CONFIRMED Clarke Official

[Barney]

Which is what for Leon Clarke?

More than £30k.

 

[HeCanDoMagic]

More than £30k.

How much would you think is right to pay?

 

[Pollingtonblade]

Which is what for Leon Clarke?

I don't know but we've got form for making 'derisory ' offers for players a cynic would suggest we have no intention of buying ...

We signed Sharp for 500k I'd suggest Clarke is worth 100-200k

 

[Barney]

How much would you think is right to pay?

I'm not keen on us signing him due to his age, but if the club want him it's no use putting in silly offers. All that does is waste time. I would agree with LS26 and say £100-200k, if they want any more than that we should stay well clear as he won't be worth it.

 

[Houso]

Are people really criticising us for offering a low amount on a player in our first bid?

I forget, we should of course secure the transfer in our first bid to save face.

To be fair, the team handling negotiations are fucking idiots. It's not like we've signed a central defender admired by many clubs for an undisclosed figure this summer.

Put your dummies back in.

 

[sitwell]

Unfortunately no matter what Sheff Utd do ,someone will be along to slag the club off at the earliest opportunity ,its what Blades do.

 

[Blade58]

All guesswork regards his valuation. He's worth what someone will pay for him

The fact he's probably one of the leading goal scorers in div 3 suggests he's worth more than a low 5 figure sum especially in these over inflated transfer fee times

I would guess his value is somewhere between £200k-£250k which aint a lot of money relatively speaking

The bigger question is of course, how serious are we at wanting to get out of this division? We tell other clubs that they don't meet our valuation for both Che and DCL, while at the same time looking like we're guilty of the same thing by taking the p1ss with our offers. It's the way of the football world but when clubs like Bury laugh at us, it doesn't sit very well

 

[HeCanDoMagic]

I don't know but we've got form for making 'derisory ' offers for players a cynic would suggest we have no intention of buying ...

We signed Sharp for 500k I'd suggest Clarke is worth 100-200k

I'm not keen on us signing him due to his age, but if the club want him it's no use putting in silly offers. All that does is waste time. I would agree with LS26 and say £100-200k, if they want any more than that we should stay well clear as he won't be worth it.

So you both say £100k as the lowest band.

Bury have said that we offered a five figure sum, that could have been £90k.

Not too far off, and certainly therefore not derisory.

Bury are in the shitter financially, why not try and take advantage, let us be the piss takers for once.

 

[alcoblade]

Typical blades attempting to do things on the cheap.

Hopefully, yes. It will make a change from flushing money down the toilet on every deal.

UTB

 

[Barney]

So you both say £100k as the lowest band.

Bury have said that we offered a five figure sum, that could have been £90k.

Not too far off, and certainly therefore not derisory.

Bury are in the shitter financially, why not try and take advantage, let us be the piss takers for once.

Because there's clear cut evidence right here of what happens when you try and take the piss.

You get laughed at by Bury FC, what a time to be alive.

Bury said "a low five figure sum" actually, so obviously less than £50k.

That's why I went with £30k, could have been even less.

 

[Blade58]

So you both say £100k as the lowest band.

Bury have said that we offered a five figure sum, that could have been £90k.

Not too far off, and certainly therefore not derisory.

Bury are in the shitter financially, why not try and take advantage, let us be the piss takers for once.

Not £90k when the quote said a "low" 5 figure sum. That suggests £50k or less to me, but I'm being nit picky sorry. He's obviously worth more than that tho in today's market

 

[Barney]

Hopefully, yes. It will make a change from flushing money down the toilet on every deal.

UTB

It's important to get the balance right.

No good going from one extreme to the other.

 

[TJB.]

How much would you think is right to pay?

Quite hard to say, but having 2 years left on his deal won't help. I think it'd be a £200k job, but I don't think he's worth that.

 

[FriethBlade]

Problem with taking the piss is you risk losing the player and we aren't the only club interested.

Let's turn this the other way round and we had a proven goalscorer at this level who regularly gets 20 goals a season and someone came in and unsettled him with a derisory bid, what would we think.

If I was Bury after already losing a player to us I'd be wanting to sell him to anybody other than us if we really have come in with a low 5 figure bid.

 

[Blade56]

What were the personal off the pitch issues that limited his number of games and are they put to bed?

 

[HeCanDoMagic]

Because there's clear cut evidence right here of what happens when you try and take the piss.

You get laughed at by Bury FC, what a time to be alive.

Bury said "a low five figure sum" actually, so obviously less than £50k.

That's why I went with £30k, could have been even less.

You think Bury are calling it comical to have a laugh at us, and that everyone in the footballing world is joining?

To me they are simply goading us into making further bids. They want shut of him, dont let them kid you, his wages are crippling them, an extremely low offer was exactly the way to go.

 

[Houso]

Problem with taking the piss is you risk losing the player and we aren't the only club interested.

Let's turn this the other way round and we had a proven goalscorer at this level who regularly gets 20 goals a season and someone came in and unsettled him with a derisory bid, what would we think.

If I was Bury after already losing a player to us I'd be wanting to sell him to anybody other than us if we really have come in with a low 5 figure bid.

Bury will accept whoever offers the most. The first bid doesn't matter. The highest one does.

 

[St Annington]

It's interesting that Flitcroft says Clarke laughed at the offer. Do players still get a percentage of the transfer fee if they are under contract and haven't asked for a transfer. Does the transfer fee make any difference to the player (and his agent), not just the club?

 

[S5Blade]

Unfortunately no matter what Sheff Utd do , someone Barney will be along to slag the club off at the earliest opportunity ,its what Blades do.

Fixed it for you Sitters. Where did the 30k figure even come from?

 

[S5Blade]

What were the personal off the pitch issues that limited his number of games and are they put to bed?

His dad died, so that one is put to bed so to speak.

Shortly after that his mother and partner both suffered from some quite serious illness' (seperate) but are ok now I believe.

 

[Balham]

This is the same Bury FC who have had well documented financial issues over the past 6 months and who accepted a "nominal sum" for one of their best players earlier in the season - when we signed Hussey. They're really not in a position to be "laughing off" any bids for their players but there are evidently more clubs interested in Clarke so this is a bargaining tactic, pure and simple. Clarke will move for £100-£150k max.

 

[Chali 2na]

He only played 29 games so just over a goal every two games which would make him a 20 goal a season striker

Yes, and if my mother had a cock, she'd be my father.

I don't think you understand the word guarantee.

 

[ThroughThinAndThinner]

Yes, and if my mother had a cock, she'd be my father.

I don't think you understand the word guarantee.

Oh so you're being nit picky then. We could sign Lionel Messi and he wouldn't be guaranteed to score a single goal...until he does. Fantastic argument.

 

[David Lee's first touch]

Who's to blame today. Chairman, Manager, Transfer committee. Come on slashers ya slacking, should be all over this

 

[Broomhall Blade]

For me its Flitcroft trying to start a bidding war. It says in the article that they have to off load Pope due to him being one of the high earners. Clarke must be at least on par with Pope if not on more, baring in mind he came from the championship.
United might know this hence the low bid.
Flitcroft puts it out about the 5 figure laughable offer. Other clubs alerted bidding ware starts.
Personally I think he'll end up going for about 200k to 250k.
Whether it's to us or not depends on how serious we are about him.
For me its worth paying despite his age, he would give us a potential striker pairing topping 40 goals.

 

[Treeton Blade]

It's interesting that Flitcroft says Clarke laughed at the offer. Do players still get a percentage of the transfer fee if they are under contract and haven't asked for a transfer. Does the transfer fee make any difference to the player (and his agent), not just the club?

Flitcroft has been known to exaggerate, full of made up stuff when he managed Barnsley.

The Bury times only comes out on a Thursday, so this interview was probably Mon, Tue?
Someone on here claims Clarke was at the Lane yesterday, and a very reliable VIP Blade on facebook reckons we are close.

Maybe things are moving, Wilder did say he expected 2 in for Grimsby.

 

[Chali 2na]

Oh so you're being nit picky then. We could sign Lionel Messi and he wouldn't be guaranteed to score a single goal...until he does. Fantastic argument.

Yes I'm being a little nit picky, and I'll explain why: his fine goal scoring record at Bury hasn't been a consistent record throughout his career:

As you can see, in 19 different spells for different clubs, he's managed to achieve a 1/2 ratio a mere 6 times. Interestingly looking at that he's managed to score 0 goals for a club on 7 occasions.

I wouldn't be completely against signing him, for the record, I just don't think you can call him a "20 goal a season striker" or "guarantee" anything.

 

[ThroughThinAndThinner]

Yes I'm being a little nit picky, and I'll explain why: his fine goal scoring record at Bury hasn't been a consistent record throughout his career:

As you can see, in 19 different spells for different clubs, he's managed to achieve a 1/2 ratio a mere 6 times. Interestingly looking at that he's managed to score 0 goals for a club on 7 occasions.

I wouldn't be completely against signing him, for the record, I just don't think you can call him a "20 goal a season striker" or "guarantee" anything.

I think it's a bit disingenuous to use the '0' goals stat when those are clubs he hasn't played frequently for, bar QPR. Indeed in 2/7 he only played one game. And also the division we are in and he played in are worth considering...

Following his stint at Kidderminster 12 years ago he has achieved a 1 in 2 ratio at every league one club he's played for (Oldham, Southend, Chesterfield, Scunthorpe, Coventry and Wigan), played 96, scored 61. Barring his league one stints with Charlton and Wolves, played 20 and scored 1. Or a total of 116 games and 62 scored.

So whilst you can never "guarantee" anything in life his stats for our current predicament are positive and lend support to an argument for him being a 20 goal a season striker, albeit only whilst we remain in league one.

 

[Jesus_was_a_Blade]

F'kin 'ell, lads had more clubs than I've had hot dinners!

 

[Dec]

Leon Clarke in League 1

Interestingly, he's got 19 goals in 31 games for SUFC already!