Spinner wrote:skeptic wrote:I always thought ppl were harder on the club for the RL thing then was warranted.
a) he was already under contract for another year
b) it was RL himself that stopped contract talks mid-season
I believe that the latter was calculated as means to try and leverage himself the best offer that he could...
What it all boiled down to was that Freo got him for an offer that I'm not sure we could have matched... but even if we could, RL didn't negotiate that offer. He didn't take it back to the Saints and say you've got 24hours to match this or I'm out.
He correctly identified that Freo were on an upwards trajectory and felt it would be best for him to take the deal... especially with many Saints at the end of their careers as he put it.
Personally, I think that whilst the Saints were made to look like amateurs and RL threw us under the bus to take the heat off himself... Lyon's mindset was always to try and get a better offer and he did.
Personally I didn't think then, and don't think now that the club really stuffed up in the slightest
That's got to be one of the biggest bulls*** narratives I've ever read. Just a made up story to justify the club stuffing up.
The clause was in the contract - do you reckon ross asked for it given he is so driven by money? No, It was for the benefit of the club and a blind monkey could see that they created a scenario where they believed they could not lose. They allowed him to leave legally, allowed another club to make a more attractive offer and had absolutely no plan for it happening.
Time to get over it and stop making up crap to justify it to your boring simple lives.
Sorry but this is a really silly post...
First of all, there's nothing to get over. I was one of the few that was quite happy to lose RL.
As Bunk will attest to... I thought RL's dismal coaching in 09 contributed heavily to us losing the flag and i spent the majority of 2010 complaining about what I thought were irrational selections... By 2011 i was way out on RL.
People are jumping on the "RL looks like a better coach then he is because he was gifted lists" bandwagon now... Rightly or wrongly as time will prove, That was my view nearly 5 years ago.
But to bring it back to the topic on hand... What am i making up?
RL stopped contract negotiations in mid 2011. That's a fact. Not disputable.
The club were negotiating a deal with him... And thought they had secured him. That's a fact. Not disputable.
He enlisted with a new agent behind his then agents back and negotiated a back room deal. Again, that's a fact. Not disputable.
So how does this play out... One of several outcomes has to occur. They are
a) He negotiates a deal with Freo and signs it without giving the club a chance to match it - what I believe happened
b) He lets the club know of Freos offer but they don't match it - doubt this is true as the club thought they had him
c) He let the club know, the increased the offer snd he declined - no evidence of this
So how does the club sign him? They can't. You can yammer on about the clause as much as you want but if he doesn't sign he doesn't sign. They can't make him.
RL clearly wanted to weigh his options and when the opportunity with Freo came up, it was too good to pass up. And i believe the upward trajectory of Freo is essential in that... Otherwise why doesn't he give St.Kilda an opportunity to match or increase it's offer?
And on a side note... You know as little of the rest of us and I bet that your pbly a pretty small person if you feel the need to get personal when people are voice their opinions... Especially when what you offer is jacks#!t in return
