Hope Moyes has already rang up and apologized...
Ander Herrera is a Manchester United Player!
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Why dont we just get the deal done now and announce it and let him join up in Jan? Wouldnt that make everyone happier?
Andy Mitten's version of events: What really happened to Man Utd on deadline day…
So basically, neither side blameless. Complex deal falls down because it was complicated and the player understands why it broke down and both sides could still do a deal for January.
Fair enough.
Fair enough.
Manchester United apologise to lawyers, compared to Benny Hill, latest from Spain on Herrera
- Posted by SPORT WITNESS on September 4, 2013 at 10:09 in Sport Witness Football
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Bilbao newspaper El Correo have this morning compared Manchester United's pursuit of Ander Herrera to a Benny Hill sketch. They question whether such a scenario would have happened under Sir Alex Ferguson and call the club's approach 'sloppy' and 'irresponsible'. There are no punches being pulled in Bilbao.
It's claimed that Manchester United have come out of this looking so bad that it will actually help Ander Herrera be re-accepted by fans of Athletic Club Bilbao. Such is the amazement at how Manchester United have behaved - bear in mind this is Bilbao leaned reporting - Herrera is being seen as a victim by many, rather than someone who tried his best to desert the club. His team mates are rallying around him and supporters haven't launched a hate campaign, there's been no insulting graffiti like there was with Llorente and it looks like a Bilbao closure of ranks with a big finger pointing toward Manchester.
The newspaper again says that the problem was purely down to Manchester United not offering enough money for the player and not wanting to meet his release clause, something we covered yesterday. Manchester United apparently contacted Herrera in mid August, so the whole thing isn't as last minute as it perhaps seems. However, even a couple of weeks was probably too short an amount of time to get Athletic to play ball, and that's assuming Manchester United aren't totally at fault.
El Correo says that the new people dealing with transfers at Manchester United didn't have the relevant experience and expected Athletic would reduce their demands at the death. They insist that Laffer (the law firm called all kinds of names since) were acting on behalf of Manchester United, and they back that up with quotes from an unnamed source at the Spanish league.
The newspaper also claim they spoke to a source at Laffer who claimed they'd received an apology from Manchester United yesterday. We spoke to the law firm on Tuesday and it was clear they were frustrated with the situation but they are unlikely to be critical of a football club (Whether that be Manchester United or Athletic), they get a lot of business from them.
Yesterday our own Tom Coast covered an alternative report from Spain that the transfer fell down mainly due to Athletic and their reluctance to play ball. The Spanish journalist who claimed that is now trying to backtrack and fall in-line with what others in the country are reporting, which makes the situation even more complicated.
It's safe to say that everyone has a chunk of blame here with the probable exception of Laffer, and it's the legal firm who were mocked the most in the aftermath.
Rafa's lost some weight.
That's a fair summary not just of the Basque press but of the Spanish media in general.
They think not only have United dallied the deal into failure, but that by trying to disown the lawyers we turned it into a farce. There was more laughter than anything when United got mentioned on the TV/radio football gossip shows yesterday. A, "next time send the grown ups to negotiate," air to it.
It really doesn't matter if the descriptions are fair or not, or if we were right or wrong, that's the P.R. impact in Spanish football today. Whether it matters long term, I doubt. We are a huge club and we do have a lot of money - players and clubs know that - even if we have trouble spending money at times.
Still, big red bus rolls on. A shame there isn't a match tonight to help it along.
They think not only have United dallied the deal into failure, but that by trying to disown the lawyers we turned it into a farce. There was more laughter than anything when United got mentioned on the TV/radio football gossip shows yesterday. A, "next time send the grown ups to negotiate," air to it.
It really doesn't matter if the descriptions are fair or not, or if we were right or wrong, that's the P.R. impact in Spanish football today. Whether it matters long term, I doubt. We are a huge club and we do have a lot of money - players and clubs know that - even if we have trouble spending money at times.
Still, big red bus rolls on. A shame there isn't a match tonight to help it along.
Currently holding a press conference, he may shed some light on the cluster feck.
Expecting little more than a denial that he wanted to leave to placate the fans and Bilbao.
Betcha he just says he was flattered, but Athletic didn't want him to leave and he's committed to Athletic.
"I don't feel manipulated.How can I feel manipulated by a club like MUFC? I appreciate their interest and what Bilbao value me at"
Glad we've apologised to the law firm if that's true.
Well that's good news, providing we still want him.
That sounds good.
Good presser so far. Damage limitation and doesn't portrait any of the clubs badly.
is it online anywhere?
Hear hear, BG
Thats the syphilitic hamster rimmer than used to be on here yeah?
"A club must pay the clause and convince me - that's very difficult."
Get singing his name at the matches.
So basically, we agreed to pay the release clause, but just never sent the money, changed our minds and called the deal off? The deal could've been done if we actually wanted to?
Well that makes me feel better about the whole thing...
Well that makes me feel better about the whole thing...
Taken from Dermot Corrigan's twitter:
The offer came to me via the club (Athletic) and it was always clear what would have to happen for it to go any further.
I started the season with Athletic and that's how I expect to end it. We've got a beautiful new stadium to fill.
I started the season with Athletic and that's how I expect to end it. We've got a beautiful new stadium to fill.
So basically, we agreed to pay the release clause, but just never sent the money, changed our minds and called the deal off? The deal could've been done if we actually wanted to?
Well that makes me feel better about the whole thing...
By Mitten's version, we got peeved with Athletic's behaviour (and possibly the deal's complexity) and switched our attention elsewhere. One thing that doesn't quite ring true in that article is going for Khedira when we knew Fellaini was happening...
Sounds like he is leaving the door open. That will do for me.
Beautiful presser. Very well worded.
Some of the lines seem a bit barby towards us, might just be the translation though. I live in hope.
Looks like we were never interested. El United sound like rookies.
Lovely. Get it done soon. Herrera seems like a great guy, aside of being a tremendous player.
Woody sign him up. Woody, Woody sign him!
Damage limitation. Continuously repeating the same thing ("Did not talk to United" etc) to appease to the fans. Well rehearsed I'd say and I do believe he left the door open by not saying "I wasn't interested" but circumventing it by saying "was nice to hear of their interest".
Surprised at how positive he makes everything sound - I expect he's been coached on how to handle things there, but still reassuring that we might not have destroyed relations to quite the extent many feared.
There you go charley, the lawyers didn't represent Herrera. Guess that's that one out the window eh?
I think it seems obvious what happened in general which is that Herrera has a release clause and we didn't meet it. The only surprising part for me is why, if we weren't going to pay it, did even get involved given Bilbao were going to accept nothing less than it.
Werenr the lawyers hired by us, as by bayern, to get around the heavy taxes involved?
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