour but everybody who says it has heard from a good source, including you SEFC.
As I said we move on!

We do move on. But the lad is getting roasted for something that did not happen, he wasn't out on the town.

[shaunedwardsfanclub]

1) I imagine many people on this board do things for which they could be paid or could be paid more, but choose not to because they value other things more highly. Here, we aren't talking about someone who is on the basic wage. He was paid a fortune by NZW and us for 4 years in which he did absolutely nothing of note. And now turns down a big money offer from us, simply for cash - he certainly won't ever win anything.

2) the memories are what he has been living off for pretty much a decade by the time he has finished counting his euros. The last time he was a great player was 2012. He will finish his contract in France in 2022 by my reckoning.

The club has done everything it could for him, with support, rehab, even last year giving him as long as it took for him to just right after his self inflicted injury pretty much wiped out the season. How the club can take the blame for his choice is quite beyond me. We offered him lots of money to continue to play for the club who had made him, with the prospect of winning trophies and he chose Super League's equivalent of the Warriors - life style and tons of cash without the hard work.

I think you'd be pretty pissed off if your employer had agreed to pay you a certain wage for next year when you signed the contract and then turned around and said, nah, we still want you but on less money. Doesn't matter a jot if that is still a substantial amount you'd be a tad miffed to say the least.

If they had simply said they are not taking up the option and he was a free agent then fair enough but they tried to pull a fast one and pay him less than they agreed. Should have paid him what was agreed for 2019 and offered him a deal for the three seasons after. If that still didn't tempt him then perhaps you could have a dig but given the club welched on its deal for 2019 it (and the fans) can't complain he's left.

But the said deal was always in the favour of the club not Sam and they chose for whatever reason not to invoke the contract. Good luck to Sam, he has chosen to ply his trade elsewhere and only time will tell whose judgement was right.

[shaunedwardsfanclub]

It was in a contract. If they took the option up the wage went with it. Read Radlinki's statement for confirmation.

What they did is blindingly obvious. They chose not to take that option up but instead offered him a deal that meant less money for 2019. If they wanted him for four years then they should have taken the option up, paid what was agreed for 2019 and then negotiated a deal for the other three years.

What they did instead was choose to act in bad faith and try and weedle out of paying him what was due to him in 2019 were he to be a Wigan player. By trying it on like this the club just made contract options offered by the club totally meaningless bits of scrap paper.

We moan when players renege on contracts but now the club behaves in this underhand way and you are all for it.

But he would have had security for another four years!
Let's hope he doesn't go to Cats injured?!

I hope he burns it up at Cats.

[medlocke]

I find it quite funny that certain fans are pulling the "He's thinking of his family crap" It's not like he's struggling on Willie Isa money, He's had at least 2 huge money contracts and he drives a Porsche ffs (Or at least he did the last time i saw him in a car)

He is a mercenary

[Big Steve]

Dave,

If a junior was on a 3 year contract and had an amazing breakthrough year in year 1 an even better year in 2 and was touted as a megastar, would you think

A) the club have a 3 year contract and must honour it even though player is paid a pittance compared to his market value

B) offer to renegotiate the contract for the final year on better terms and extend it?


In sams case the club had an option for 1 year. The clue is in the word 'option'. They could have had one more year, let him go now, or decide as they did to negotiate a longer term deal to keep him to the end of his career - on what must have been a pretty damn good contract.

I'm at a loss to know why you feel sam has been so hard done by.


Imo - Sam wanted a change in lifestyle as well as a great final pay day. This is only my opinion but i think he thought he received too much stick from so called wigan fans and probably thought he can go elswhere, not get the same stick and live a pretty nice lifestyle. His decision.