Upton Valley Chairman on Bent

AFKABartram

"The whole situation left me very frustrated,"

"We were so close to signing Darren and thought everything was in place to conclude what would have been the biggest transfer in West Ham's history.

"I was really looking forward to making an announcement to our fans as we continue our plans to take this club forward and challenge the best teams in England.

"West Ham acted in good faith in discussions throughout with Charlton, the player and his representatives.

"The deal we put in place seemed to work for everybody concerned. Throughout the negotiations all the signs were positive. Therefore I was surprised when I learned Darren had decided not to join us.

"I feel let down and disappointed. But it is time to move on."

LenGlover

I reckon we'll end up giving him to Palarse as compensation when we lose Jordan's action against us for tapping up Dowie.

I'm only half joking. I think we are in the sh** re this Dowie business and whilst points don't get deducted from corrupt World Cup winners plucky little frivolous appealers are ripe for it.

Frankly I wished he'd gone to West Ham for £17 mil + Mulllins. We all know he's going anyway so we might as well get some decent wonga for him.

As things stand I can see a Parker type scenario whereby he goes to another club for much less money.

Can you imagine Spurs £12 mil plus Murphy and Gardiner?

Wayne Diesel and his merry men have enough to do with Cory Gibbs and Fatty Reid without acquiring yet another permanent inmate to the Garry Poole medical suite. As for Murphy him and Marcus Bent in the same Championship side would make Hasselbaink last season look like Kish on speed.

We will rue this in my opinion.

Rothko

So you're saying you would have held a gun to Darren head and made him sign for a club he didn't want to join?

LenGlover

[cite]Posted By: Rothko[/cite]So you're saying you would have held a gun to Darren head and made him sign for a club he didn't want to join?

Don't know how you surmise that from my post!

I said I WISHED he had signed for West Ham. That doesn't mean that I don't respect his freedom as an individual to go to a club of his choice.

However much as I love Darren and what he has done for us I am first and foremost a fan of CHARLTON as a whole rather than any individual player.

Therefore I reiterate that in the interests of CHARLTON I wish he'd gone to West Ham as he will inevitably be going anyway and the probability is that CHARLTON will now be financially worse off than it would have been in my opinion.

BlackForestReds

Therefore I reiterate that in the interests of CHARLTON I wish he'd gone to West Ham as he will inevitably be going anyway and the probability is that CHARLTON will now be financially worse off than it would have been in my opinion.

...............

Let's see to which club he goes to and for how much money and reserve judgement until then. West Ham isn't much of a footballing step up from Charlton and has been a badly and possibly even corruptly run club for the last season or so, so I can understand why DB chose not to go there. We will turn a massive return on the investment and it's possible that Liverpool could offer a similar deal including Scott Carson or Spurs with Gardner and maybe Murphy if rumpurs are to be believed.

Personally I think DB has made the right decision in turning West Ham down, there's still a lot of dust to settle and players to be shifted around and plenty of time for one of the big four/five clubs to offer us a deal as good as West Ham's and maybe even better, who knows.

InspectorSands

He's probably made the right decision for his career. It's the decision Parker should have made when Chelsea came a-tapping.

As far as whether it'll backfire on us or not, it's far too early to say.

Ormiston_Addick

Agreed 100% Inspector, why would he rush a move to a club where he does not even want to go to? He clearly knows his value and realises that he is much in demand and just has to wait for the big boys to come in within a couple of weeks. West Ham would not be a good option for him at this stage, he can do much better.

markwebb25

gary lineker wrote in the telegraph that bent should go to liverpool. listen to big ears benty. in my view rafa is a brilliant tactician and the scousers are my least hated of the top 4...he would definately do well. he needs to be in a 'machine' like team moreso than one of flambuoyant individuals.

BlackForestReds

I think Arsenal are better, they have a better track record for bringing players on, Liverpool are a bit in the shuffle players around mode looking for a winning/working combination, which can leave some players sat on the bench waiting their turn. I'm not so sure Benitez is the great tactician the media like to think he is.