Dembele

[snarks]

I recall reading (and I accept it may be duff recollection) that Fulham were trying to tie him down for a while and he wouldn't sign. Now whether he wouldn't  sign due to the terms offered or whether it was seeing no future at Fulham and then realising he could get more elsewhere who knows. We certainly dont. I do find the obsession to blame the manager or the board depending upon who is more in favour at the time slightly odd.

[Southfield White]

Sold for nothing - 1 year later being touted for 40mil. Well done ffc

We did not sell him at all. He chose not to sign a new contract with us.

I never fail to understand what part of this is so difficult for people to grasp.

Trouble is, people don't know the whole story, that is only the second part of the story .

[ron]

the onset of Bosman seems to work against clubs like ours. By doing nothing, agents know that pressure mounts on lower level selling clubs to get what they can rather than nothing on contract expiry, while the larger clubs trade on their promises on what the younger talented players might achieve with them, and get bargains by offering low and waiting......

[toshes mate]

I recall reading (and I accept it may be duff recollection) that Fulham were trying to tie him down for a while and he wouldn't sign. Now whether he wouldn't  sign due to the terms offered or whether it was seeing no future at Fulham and then realising he could get more elsewhere who knows. We certainly dont. I do find the obsession to blame the manager or the board depending upon who is more in favour at the time slightly odd.

Unless you believe Fulham has been very badly mismanaged for the few years prior to SJ's arrival

[snarks]

I recall reading (and I accept it may be duff recollection) that Fulham were trying to tie him down for a while and he wouldn't sign. Now whether he wouldn't  sign due to the terms offered or whether it was seeing no future at Fulham and then realising he could get more elsewhere who knows. We certainly dont. I do find the obsession to blame the manager or the board depending upon who is more in favour at the time slightly odd.

Unless you believe Fulham has been very badly mismanaged for the few years prior to SJ's arrival

I wouldn't disagree with that, it stems from MAF not sacking Jol sooner. Then the appointment of Rene and TMG, Kit was believed by some to be right at the time and he gave Moussa his head. He was sacked and it took a long time for a replacement. It's where you draw the distinction. Should Kit have put more effort in to signing him up to a longer contract, did he have the say, presumably he did, was Dembele's heard turned by Roberts? How much of a say does Slav have in terms of what he's prepared to pay as a salary. We really don't know. That's why I'm reluctant to apportion blame when I have as little information as to how the board/CEO/manger operation works (andRiggs role whilst he was here)

[filham]

Sold for nothing - 1 year later being touted for 40mil. Well done ffc

Yep, because the Board of this Club love to be taken for rides....

Would that be the very same board that caused the snide martin debacle

It is not a year later but half a season later.
Yes once again we come of worse in the transfer business.

[toshes mate]

I recall reading (and I accept it may be duff recollection) that Fulham were trying to tie him down for a while and he wouldn't sign. Now whether he wouldn't  sign due to the terms offered or whether it was seeing no future at Fulham and then realising he could get more elsewhere who knows. We certainly dont. I do find the obsession to blame the manager or the board depending upon who is more in favour at the time slightly odd.

Unless you believe Fulham has been very badly mismanaged for the few years prior to SJ's arrival

I wouldn't disagree with that, it stems from MAF not sacking Jol sooner. Then the appointment of Rene and TMG, Kit was believed by some to be right at the time and he gave Moussa his head. He was sacked and it took a long time for a replacement. It's where you draw the distinction. Should Kit have put more effort in to signing him up to a longer contract, did he have the say, presumably he did, was Dembele's heard turned by Roberts? How much of a say does Slav have in terms of what he's prepared to pay as a salary. We really don't know. That's why I'm reluctant to apportion blame when I have as little information as to how the board/CEO/manger operation works (andRiggs role whilst he was here)

The buck should stop at the CEO for it's his job to make things work properly and history says nothing worked at all.

[BigbadBillyMcKinley]

He didn't want to sign a contract. At the end of the day, you can't force anyone to do anything they don't want to do. If he had any loyalty to us though, a nice touch would be to do a VDS and sign a contract with a big club release fee. That way we all win. It's done and dusted. He'll get no playing time at Chelsea, and if they want to buy him for that much, good luck to them both because he's not half the player that Ronaldo or Bale are.

[Keynsham]

He did to us what he did to PSG, and what we did to AFC Wimbledon with Roberts.

I seem to recall the club publicly saying that they had made him a huge offer, but what can you do if he turns it down?

[Woolly Mammoth]

This story will run and run, but he's gone let's get over it. I am as annoyed as anyone, but it's time to move on.

[nose]

I recall reading (and I accept it may be duff recollection) that Fulham were trying to tie him down for a while and he wouldn't sign. Now whether he wouldn't  sign due to the terms offered or whether it was seeing no future at Fulham and then realising he could get more elsewhere who knows. We certainly dont. I do find the obsession to blame the manager or the board depending upon who is more in favour at the time slightly odd.

Unless you believe Fulham has been very badly mismanaged for the few years prior to SJ's arrival

It is self evident that since Mr Khan took the helm we have been very badly run in every department with the exception of finally getting a decent manager. however that will be undone by not supporting him properly and he is bound to walk away come the summer.

I shouldn't need to remind anyone about the three managers in a season, mitro, the foul up of selling ruiz and not getting the paoer work done, magath, keeping magath and then keeping him much too long after it was evident he was a crackpot, and how about selling virtually the enmtire squad after we went down......   the management have failed miserabl;y and I do not know the rights and wrongs of the dembele thing because I do not really rate him and feel we are so myuch better without him, however if he is really worth £40M, surely letting him go for nothing is crazy, we rewarded him for not signing ahis contract, other players are relegated to the reserves for less.   

I suspect we will be underwhelmed by 11pm tonight and then watch the MB go into meltdown as we attempt to throw away a real chance of success this season.

[kdjr100]

I think we would be a force to be reckoned with this season if we had managed to keep demblele, exactly the powerful, mobile goalscorer we have missed all season. Such a shame that we got nothing (sorry £500k) for him but we have to learn from it and make sure it doesn't happen again.

However, Dembele not signing a contract with us then a year later getting a lucrative deal with chelsea and £40m price tag could show other young players that they don't need us.

[JoelH5]

Win some, lose some.

Sess is better than Dembélé already.

[Southfield White]

He did to us what he did to PSG, and what we did to AFC Wimbledon with Roberts.

I seem to recall the club publicly saying that they had made him a huge offer, but what can you do if he turns it down?

Sorry but this is absolute rubbish .

He wasn't offered anything decent by us originally that's why he made up his mind to leave.
It was only after him banging in the goals the club made him a better offer, by then it was too late.

As for us , Roberts and AFC Wimbledon, nothing like the situation as Afc Wimbledon youth teams were just like any other grassroots teams that professional academies get their boys from.

[Keynsham]

That's not how I saw it. We made an offer, maybe more than one and he rejected them to accept a better offer made by a bigger club.

I agree with what you are saying about Roberts to a degree, but it still boils down to the fact that he chose a bigger club and the benefits that go with that choice.

[Southfield White]

That's not how I saw it. We made an offer, maybe more than one and he rejected them to accept a better offer made by a bigger club.

I agree with what you are saying about Roberts to a degree, but it still boils down to the fact that he chose a bigger club and the benefits that go with that choice.

If you're talking about Roberts in the last paragraph , then that can be said for any kid joining an academy.

All I do know is Dembele wasn't initially offered anything decent, a certain person didn't think the likes of Dembele and Hyndman would be first team players so no point in offering them big long deals.

[Keynsham]

Of course it can, it's the way of the world unfortunately and why the big clubs are constantly lurking outside our academy gates.

If Dembele wasn't initially offered anything good to begin with (I'm definitely not party to any such knowledge and wouldn't claim to be), he was afterwards.  We can try and lay blame wherever we like, but the upshot of it is, is that he left for what he deemed to be a better offer.

[Southfield White]

Of course it can, it's the way of the world unfortunately and why the big clubs are constantly lurking outside our academy gates.

If Dembele wasn't initially offered anything good to begin with (I'm definitely not party to any such knowledge and wouldn't claim to be), he was afterwards.  We can try and lay blame wherever we like, but the upshot of it is, is that he left for what he deemed to be a better offer.

Yep he did and I don't blame him for that and100s of players have done the same.

IF he was offered a decent offer in the first place, I've no doubt he would of stayed.

As we are Cat 1 academy, it's a lot harder or would take a lot more money for another club to take one of our players, that's how important being a Cat 1 academy is.

Just because a club has a big name, dosnt mean they have a good academy.

AFC Wimbledon academy have come along way in a few short years, but I know  some grass roots players wouldn't join them as they are only a cat 3 academy, although there is a better pathway into the first team at a club like Afc Wimbledon.

[Keynsham]

Fair enough, I think we are coming from broadly the same angle, I just didn't explain myself as well as you have.

[Southfield White]

Fair enough, I think we are coming from broadly the same angle, I just didn't explain myself as well as you have.

To be fair I normally post in a rush so don't always get my points across right.

But I will admit I'm very protective of our young players and our Academy, our academy staff do a great job .

Also everything is not always as it seems or comes out, we've had some very good talent come throughout academy and it's very frustrating to see the likes of Moussa leave but I think he's been painted in a bad light if I'm honest.