Simon Jordan's Book - James Beattie Offer

[Winchester Red]

There's an interesting passage in Simon Jordan's book, 'Be Careful What You Wish For'

 

He says that his then Manager, Alan Smith, wanted to sign James Beattie when Glenn Hoddle was our Manager.

 

A fee was agreed between Jordan and Hoddle of £1.5m, but then Rupert Lowe got involved (claiming Hoddle had changed his mind) and subsequently raised the fee by £500,000 to £2m. Jordan says he agreed to £2m but the then Lowe raised it to £2.5m and the process was repeated until Lowe asked for £3.5m and then Jordan told him where to go and turned his attention to Dougie Freeman instead.

 

What are peoples thoughts on this?

 

For me Beatts was always worth way more than £1.5m so fair play.

 

As for the book, I'm not a fan of the 'closed club' of football establishment so I've always quite liked (or at least not disliked) Simon Jordan for his out-spoken views. He pulls no punches on players, agents and managers, and goes to town on how little they all care as long as they get paid. If you don't like Simon Jordan, it'll probably only reinforce what you thought of him before.

 

Worth a read if you're interested.

 

----

 

Edit - I also read Alan Sugar's autobiography a while ago and the similarities between their experiences of owning Tottenham and Crystal Palace are astounding.

 

The bottom line is you'd have to be completely mad to even consider it. You get continually abused and everybody hates you. Totally thankless no matter how much you spend.

 

Amazing that they both have exactly the same view when you consider that one of them made a fortune in the process and the other lost one!

Edited 15 June, 2012 by Winchester Red

[alpine_saint]

Lowe being a pr*ck ?

 

You could argue that he was doing his best by SFC, but if he was agreeing to deals he shouldnt have gone back on his word. I thought he liked to portray himself as a bit of a gentleman.

 

I felt the same about Jordan as you - not exactly likeable, but the best of a bad lot.

[Winchester Red]

Lowe being a pr*ck ?

 

You could argue that he was doing his best by SFC, but if he was agreeing to deals he shouldnt have gone back on his word. I thought he liked to portray himself as a bit of a gentleman.

 

I felt the same about Jordan as you - not exactly likeable, but the best of a bad lot.

 

Difficult situation if your Manager has agreed a deal without your approval though, particularly if you think the 'asset' is worth way more than the agreed sale price and the buyer has recently come into a lot of money.

 

Perhaps he should have gone straight to £3.5m? Or perhaps RL just didn't want to sell and was trying to put SJ off?

[PaulSaint]

I don't think Hoddle should have been bartering in the first place & Lowe should have given them an accurate valuation when he first contacted them?

 

Is there a Premier League Code Of Conduct they can follow for professional player transfers?

[Winchester Red]

I don't think Hoddle should have been bartering in the first place & Lowe should have given them an accurate valuation when he first contacted them?

 

Is there a Premier League Code Of Conduct they can follow for professional player transfers?

 

As transfers involve Agents I doubt any Code Of Conduct would be worth the paper it's written on!

 

Plenty in SJ's book about having to deal with them too, including how willingly they'll stitch up their own player to earn a bit more themselves

[Ivan Katalinic's 'tache]

And some credit to Lowe for not writing a book.

 

I can see it now: Rupert Lowe, "Swinging tales from the Itchen Bridge"

[Glasgow_Saint]

Beattie has done nothing at Sheff United so not worth 1.5m NO WAY

[corsacar saint]

Why credit to Lowe,adriansfc,every player that ever left the club in his tenure,was sworn to secrecy,so why not Lowe as well.

Regarding Simon Jordan,I quite liked a lot of his outspoken,but very honest views on football.

[corsacar saint]

Regarding SJ ,I always agreed with most of his out spoken views on football,especially his views on football agents. As an asside a very good friend of mine,who co-owns a very reputable local travel agents,had personal dealings with the man and said that he was one of the biggest arseholes that he has ever met in his life.

[Pilchards]

What we don't know is who did Hoddle have lined up to take Beattie's place?

 

If it was to be a big improvement to the team then Lowe would be bang out of order.

[Winchester Red]

What we don't know is who did Hoddle have lined up to take Beattie's place?

 

If it was to be a big improvement to the team then Lowe would be bang out of order.

 

I don't think you can ever say a Chairman is out of order for not automatically approving a deal that he had no part in or no knowledge of.

 

It could have been that Hoddle had a better player lined up but the total funds for the incoming transfer/increased wages/agent/etc required was nearer £4m and so RL was simply trying to balance the books.

 

We only know SJ's side of the story and not the RL/GH version. There is bound to be more to it from the SFC perspective

[corky morris]

And some credit to Lowe for not writing a book.

 

You always were Lowe's biggest fan!!

[capitalsaint]

I thought it was funny that Mick McCarthy's idea of sports nutrition was a cheese sandwich.

 

(From Roy Keane's autobiography)

[matthewb]

Gv m

[Graffito]

I thought it was funny that Mick McCarthy's idea of sports nutrition was a cheese sandwich.

 

(From Roy Keane's autobiography)

Take your cheese sandwich and much else in these autobiographies with a pinch of salt. Good for Lowe, we didn't want to sell him.

[johnnyboy]

Gv m

 

I agree .

[jam]

What we don't know is who did Hoddle have lined up to take Beattie's place?

 

If it was to be a big improvement to the team then Lowe would be bang out of order.

 

As we went on to sign Uwe Rosler, I'd say Lowe got it spot on. Hoddle clearly was wrong about BT and offloading him like that would have been madness.

[BlakeySFC]

I've just bought the book, 65 pages in to get to the football stuff.

[Glasgow_Saint]

I've just bought the book, 65 pages in to get to the football stuff.

 

Can you please send it to me when youre finished?

[Sheaf Saint]

I don't think you can ever say a Chairman is out of order for not automatically approving a deal that he had no part in or no knowledge of.

 

It could have been that Hoddle had a better player lined up but the total funds for the incoming transfer/increased wages/agent/etc required was nearer £4m and so RL was simply trying to balance the books.

 

We only know SJ's side of the story and not the RL/GH version. There is bound to be more to it from the SFC perspective

 

Hmmmm. While I still have some respect for Hoddle for the job he did with us, it's fair to say his record in the transfer market while at Saints was abysmal. I seriously doubt he had already lined up somebody who would have gone on to do a better job than BT did.

[BlakeySFC]

Can you please send it to me when youre finished?

 

For £18.99 I sure can (Got raped on price by Waterstones)

[VectisSaint]

Lowe. Jordan. Couple of big tits.

[aintforever]

Fair play to Lowe for not flogging him.

 

I actually think Simon Jordon is pretty sound. Has always sounded fairly honest to me.

[Whitey Grandad]

I thought it was funny that Mick McCarthy's idea of sports nutrition was a cheese sandwich.

 

(From Roy Keane's autobiography)

Quite right. Prawn sandwiches are much better.

[BlakeySFC]

One very interesting segment in the book about how clubs actually sign players:

 

'You agree a fee with the selling club for the player. Ironically, that's the easy part. You are then contacted by the player's agent, who arranges to come and see you and negotiate a deal for his client. In principle, this is fine and for young boys early on in their careers pragmatic advice from an agent is perhaps appropriate, grown men late in their careers should be man enough to negotiate their own deal and I always had a big regard for players who did that'.

 

And even more shocking is the segment about fee's required to sign a player: 'Firstly you have sign-on fees, a golden hello every year for the player agreeing to be paid a basic awage. Then there are appearence bonuses for the player turning up - but isn't that the very thing his basic wage and sign-on covers? Then you have goal bonuses for forwards - but hang on, surely that is what you pay them a weekly wage for? You also have the same for clean sheets for goalkeepers. The list goes on'.

 

Also apparently agents 'like to write in staged increases so if you sign a four-year contract with a player they want a pay rise after a certain number of games. Then there are loyalty bonuses, typically paid annually, which are for the monumental thing of the player turning up for a year, and on top of that they want win bonuses. Win bonuses?'

 

 

Absolutely shocking to me personally what I have read through this book, some of it is absolutely insane.

 

It also stuns me the similarities between Simon Jordan and Cortese, both new to the Football world, both initially naive to the way football works, both controversial figures and both won't pay over the odds and pay agents fee's etc. for them basically doing nothing.

 

Honestly seems the business side of football is a big boys club in essence.

Edited 16 June, 2012 by BlakeySFC

[Fan The Flames]

Beattie went on to score a hatful of goals, another indication why GH was so ****.

[sadoldgit]

No matter what you think of Lowe, her did his best work for us in his negotiations with other clubs.

[mickyp]

well we kepted him and sold for 6million so all ended well!

[ericofarabia]

well we kepted him and sold for 6million so all ended well!

 

... and benefited from a few more BT goals as well ..... seems like a win win situation to me!!

[Dalek2003]

What we don't know is who did Hoddle have lined up to take Beattie's place?

 

If it was to be a big improvement to the team then Lowe would be bang out of order.

 

Without a shadow of a doubt that was the likely scenario. Probably would have established us as a top 6 premier side if Hoddle had the backing he deserved.

[mynameisthehulk]

Without a shadow of a doubt that was the likely scenario. Probably would have established us as a top 6 premier side if Hoddle had the backing he deserved.

 

Lol

 

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