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Morgan Gibbs-White

Even if he has stepped back he will know everything about a potential 60m expenditure.
Of course. But he probably wasn’t involved in the initial conversations.

I would suggest anyone with half a brain would do the same - everyone here would know not to go straight in with the release fee figure, it's quite a stretch to think any high level employee wouldn't think to be doing this....

Well you’d hope so. But then if you thought it was public knowledge, why muck about?
That’s the issue - where did the info come from and was it supposed to be confidential.
 
I would suggest anyone with half a brain would do the same - everyone here would know not to go straight in with the release fee figure, it's quite a stretch to think any high level employee wouldn't think to be doing this....
The only reason you would go straight to the figure is if it wasn’t a secret. CAA are an agency, we’re not talking Harry Kane bro outfit.

They’ve been threatening legal action for almost a week now. What are they waiting for? I’m beginning to think this confidentiality isn’t as watertight as they’re making out
 
I think it's a chairman whose staff have done something he doesn't now like (release clause) and who is now trying to save some face/express his anger. We've all known narcissists like this. Odious. He'll make it enormously uncomfortable and then it will happen. Didn't the bloke from Lyon, Aulas (???) pull the same sort of brick when we were buying Lloris? Different situations I know...I am sure Daniel has not been especially 'polite' in these situations, however I would be flabbergasted if he has trodden over the line. I think it's all about face-saving/securing alternatives. But again, what do we really know LOL!!!
 
I think it's a chairman whose staff have done something he doesn't now like (release clause) and who is now trying to save some face/express his anger. We've all known narcissists like this. Odious. He'll make it enormously uncomfortable and then it will happen. Didn't the bloke from Lyon, Aulas (???) pull the same sort of brick when we were buying Lloris? Different situations I know...I am sure Daniel has not been especially 'polite' in these situations, however I would be flabbergasted if he has trodden over the line. I think it's all about face-saving/securing alternatives. But again, what do we really know LOL!!!

I remember Levy renegotiating the fee for Hugo at the 11th hour and Aulas being tinkled? I may have that wrong also…time flies.
 
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I remember Levy renovating the fee for Hugo at the 11th hour and Aulas being tinkled? I may have that wrong also…time flies.
I did like the additional anecdote from Simon Jordan about dealing with Levy in the Wayne Routledge transfer. Probably half tongue in cheek but think there were daily increments of £40K added to the offer!
 
The only reason you would go straight to the figure is if it wasn’t a secret. CAA are an agency, we’re not talking Harry Kane bro outfit.

They’ve been threatening legal action for almost a week now. What are they waiting for? I’m beginning to think this confidentiality isn’t as watertight as they’re making out

Yeah…this is the hope.

Maybe the Spurs strategy is to call their bluff, and wait to see if any action actually does get filed. Then they’ll put their case forward. As it is, Forest haven’t actually done anything, and so we’re letting the empty threats play out.

Massively agreed that you’d only go straight for the figure if you knew you were on solid legal ground. Otherwise it’s dumb from Spurs and I don’t think our team is dumb. It’s also this idea that MGW’s clause is secret but basically no other release clause I’ve ever heard of is? The only thing that makes me think the secrecy thing does have some validity is the fact that they managed to scare City’s enquiry away. If City genuinely didn’t know about it, that suggests it was working as intended. Unless City’s enquiry was an attempt to get below 60m, which was refused and so they went for Cherki.
 
I did like the additional anecdote from Simon Jordan about dealing with Levy in the Wayne Routledge transfer. Probably half tongue in cheek but think there were daily increments of £40K added to the offer!

I definitely have an up and down view of Levy but it absolutely does have me rolling about laughing that he does stuff like this. Equally deducting the fee for the Spurs shirts in the Modric deal was it?

And Simon Jordan is Levy’s mate? It must draw a wry smile every time he does something like this. You just have to laugh.
 
Yeah…this is the hope.

Maybe the Spurs strategy is to call their bluff, and wait to see if any action actually does get filed. Then they’ll put their case forward. As it is, Forest haven’t actually done anything, and so we’re letting the empty threats play out.

Massively agreed that you’d only go straight for the figure if you knew you were on solid legal ground. Otherwise it’s dumb from Spurs and I don’t think our team is dumb. It’s also this idea that MGW’s clause is secret but basically no other release clause I’ve ever heard of is? The only thing that makes me think the secrecy thing does have some validity is the fact that they managed to scare City’s enquiry away. If City genuinely didn’t know about it, that suggests it was working as intended. Unless City’s enquiry was an attempt to get below 60m, which was refused and so they went for Cherki.
Did they scare City's enquiry away? Or was MGW simply not their no. 1 target for the position? Generally clubs go into a summer negotiating a variety of deals for their list of positions and then press "go" on those that fit them best. City may have enquired , found out about about the clause - its £60m upfront for MGW or £46m in installments for Reijnders who they did sign for that forward midfield position. He scored 15 goals from midfield for AC Milan last season. MGW got 7. So home grown and PL experience is MGW's advantages but from a financial perspective (and City have to be careful with PSR now) they did the better value deal.
 
I definitely have an up and down view of Levy but it absolutely does have me rolling about laughing that he does stuff like this. Equally deducting the fee for the Spurs shirts in the Modric deal was it?

And Simon Jordan is Levy’s mate? It must draw a wry smile every time he does something like this. You just have to laugh.
Its definitely a double edged sword having him as chairman!
 
I think it's a chairman whose staff have done something he doesn't now like (release clause) and who is now trying to save some face/express his anger. We've all known narcissists like this. Odious. He'll make it enormously uncomfortable and then it will happen. Didn't the bloke from Lyon, Aulas (???) pull the same sort of brick when we were buying Lloris? Different situations I know...I am sure Daniel has not been especially 'polite' in these situations, however I would be flabbergasted if he has trodden over the line. I think it's all about face-saving/securing alternatives. But again, what do we really know LOL!!!

Nah, completely the other way round with Aulus. It was well documented in Hugo's autobiography.

Unfortunately, it was our own chairman that was being a knob by reneging on all prior agreements. He was rightly publicly called out by Aulus, a true football man. Levy had to back down and agree to Aulus's terms and conditions of the deal including the 20% sell on fee. Levy completely lost this negotiation on all points.

In the end Aulus had a heart to heart with Hugo in deadline day and told him he would leave the decision up to the goalkeeper and fully understood if he didn't want to head to Spurs. He told him he was welcome to stay at Lyon.

Despite having little respect for Levy's integrity in that deal, Hugo went with his gut and still made the move abroad. He was unhappy for quite some time when he first moved to London. Although it was Levy that ended up chatting to him and told him to sit tight. From memory we were in the AVB-Sherwood-Poch transition and it was only the latter that got Hugo back to a happy place.

I do think you're right about Levy nowadays though. He's had his fair share of right hooks from other chairmen in the way he's behaved. I'm sure he boxes a lot smarter nowadays compared to 13 years ago.
 
This guy was tweeting about the £60m VALUATION (he doesn't say release clause) in August last year, so that implies the cost wasn't that secret


Just shows that this supposedly confidential information was already in the public domain a year ago. There would be no grounds to claim THFC have misused confidential information (as some Spurs fans have suggested!). I get the Forest fans being sore and making accusations, but don't get our fans suggesting Spurs have abused confidential information illegally. These tweets from a year ago should put that notion to bed, as the information wasn't confidential, and looks like it was in the public domain for a year at least.

If Forest are not honouring the release clause in MGW's contract, that is more contentious isn't it? They would be in breach of contract, and surely open to be pursued legally, certainly by the player, and possibly by THFC as the bidder?
 
I did like the additional anecdote from Simon Jordan about dealing with Levy in the Wayne Routledge transfer. Probably half tongue in cheek but think there were daily increments of £40K added to the offer!

I heard Jordan mention that “nickel-and-diming” in a clip with White and O’Neil which recently popped up on my YouTube, the footballing equivalent of Mrs Doyle when you consider that £40k is only a day’s pay for top players nowadays!

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Did they scare City's enquiry away? Or was MGW simply not their no. 1 target for the position? Generally clubs go into a summer negotiating a variety of deals for their list of positions and then press "go" on those that fit them best. City may have enquired , found out about about the clause - its £60m upfront for MGW or £46m in installments for Reijnders who they did sign for that forward midfield position. He scored 15 goals from midfield for AC Milan last season. MGW got 7. So home grown and PL experience is MGW's advantages but from a financial perspective (and City have to be careful with PSR now) they did the better value deal.

Yeah, it’s entirely plausible that City decided to see if they could do a deal for better terms than the release clause, and decided that Forest wouldn’t budge before moving on.

I think also plausible that if the clause was indeed secret, it held at the point of the City enquiry. I guess we’ll find out more soon.
 
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