Did you read the story today about Harry Forrester having a “bust up” with Caixinha in training?
This one was handed to the press on a plate, and I guarantee that this time there will be no internal investigation into leaking. Because this one was intentional. This one was leaked by the manager or people close to the manager, and it had one purpose.
To force a guy out of his contract, out of his job, out of Ibrox, and off the wage bill.
Sevco is an unscrupulous football club, willing to do anything to get rid of players it deems surplus to requirements but which nobody in their right mind would ever want to buy. It’s a cynical attempt at intimidation. It’s a war of attrition against their own employees, waged with the help of the media.
Forrester has denied the story. Which is his way of saying that he won’t be forced out the exit door any more than O’Halloran will be, or other players in the squad. It does look, incredibly, like they’ll be able to jettison Joe Garner, taking an £800,000 loss that the media will spin into some kind of victory. They’ll be right, in part. I didn’t expect any club to be interested in that guy, any price; the word “useless” might as well have been invented for him.
The desperation at their club, to get rid of these guys and others, is perfectly understandable; they’ve brought in half a team in this window, spending money that they will need later on in the campaign, on players who are unproven at a high level. We’ll see if the gamble to sign them works; certainly, in terms of the finances, it’s put them in big bother. But in order to stand even a chance of surviving it, they need to get shot of people quick.
But there are ways to do that.
Celtic has been in the same position; people tend to forget that. We handled it like pros. We got those players loan deals and new clubs and let some go on freedom of contract. We didn’t try to badger them or terrorise them into moving. Sevco has a nasty habit of doing this; they leaked Joey Barton’s medical records to the press, don’t forget, in a move which was about as reprehensible as anything I’ve seen a club do to a player in the game here.
And little by little they are trying to force guys like Forrester out the door.
As usual Sevco wants to cut corners. They want to act like a crime family rather than a football club, with punishment beatings administered through the press, and ritual humiliation in front of their peers. What is it with these Peepul?
How does that club get that mentality into the heads of so many people the minute they walk through the doors?
The thing is, all this is unlikely to work.
The problem is, these guys know what this is.
They recognise it.
And those of them with long term contracts will hang in there regardless, unless someone comes in for them who’s interested in meeting the terms of those deals. Because why should these guys take their show on the road without that? Why should they accept cuts in their salary, when Sevco were dumb enough to offer them long terms deals on stupid money in the first place? That’s the club’s hard lines. We’ve been there too. It ain’t pretty, it’s just the nature of modern football.
But Sevco is just about skint, and they can’t afford to let these guys see out the remainder of their deals.
If I were in Forrester’s shoes I’d prepare for what’s next.