One interesting point here is why didn't this happen much earlier?
Did the club think we'd get something for him?
Was it a stand off between Brayford and the club as to the terms of the termination? ( agreeing to terminate a contract doesn't necessarily mean he got nowt)
Is Clough an evil mastermind who planned it all along to fuck our recruitment up?
I think it wasn't in Brayford's interest for it to happen much sooner. The club made it clear he was "available" in the transfer window and therefore invited bids. It seems very strange that none were reported though, don't you think? He's a good footballer playing at a decent level and not too old. You'd have thought he would have been of interest to several clubs - and maybe he was? But we never heard of any club putting a firm bid on the table for him. That doesn't mean they didn't do that, it just means it was never reported. Perhaps Brayford's agent had set the bar high in terms of his transfer value and this put clubs off? I don't suppose we'll ever know. But what we do know is that he was a wage burden to Sheff Utd and didn't feature in our plans. So, Brayford was actually in a pretty strong position, because if he just sat tight one or two things would happen. A club would come in and meet the transfer fee, in which case Brayford would get a nice cut of that, or eventually Sheff Utd would terminate his contract - which usually involves a payment settlement (except in the case of gross misconduct).
We don't know if it was a stand-off between him and the club - I don't think there's any evidence to suggest that though, this is more a case of him just sitting tight and waiting to see what happens. If I was Wilder in that situation I'd have been saying to him, "look Johnny, you're not in our plans, we'll make it obvious that you're available, if someone comes in with a decent bid we'll consider that, but if not we'll come to some agreement with you about your contract". And that's basically what's happened.
I posted on here several months ago that he would go back to play for Cloughy. I poked fun at that relationship between them two. I remember at the time one poster replying to say that this was a load of bollocks and there wasn't any special relationship between them two. Isn't it strange how he's ended up going back to Burton eh? I actually thought Cloughy would have moved on by now and gone to Forest, but I reckon he's got himself a nice little job cut out there at Burton. Just being in the Championship is a major achievement for Burton Albion. No one expects that and no one will be surprised or too disappointed if they don't. It's a nil pressure job, on his doorstep. And for Brayford it's playing for his pal at his local club, at a decent level.
Lastly, no, Clough isn't an evil mastermind. You've been reading too many spy novels mate! He's an intelligent bloke and a good manager, albeit a very cautious one. He knows that Sheff Utd wouldn't stomach keep paying for Brayford's wages only to have him slouching around the place not playing. That's just smart management to act disinterested and wait it out, then fling the front door open to Brayford the moment he becomes a free agent.
