Quote Originally Posted by jelgoon View Post
I agree with your last bit. Im as sickened as you by the way the board has operated over the last couple of years in particular; however, to be fair, if he has three years left on a five year contract, I dont believe that the board should have to start negotiating with him. Its ridiculous
With 3 years left on his deal, they don't have to renegotiate. But then it makes no sense to let him leave. If we're holding someone to their contract because he has 3 years left, then I'd assume it's because he's a player we want to keep. How did it go from a player wanting a new deal to wanting to leave? It's all well and good blaming the player, but I think back to the Bergkamp situation where the club left him hanging all year and he did not even know if it was his last season. That's disgraceful and people need to keep that sort of situation in mind. This was Dennis Bergkamp and they handled that situation badly. If it was any other player, they'd have left the club and stuck two fingers up but because he's a legend and been with us for ages, he held his tongue.