Richard’s awol ? 18:15 - Jan 29 with 60771 views | paulhoop2 | Have heard a nasty little rumour that Taylor is awol anyone else heard this ? Jokes aside lol apparently not seen at the TG for a while? Clive can you shed any light ? | |
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Richard’s awol ? on 13:09 - Feb 1 with 4647 views | baz_qpr |
Richard’s awol ? on 11:26 - Feb 1 by BazzaInTheLoft | Agree with all of that except the last bit… How do you boot out a player on a three year deal? Terminate and lose the money anyway? As others have pointed out he’s turning up for training and available for selection as far as I know so what can you do other than not sign him in the first place? This isn’t Sports Direct or Uber Eats. |
There is a Cost Benefit here though, so if a player's presence is so toxic that it is detrimental to the wider business / group. You take the hit surely, pay it up and move on. I suspect this might happen in the summer. If you think you have grounds against the contract to break it then ypu go that route. | | | |
Richard’s awol ? on 13:54 - Feb 1 with 4500 views | Northernr |
Richard’s awol ? on 12:44 - Feb 1 by E15Hoop | I so want to ask you about Reggie Cannon, but somehow I also feel that I'm not sure I want to hear your answer..! |
Well Cannon's not here through choice really. QPR were one of, if not the, first clubs in for him last summer and he wasn't keen because of the state of us. He subsequently spent last pre-season training/trialling with several Prem clubs - Fulham, Burnley, Bournemouth - all of whom were keen to sign him. When it came down to it Boavista, like I say, buried them in legal paper and they decided they weren't quite as keen on him as they had been so moved on. It left him without a club and the transfer window closed so the QPR option was really all he had left. We've taken a chance, got some sort of indemnity insurance policy on him I think, because to my point if you're playing here there's something wrong with you - in this case, if there wasn't, he'd be playing for Fulham. | | | |
Richard’s awol ? on 14:03 - Feb 1 with 4441 views | Northernr |
Richard’s awol ? on 09:52 - Feb 1 by Lblock | Sorry but I totally disagree with the acceptance of this and have said so forever. This acceptance that only flawed players can rock up here is another of the absolutely shite standards this club has and a reason why we are in the situation we are in. It's also a counter intuitive logic that only serves to compound our issues. As I have said in the past I compare this to getting a car...... No point going out and getting a car you know has had issues in the past just coz it looks lovely or used to be a highly desired model, if it's got a poor history you might get lucky and get some great miles out of it but very unlikely. Far better to set your search wider than Gumtree, research, use someone who knows cars if you don't know them yourself and have them on a gain share pain share bonus basis.... also make sure your car is reliable and gets you from A to B rather than a flash and brash number. Once you've got a proven good runner you can, once your situation allows, embellish it should you wish. A car on the ramps means you're paying for that and then cabs, a hire car or something else and it is a totally false economy. There are literally thousands of players who could represent this club -- it's not my job to find the ones who tick the boxes but someone within QPR has that role and they are categorically failing and have done for over a decade. If they don't fit the crib sheet then move on and build a solid squad. Once you've got that then maybe one or two chances taken on a "maybe" but even then tread carefully. We have this reputation in the game as a club easily taken for a ride and players like Richards get it easy. How has this happened? Remember Paul Furlong saying he came here thinking he'd see out his career reasonably laid back and he was shocked at the vitriol he got and realised he needed to up his game and give it 110%... why have our standards / demands as supporters slipped away from that? I jut dont get it. |
Well I think you've got me a bit the wrong way around, because I agree with much of what you say here, and I too think we're currently being waaaay too accepting of the way our club and players are behaving and performing. The Furlong example is a good one, I've seen this crowd rip players and board execs apart for way less than what's happening now. As said on another thread, there were people clapping them off the pitch after a 6-1 at Blackpool. When I started following QPR we were invading the pitch while sitting in the middle of the Premier League because we'd dared to sell Darren Peacock. My point is simply, and sadly, financial. Sam Field is a really good example. He's tall, he's good in the air, he's sound defensively. If he also stormed through the middle of the pitch and added 7/8 goals a season then would West Brom have released him to us in the first place? No, he'd be an £8m+ midfielder, so we either couldn't have afforded him, or we'd already have sold him for that. As it is, as we saw at Norwich Rotherham and Sheff Wed, he couldn't score a goal as long as he's got a hole in his ars. Another reason West Brom released him is because he was very injury prone, we've taken a chance on improving that and actually he's played every game for two years, so that's an example of a chance we've taken to get a player here that has worked. When I say 'something wrong with you' that might just be you're a bit old. To your Furlong example, others had probably passed because he was injury prone and in his 30s. We took a chance and actually got a brilliant centre forward for four years. Or inexperienced - too young, only played lower division. This is where we've fallen down - we haven't made enough of those punts and the ones we have have failed. Luton (another club who can only afford players with something a bit 'wrong' with them) meanwhile...
My point is simple this. A 25/26 year old proven player, who has no injury history, is of sound character, who's athletic, quick, scores goals... in the modern game that player costs £20m+, so self evidently he's not going to be coming here. We've got to be far, far, far better than we have been at picking out the gems from what's left. And we've also got to have a culture here that is strong, with high standards around what it is to play for QPR. At the moment our culture is in the bin, and so cnts like Richards think it's fine to come here and behave like this. You set your culture and ethos first. This is who we are, this is how we play, these are our minimum standards. You then recruit into that, and you're very fcking firm about enforcing all of that. So even though you do have to make risky signings, they're coming into an environment that gives them the best chance of succeeding. And again, tragically, Luton are a really good example of how to do this.
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Richard’s awol ? on 14:27 - Feb 1 with 4325 views | NorthantsHoop |
Richard’s awol ? on 14:03 - Feb 1 by Northernr | Well I think you've got me a bit the wrong way around, because I agree with much of what you say here, and I too think we're currently being waaaay too accepting of the way our club and players are behaving and performing. The Furlong example is a good one, I've seen this crowd rip players and board execs apart for way less than what's happening now. As said on another thread, there were people clapping them off the pitch after a 6-1 at Blackpool. When I started following QPR we were invading the pitch while sitting in the middle of the Premier League because we'd dared to sell Darren Peacock. My point is simply, and sadly, financial. Sam Field is a really good example. He's tall, he's good in the air, he's sound defensively. If he also stormed through the middle of the pitch and added 7/8 goals a season then would West Brom have released him to us in the first place? No, he'd be an £8m+ midfielder, so we either couldn't have afforded him, or we'd already have sold him for that. As it is, as we saw at Norwich Rotherham and Sheff Wed, he couldn't score a goal as long as he's got a hole in his ars. Another reason West Brom released him is because he was very injury prone, we've taken a chance on improving that and actually he's played every game for two years, so that's an example of a chance we've taken to get a player here that has worked. When I say 'something wrong with you' that might just be you're a bit old. To your Furlong example, others had probably passed because he was injury prone and in his 30s. We took a chance and actually got a brilliant centre forward for four years. Or inexperienced - too young, only played lower division. This is where we've fallen down - we haven't made enough of those punts and the ones we have have failed. Luton (another club who can only afford players with something a bit 'wrong' with them) meanwhile...
My point is simple this. A 25/26 year old proven player, who has no injury history, is of sound character, who's athletic, quick, scores goals... in the modern game that player costs £20m+, so self evidently he's not going to be coming here. We've got to be far, far, far better than we have been at picking out the gems from what's left. And we've also got to have a culture here that is strong, with high standards around what it is to play for QPR. At the moment our culture is in the bin, and so cnts like Richards think it's fine to come here and behave like this. You set your culture and ethos first. This is who we are, this is how we play, these are our minimum standards. You then recruit into that, and you're very fcking firm about enforcing all of that. So even though you do have to make risky signings, they're coming into an environment that gives them the best chance of succeeding. And again, tragically, Luton are a really good example of how to do this.
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I agree on this, I might be wrong but I thought the culture was improving in the early days of Mark Warburton's tenure and we started to see a vast improvement in how we played and attitude on the pitch. Did it all start to go downhill when the push for the play offs in the 2021/22 season started to derail it all and that continued with Beale's boys and finally Ainsworth who just don't think was taken seriously as a top level coach. | | | |
Richard’s awol ? on 14:34 - Feb 1 with 4251 views | Northernr |
Richard’s awol ? on 14:27 - Feb 1 by NorthantsHoop | I agree on this, I might be wrong but I thought the culture was improving in the early days of Mark Warburton's tenure and we started to see a vast improvement in how we played and attitude on the pitch. Did it all start to go downhill when the push for the play offs in the 2021/22 season started to derail it all and that continued with Beale's boys and finally Ainsworth who just don't think was taken seriously as a top level coach. |
I think Hunter made some very sound points about decisions and signings made in that final Warburton season - Andre Gray, bombing out Dom Ball and falling head over heels in love with Hendrick - that did a lot to set the decline in standards in motion. | | | |
Richard’s awol ? on 14:49 - Feb 1 with 4144 views | kensalriser |
Richard’s awol ? on 14:34 - Feb 1 by Northernr | I think Hunter made some very sound points about decisions and signings made in that final Warburton season - Andre Gray, bombing out Dom Ball and falling head over heels in love with Hendrick - that did a lot to set the decline in standards in motion. |
And those reasons at the least are why he left QPR. Still not turned up at another gig post WHU, either. | |
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Richard’s awol ? on 14:52 - Feb 1 with 4121 views | daveB |
Richard’s awol ? on 14:27 - Feb 1 by NorthantsHoop | I agree on this, I might be wrong but I thought the culture was improving in the early days of Mark Warburton's tenure and we started to see a vast improvement in how we played and attitude on the pitch. Did it all start to go downhill when the push for the play offs in the 2021/22 season started to derail it all and that continued with Beale's boys and finally Ainsworth who just don't think was taken seriously as a top level coach. |
Thing is with Warbs, and I loved him, that 2nd season we wasted a lot of the Eze money and were going down at Christmas before Austin and co arrived and then all of a sudden we went from we're heading to league one to we can go up based on the first successful transfer window for about 3 years, that January is the anomaly at QPR in recent years. it's the only one we've got right since Holloway came in and signed Smith and Freeman, even then we signed some shit like Goss and Lua Lua as well | | | |
Richard’s awol ? on 14:56 - Feb 1 with 4082 views | TheChef |
Richard’s awol ? on 14:34 - Feb 1 by Northernr | I think Hunter made some very sound points about decisions and signings made in that final Warburton season - Andre Gray, bombing out Dom Ball and falling head over heels in love with Hendrick - that did a lot to set the decline in standards in motion. |
And Warburton himself fell out with the board when perhaps he could have played that better. | |
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Richard’s awol ? on 15:22 - Feb 1 with 3916 views | ngbqpr | Heading for Page 9 and no clearer if there's a way we can (legally / affordably) part company with Richards. Kinda guess if there was, the club would have activated it by now. Ho hum. | |
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Richard’s awol ? on 15:46 - Feb 1 with 3769 views | BrianWilson |
Richard’s awol ? on 13:54 - Feb 1 by Northernr | Well Cannon's not here through choice really. QPR were one of, if not the, first clubs in for him last summer and he wasn't keen because of the state of us. He subsequently spent last pre-season training/trialling with several Prem clubs - Fulham, Burnley, Bournemouth - all of whom were keen to sign him. When it came down to it Boavista, like I say, buried them in legal paper and they decided they weren't quite as keen on him as they had been so moved on. It left him without a club and the transfer window closed so the QPR option was really all he had left. We've taken a chance, got some sort of indemnity insurance policy on him I think, because to my point if you're playing here there's something wrong with you - in this case, if there wasn't, he'd be playing for Fulham. |
That's interesting. I like Ol' Reg but doesn't seem prem standard. | |
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Richard’s awol ? on 15:56 - Feb 1 with 3712 views | BazzaInTheLoft |
Richard’s awol ? on 15:22 - Feb 1 by ngbqpr | Heading for Page 9 and no clearer if there's a way we can (legally / affordably) part company with Richards. Kinda guess if there was, the club would have activated it by now. Ho hum. |
The correct answer! | | | |
Richard’s awol ? on 15:59 - Feb 1 with 3681 views | joe90 |
Richard’s awol ? on 14:03 - Feb 1 by Northernr | Well I think you've got me a bit the wrong way around, because I agree with much of what you say here, and I too think we're currently being waaaay too accepting of the way our club and players are behaving and performing. The Furlong example is a good one, I've seen this crowd rip players and board execs apart for way less than what's happening now. As said on another thread, there were people clapping them off the pitch after a 6-1 at Blackpool. When I started following QPR we were invading the pitch while sitting in the middle of the Premier League because we'd dared to sell Darren Peacock. My point is simply, and sadly, financial. Sam Field is a really good example. He's tall, he's good in the air, he's sound defensively. If he also stormed through the middle of the pitch and added 7/8 goals a season then would West Brom have released him to us in the first place? No, he'd be an £8m+ midfielder, so we either couldn't have afforded him, or we'd already have sold him for that. As it is, as we saw at Norwich Rotherham and Sheff Wed, he couldn't score a goal as long as he's got a hole in his ars. Another reason West Brom released him is because he was very injury prone, we've taken a chance on improving that and actually he's played every game for two years, so that's an example of a chance we've taken to get a player here that has worked. When I say 'something wrong with you' that might just be you're a bit old. To your Furlong example, others had probably passed because he was injury prone and in his 30s. We took a chance and actually got a brilliant centre forward for four years. Or inexperienced - too young, only played lower division. This is where we've fallen down - we haven't made enough of those punts and the ones we have have failed. Luton (another club who can only afford players with something a bit 'wrong' with them) meanwhile...
My point is simple this. A 25/26 year old proven player, who has no injury history, is of sound character, who's athletic, quick, scores goals... in the modern game that player costs £20m+, so self evidently he's not going to be coming here. We've got to be far, far, far better than we have been at picking out the gems from what's left. And we've also got to have a culture here that is strong, with high standards around what it is to play for QPR. At the moment our culture is in the bin, and so cnts like Richards think it's fine to come here and behave like this. You set your culture and ethos first. This is who we are, this is how we play, these are our minimum standards. You then recruit into that, and you're very fcking firm about enforcing all of that. So even though you do have to make risky signings, they're coming into an environment that gives them the best chance of succeeding. And again, tragically, Luton are a really good example of how to do this.
This post has been edited by an administrator |
Have you been privy to any 'off the record' conversations with people at the club about Richards? Appreciate you won't be able to mention what was discussed if so, but just want to get a sense of whether anyone actually knows or if it's all guess work/reading between the lines. | | | |
Richard’s awol ? on 16:24 - Feb 1 with 3568 views | Northernr |
Richard’s awol ? on 15:59 - Feb 1 by joe90 | Have you been privy to any 'off the record' conversations with people at the club about Richards? Appreciate you won't be able to mention what was discussed if so, but just want to get a sense of whether anyone actually knows or if it's all guess work/reading between the lines. |
I think I mentioned this in a pod a while ago but even though QPR is leaking like a sieve atm, and you’ll always find ppl willing to chat anyway, as soon as you mention Richards everybody just clams up, probably because they know they’ve made a terrible mistake. He’s rarely there/training atm, which is what adomah was referring to. I was surprised to see him in the training pics on Friday, and that Nix says he was there Tuesday because that’s a rarity and people who’ve been on the bond holder tour of Heston recently have told me he wasn’t training and it was remarked upon. Other than that the only other thing was apparently Les didn’t want him to move back to w12 when he signed here, wanted him out in the sticks somewhere, and was ignored. And Ainsworth was seriously pissd with his pre season having given him every opportunity to come back in with a clean slate, get fit, get going. The second friendly in Austria I thought his performance incredibly strange and Ainsworth was absolutely fuming with it. He basically tossed the whole thing off. He’s been described to me as “a lost cause”. | | | |
Richard’s awol ? on 16:37 - Feb 1 with 3473 views | Rangersw12 |
Richard’s awol ? on 16:24 - Feb 1 by Northernr | I think I mentioned this in a pod a while ago but even though QPR is leaking like a sieve atm, and you’ll always find ppl willing to chat anyway, as soon as you mention Richards everybody just clams up, probably because they know they’ve made a terrible mistake. He’s rarely there/training atm, which is what adomah was referring to. I was surprised to see him in the training pics on Friday, and that Nix says he was there Tuesday because that’s a rarity and people who’ve been on the bond holder tour of Heston recently have told me he wasn’t training and it was remarked upon. Other than that the only other thing was apparently Les didn’t want him to move back to w12 when he signed here, wanted him out in the sticks somewhere, and was ignored. And Ainsworth was seriously pissd with his pre season having given him every opportunity to come back in with a clean slate, get fit, get going. The second friendly in Austria I thought his performance incredibly strange and Ainsworth was absolutely fuming with it. He basically tossed the whole thing off. He’s been described to me as “a lost cause”. |
Who was actually responsible for the signing in the first place ? | | | |
Richard’s awol ? on 16:47 - Feb 1 with 3405 views | Paddyhoops |
Richard’s awol ? on 15:46 - Feb 1 by BrianWilson | That's interesting. I like Ol' Reg but doesn't seem prem standard. |
Reg’s display against Millwall in the first 20 minutes was a car crash .Appalling bad . He did however improve vastly after that which was a credit to him. The problem with this set of players is they keep proving they’re not good enough at this level. Look at the players being linked with moves . Dunne ,Kakay are clearly not good enough ball players to fit in with Marti’s way of playing. Dozell has gone as well mainly due to the fact that he contributed the square route of f**k all to the cause of the team . Is Dykes good at enough at this level. I’m beginning to wonder . Armstrong is being flogged to death . Not his fault as we have no else . Willock , not the player he was and winding down his time here. We have 9 wins in 60 odd games . We need 9 before the end of the the season . It ain’t happening with this set of players . | | | |
Richard’s awol ? on 17:30 - Feb 1 with 3181 views | PunteR |
Richard’s awol ? on 14:34 - Feb 1 by Northernr | I think Hunter made some very sound points about decisions and signings made in that final Warburton season - Andre Gray, bombing out Dom Ball and falling head over heels in love with Hendrick - that did a lot to set the decline in standards in motion. |
What's this about Grey that keeps getting alluded too? Also, is there any truth about Dom Ball getting bombed out because he left his agent who was Warburtons son.. ? | |
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Richard’s awol ? on 17:31 - Feb 1 with 3164 views | Loyalitat |
Richard’s awol ? on 16:24 - Feb 1 by Northernr | I think I mentioned this in a pod a while ago but even though QPR is leaking like a sieve atm, and you’ll always find ppl willing to chat anyway, as soon as you mention Richards everybody just clams up, probably because they know they’ve made a terrible mistake. He’s rarely there/training atm, which is what adomah was referring to. I was surprised to see him in the training pics on Friday, and that Nix says he was there Tuesday because that’s a rarity and people who’ve been on the bond holder tour of Heston recently have told me he wasn’t training and it was remarked upon. Other than that the only other thing was apparently Les didn’t want him to move back to w12 when he signed here, wanted him out in the sticks somewhere, and was ignored. And Ainsworth was seriously pissd with his pre season having given him every opportunity to come back in with a clean slate, get fit, get going. The second friendly in Austria I thought his performance incredibly strange and Ainsworth was absolutely fuming with it. He basically tossed the whole thing off. He’s been described to me as “a lost cause”. |
Thanks for that. Not being privy to any of this, I was one of those who was willing to give him a chance. However, on the back of this evidence, it's hard to view him as being anything other than a lost cause. | | | |
Richard’s awol ? on 18:29 - Feb 1 with 2938 views | numptydumpty | Couple of people have wondered as to monies, we could still be paying Richards. As has been said it's all dependent on the initial signing on contract. I worked in a support function 20 years ago which supported people who were experiencing mental health troubles and struggling with their employment. Just as an example a guy high up in sales at Microsoft, his actual salary was £100k a year. He had disclosed his diagnosis, Bipolar and he was off sick for two years and during that time he was paid three quarter salary so effectively took home £150k for his two years sick. He did not go back to Microsoft after that. Most people after a short period of time on full salary are placed legally on Statutory Sick Pay which basically is the bare minimum paid and not survivable on in this country ie about same as the old Job Seekers Allowance.£100 per week... Clearly with an agents advice and the mad world of football would be certain the guy is being paid a percentage of his salary, I would think over the course of his contract. I doubt we have a break clause as the agent would probably refuse to offer this to his client who he probably already knew the potential for this scenario to occur.We truly ballsed this one up despite warning signs. Les wanting Taylor to live in country and not locally - sounds like if true - as this was area he grew up - am guessing perhaps he hung out in gangs, possibly alcohol and drug fuelled acquaintances etc but really if this was known and the potential this could / would happen, its the people who took this very uneducated risk that are more to blame. I can't really say much more on this as we are all guessing but this is myself reading between the lines but all I would say I feel the club have really ballsed this one up big time and it seems whoever truly sanctioned this they have zero sense or insight. My bet it was Beale pushing for this...... | |
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Richard’s awol ? on 18:47 - Feb 1 with 2852 views | E15Hoop |
Richard’s awol ? on 13:54 - Feb 1 by Northernr | Well Cannon's not here through choice really. QPR were one of, if not the, first clubs in for him last summer and he wasn't keen because of the state of us. He subsequently spent last pre-season training/trialling with several Prem clubs - Fulham, Burnley, Bournemouth - all of whom were keen to sign him. When it came down to it Boavista, like I say, buried them in legal paper and they decided they weren't quite as keen on him as they had been so moved on. It left him without a club and the transfer window closed so the QPR option was really all he had left. We've taken a chance, got some sort of indemnity insurance policy on him I think, because to my point if you're playing here there's something wrong with you - in this case, if there wasn't, he'd be playing for Fulham. |
Thanks, Clive. Not quite as bad as I thought, but still complicated in an almost Paladini-esque fashion. I feel quite sorry for him, as he doesn't seem to be the kind of bloke who would kick up a stink for no good reason. I think I'd find it hard to keep as focused as he has been on delivering good performances for us with that sort of unresolved legal quagmire hanging over me. I've just been reading Isaac Hayden's tweets about not getting paid by Standard Liege, so it looks like this is a bit of a "thing" at the moment. I wonder if this is another example of what you're talking about, given we've apparently just sealed a loan move for him? | | | |
Richard’s awol ? on 19:24 - Feb 1 with 2662 views | QPR_Jim |
Richard’s awol ? on 15:22 - Feb 1 by ngbqpr | Heading for Page 9 and no clearer if there's a way we can (legally / affordably) part company with Richards. Kinda guess if there was, the club would have activated it by now. Ho hum. |
I've seen it mentioned that the PFA wouldn't allow a club to terminate a players contract even under these circumstances but I'd like to understand why. I get that they're there to support and represent the players but what about the rest of the squad? It's clearly an issue for Unc's and probably others so why is he/they less important than Richards to the PFA? | | | |
Richard’s awol ? on 20:52 - Feb 1 with 2413 views | BrianWilson |
Richard’s awol ? on 19:24 - Feb 1 by QPR_Jim | I've seen it mentioned that the PFA wouldn't allow a club to terminate a players contract even under these circumstances but I'd like to understand why. I get that they're there to support and represent the players but what about the rest of the squad? It's clearly an issue for Unc's and probably others so why is he/they less important than Richards to the PFA? |
It feels a bit like we have gone full circle from the ridiculous contracts in the prem and later years back to talking about much Rowan Vine earns and how he needs to leave. Suppose that's just where we are. Leave Uncs alone though, he plays for the 1st team and the u23s so doing a double shift! | |
| "a diseased bunch of mofos if there ever was one, their beauty is so awesome that listening to them at their best is like being in some vast dream cathedral decorated with a thousand gleaming American pop culture icons."
- Lester Bangs on The Beach Boys |
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Richard’s awol ? on 21:08 - Feb 1 with 2320 views | numptydumpty |
Some more damning bullshyte quotes from Beale - that will certainly come back to bite him but they mainly bite us. Maybe we could do a late night cheeky offer of Taylor Richards in return we could get Jobe or Jude Bellingham mk II .... Sounds like a plan .... | |
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Richard’s awol ? on 21:11 - Feb 1 with 2298 views | QPR_Jim |
Richard’s awol ? on 20:52 - Feb 1 by BrianWilson | It feels a bit like we have gone full circle from the ridiculous contracts in the prem and later years back to talking about much Rowan Vine earns and how he needs to leave. Suppose that's just where we are. Leave Uncs alone though, he plays for the 1st team and the u23s so doing a double shift! |
To be clear I'm not having a go at Unc's, my point is that as a QPR player and I assume a member of the PFA he's clearly upset that his colleague is getting away with just not turning up. But if the club were to terminate Richard's contract supposedly the PFA would object to protect Richards despite it having a negative effect on the other players who are also under their umbrella. Makes no sense to me. | | | |
Richard’s awol ? on 22:15 - Feb 1 with 2120 views | BrizR |
Richard’s awol ? on 21:11 - Feb 1 by QPR_Jim | To be clear I'm not having a go at Unc's, my point is that as a QPR player and I assume a member of the PFA he's clearly upset that his colleague is getting away with just not turning up. But if the club were to terminate Richard's contract supposedly the PFA would object to protect Richards despite it having a negative effect on the other players who are also under their umbrella. Makes no sense to me. |
Footballers are more like fixed term contractors than normal employees. You can't just fire them or hand them notice, as long as they're meeting the minimum performance terms in their contract you're contractually bound to see out the term you signed them up for even if you don't fancy them any more. The contract can only be terminated unilaterally if one side or the other breaches it - for players that usually means if they aren't training or physically fit enough to play (barring genuine injury). This is why you see players the club doesn't want around but who won't agree to an unfavourable transfer sent to train with the reserves - if the player is showing up to training every day, then they're holding up their end and you can't get rid of them, and stopping them doing so might be interpreted as you deliberately making their performance impossible, so the compromise is that they go and train away from the first team and you hope they decide they've had enough and agree to go on loan or be sold somewhere. In Richards' case that might sound simple enough - apparently he isn't turning up to training, so great, terminate him, but it's not as straightforward as that. Obviously players want to be (and are) protected from contract termination in the case of genuine injury, and he might argue that. Also the clause might not be as blunt as "must attend training 5 days per week" but will be more open to interpretation, and anyway he does supposedly show up sometimes. If the club tried to terminate his contract then he'd likely immediately sue and they'd end up having to fight it out in court, which might drag on and cost as much if not more as just seeing out the time/wages he has left - and that's assuming the club wins. As for why would the PFA object, and side with Richards - because it's in their interests to do so. It's much more tactically sound for them to have a blanket policy of supporting players any time a club tries to terminate, because it means that clubs stop thinking of termination as an option. From their point of view, it's much better if clubs see unilateral termination as a bad and difficult thing that they want to do as little as possible, because while you get the occasional Richards who exploits it to steal a living for a couple of years, you also protect the lads whose clubs might otherwise have messed them about or treated them unfairly. | | | |
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