Smurthwaite concedes defeat in bid to sign Alex Jones on permanent deal

[PVTony]

Smurf knows he has to get good value for money.

A. Jones is not the finished article and has other attributes besides scoring goals in which he needs to gain experience.

 

To pay an enormous amount of money for Jones and his salary, which may be over and above Smurfs valuation, would not seem to be wise when a proven goal scorer with better skills in other departments may be obtainable for similar money.

 

It's not an easy task to get the right players, but I am sure that Smurf and M. Brown are working tirelessly for the club and fans to bring in suitable footballers.

[PV1973]

Agents are a blight on football and should be exterminated like the parasites they are, all they care about is their cut of the deal and careth not whether the deal will benefit the player just as long as they get paid for doing sweet FA,a hard days work would probably kill some of the useless bone idle shower of ****.

From a players point of view they are not. I know someone who works for an agent.

 

They will be the one who are going to try and get you another club when your current deal is getting close to expiring and theres nothing on the table from your parent club.

 

They will be negotiatong on your behalf. They will know the market value of players and will be advising on what you can potentially get. They can push a deal in your favour to get you the move you want or a better deal at your current club.

 

They will be the ones handling all the enquiries you will get from other clubs.

 

They will be sorting out your sponsorship deals.

 

They will look after your best interests when you're out injured or frozen out for whatever reason.

 

They will have the contacts in the game at other clubs that you'll need.

 

They will organise other clubs officials to come and watch you.

 

They could be trying to sort out loan deals at other clubs for you.

 

They will be the ones checking your contract is good.

 

The players don't want the hassle of doing all that and they can't rely on the clubs to have their best interests at heart either. Once all the offers are on the table its up to the player to decide what to do. They aren't forced down a certain path because it will make the agent more money. Of course money may play a part in a players decison for his own financial benefit. But as the agent is the one dealing with the club then they are the easy person to blame for deals breaking down, I'm not saying players always get the right advice from agents, but the players put a lot of trust in an agent and everything that is done between a club and agent is with the approval of the player not just an agent alone, don't be fooled otherwise.

[JOHNNYAITCH]

They aren't forced down a certain path because it will make the agent more money. .

 

All you say is true but the agent can steer a player away form a path or even not present certain paths if they will make less money for the agent. This happens in all employment sectors where agents act as an intermediary not just football.

[rayzer]

Has anyone thought that the reason we are having difficulties in signing players or keeping Jones might be because of the way Smurthwaite acted at the beginning of the season with his comments about Page and our former players. Word does go around and you tend to reap what you sow.

 

Sell the club Smurthwaite so that Port Vale can try to get it's good name back.

[SuperValiant1876]

Has anyone thought that the reason we are having difficulties in signing players or keeping Jones might be because of the way Smurthwaite acted at the beginning of the season with his comments about Page and our former players. Word does go around and you tend to reap what you sow.

 

Sell the club Smurthwaite so that Port Vale can try to get it's good name back.

 

The only name I recall pre-Smurf was "cash-strapped Port Vale"

[PV1973]

All you say is true but the agent can steer a player away form a path or even not present certain paths if they will make less money for the agent. This happens in all employment sectors where agents act as an intermediary not just football.

If that were true then they wouldn't be a good agent to have. Don't forget that players have a more personal one on one relationship with an agent than if say me or you were sending cvs to a recruitment agency.

 

I believe football is probably more transparent in terms of players options because of that one on one relationship with an agent, plus players talk candidly with their team mates, plus mates and official in other clubs about potential moves and what's going on too.

 

But the player still has final say on the options presented. He will also meet with new clubs and hear what they have to say too, after all the manager is the one that has to persuade a player their club is right for them.

[beasty77]

Has anyone thought that the reason we are having difficulties in signing players or keeping Jones might be because of the way Smurthwaite acted at the beginning of the season with his comments about Page and our former players. Word does go around and you tend to reap what you sow.

 

Sell the club Smurthwaite so that Port Vale can try to get it's good name back.

 

Exactly. Why would anyone want come here knowing when your contracts up you could be offered reduced terms. Smurf is doing more harm than good at Port Vale, and the sooner the Smurf bum boys realise this the better.

[Wereskintandweknowweare]

May be but we would have been able to match Bradford had smurf not fallen for the Bruno bull

[smithie]

May be but we would have been able to match Bradford had smurf not fallen for the Bruno bull

 

I suspect it was Jose's bull more than Bruno's.

 

Whatever, I don't think Norman needs telling what a bollock we dropped there but it's done and dusted now. At least he gave him the bullet in time to give Brown/ AN Other a chance to steady things.

[Wereskintandweknowweare]

Smurf will see us out of the football league during his tenure at the club absolute fact. It would be one thing if he was rich enough to gamble with our club but he isn't. He bemoanes what he has invested but although a reasonable amount to the average man in football terms it's nothing. He knows absolutely nothing about running a football club and refuses to pay a chief exec to help. We have not had a chairman who did not threaten our existence since the great Bill Bell.

Fans are sick and tired of watching garbage. Season in season out.

[Wereskintandweknowweare]

It was my understanding Bruno resigned smurf would not sack him like he never sacked page well not in a professional way. Smurf can not be up front and sack any of his own mistakes it's all smoke and mirrors in smurfs managerial world. Smurf could not lie straight in bed.

[TJHValiant]

Bruno and this influx of foreign players was just a ruse to overlook another year of mega budget cuts from Smurf.

 

I admit I am not surprised given our poor crowds but again blaming Alex Jones' agent rather than the club simply not having the money to pay him a wage seems mad.

 

Remember Paterson isn't getting paid anymore and we don't have any other forwards.

[Fosse69]

Bruno and this influx of foreign players was just a ruse to overlook another year of mega budget cuts from Smurf.

 

I admit I am not surprised given our poor crowds but again blaming Alex Jones' agent rather than the club simply not having the money to pay him a wage seems mad.

 

Remember Paterson isn't getting paid anymore and we don't have any other forwards.

Wonder how many players will be brought in during Jan?

[pete vale]

We took him on cos it was in the interests of Port Vale for us to do so..at least I hope we did it for those reasons. We should not take on players for any other reason. He gave us some good performances. He owes us nothing

 

Yet again we here the Championship rally and another decent player exits for richer pastures.

True Alex's loan spell worked well for both parties but tbh if we are to meet Normans expectations then these players are the players we need to pay and keep. We won't find them in lower Portugese/ Swiss or Dutch leagues. You have to think big not talk big I'm afraid.

Same-old. As far as I'm concerned

[toyahw]

Wonder how many players will be brought in during Jan?

 

A few old crocks Brown played with.