Everything seems to stem from the Sala incident

[SuperBluebirds91]

I feel that since the tragic event everything has gone down hill for us. It’s almost a downward spiral.

If the event hadn’t occurred there’s a good chance we would have stayed in the prem league.

Even if we had been relegated since we wouldn’t have had the transfer embargo’s or restrictions hanging over us.

Not to mention and this is a huge one the effect that the event had on the whole club and likely had a huge effect people like Warnock and the players more than anyone would know. Perhaps this is why Warnock hasn’t come back to us - I mean with the bad memories etc.

It’s still unbelievable and so sad and I don’t think we have ever recovered from it properly in every way.

I’m not saying it’s the only thing but it’s a major factor in the downward spiral.

One day brighter days will come our way but we need a huge overhaul and money spent for this to happen. obviously we have to be careful as the books have to be balanced. We need to have all these restrictions lifted because they are dragging us down. I’m confident in time things will improve because a club like us should not be lower championship. Albeit we are a championship club - I’d say we are upper half - not lower half!

It’s a stratagem one and I know Sala hadn’t played a game for us but I also believe there should be some kind of memorial for him at the ground (if there isn’t already) as a mark of respect.

[The Lone Gunman]

Perhaps this is why Warnock hasn’t come back to us - I mean with the bad memories etc.

He didn’t come back because Tan believes (probably correctly) that Warnock conned him. It’s no more complicated than that.

As for a memorial to Sala at the ground, that would be a bit odd considering the club has spent years arguing they never signed him.

[SuperBluebirds91]

He didn’t come back because Tan believes (probably correctly) that Warnock conned him. It’s no more complicated than that.

As for a memorial to Sala at the ground, that would be a bit odd considering the club has spent years arguing they never signed him.

Tbh how can he have conned tan? After all the final say on transfers wasn’t down to Warnock. Yes he decided who comes in and who leaves etc etc but if someone isn’t checking what’s being spent then how can you ever keep tabs on your business. Warnock was a phenomenal manager who dragged us up the league and bought the club back together at a really bad time. He then against alot of odds got us promoted. We likely only went down due to the sad Sala event but I realise we will never know for definite. I would think that it is Warnock that wouldn’t want to come back to us - I mean why would after our fans seemed to have forgotten what he did?! Many seem to have short memories. Im not saying Warnock was perfect but why he would come back here goodness knows.

I see what your saying about Sala etc but personally I feel Whether Sala was our player or not is irrelevant, I still believe that there should be something somewhere in the ground that acknowledges the tradegy. I’m not saying a statue but maybe a plague or something? Same for some of our other players who have gone too soon and legends of the past.

[blue lewj]

How can a manager con an owner who feels he is knowledgeable enough to sit on the club Transfer Committee? I think it is a lack of knowledge. Just because you spend money it doesn't mean all transfers turn out to be good investments. That's football.

Also, given that he has been conned in his opinion what changes has he made to stop this happening in future? None it seems.

Anybody got his phone number, I've got some magic beans I want to sell him?

[the other bob wilson]

I feel that since the tragic event everything has gone down hill for us. It’s almost a downward spiral.

If the event hadn’t occurred there’s a good chance we would have stayed in the prem league.

Even if we had been relegated since we wouldn’t have had the transfer embargo’s or restrictions hanging over us.

Not to mention and this is a huge one the effect that the event had on the whole club and likely had a huge effect people like Warnock and the players more than anyone would know. Perhaps this is why Warnock hasn’t come back to us - I mean with the bad memories etc.

It’s still unbelievable and so sad and I don’t think we have ever recovered from it properly in every way.

I’m not saying it’s the only thing but it’s a major factor in the downward spiral.

One day brighter days will come our way but we need a huge overhaul and money spent for this to happen. obviously we have to be careful as the books have to be balanced. We need to have all these restrictions lifted because they are dragging us down. I’m confident in time things will improve because a club like us should not be lower championship. Albeit we are a championship club - I’d say we are upper half - not lower half!

It’s a stratagem one and I know Sala hadn’t played a game for us but I also believe there should be some kind of memorial for him at the ground (if there isn’t already) as a mark of respect.

Think it goes back further than Sala myself, although these can be no doubt that the tragedy has had a big effect in terms of the sort of team we can put out on the pitch these days.

[blue lewj]

Think it goes back further than Sala myself, although these can be no doubt that the tragedy has had a big effect in terms of the sort of team we can put out on the pitch these days.

I don't get why the Sala situation dictates our current position?

Were we not going to pay for him if he didn't have the plane crash? Was he going to guarantee survival.

Let's say he survived and we still went down. We would still have had to pay for him. I find it quite ridiculous that the club seem to point to this as holding us back but had he signed and we still got relegated we would have been in the exact same position financially regarding Sala.

Sorry but the court cases are our doing. If you've bot got any money then sorry but you take the Sala incident on the chin and pay the smallest amount. As it stand we've only paid court fees and one installment.
This whole thing could have been put to bed with the Premier League money or parachute payments a long time ago. We're the ones who have dragged it out.

[Pembroke blue]

Tbh how can he have conned tan? After all the final say on transfers wasn’t down to Warnock. Yes he decided who comes in and who leaves etc etc but if someone isn’t checking what’s being spent then how can you ever keep tabs on your business. Warnock was a phenomenal manager who dragged us up the league and bought the club back together at a really bad time. He then against alot of odds got us promoted. We likely only went down due to the sad Sala event but I realise we will never know for definite. I would think that it is Warnock that wouldn’t want to come back to us - I mean why would after our fans seemed to have forgotten what he did?! Many seem to have short memories. Im not saying Warnock was perfect but why he would come back here goodness knows.

I see what you’re you wantsaying about Sala etc but personally I feel Whether Sala was our player or not is irrelevant, I still believe that there should be something somewhere in the ground that acknowledges the tradegy. I’m not saying a statue but maybe a plague or something? Same for some of our other players who have gone too soon and legends of the past.

Nah you want a plague at the club we got enough problems on our plate ATM without a plague mate 😂😂

[A Quiet Monkfish]

I think the Sala tragedy certainly changed the club as a whole, not just on the pitch. I believe the club over-compensated internally with a semblence of guilt. responsibility, which has permeated through the directors, management, coaching staff and players. I'm not going to go into the matter know - too many people have said things which are totally incorrect and misleading, but the sacking/resignation of Bellamy soon after, and then the parting of the ways with Morision, point to a club very aware and conscious of 'doing the right thing'. We're a 'nice' club with a 'nice' manager. I'm sure the players are nice too. Unfortunately being nice doesn't win you games or gain respect.

[the other bob wilson]

I don't get why the Sala situation dictates our current position?

Were we not going to pay for him if he didn't have the plane crash? Was he going to guarantee survival.

Let's say he survived and we still went down. We would still have had to pay for him. I find it quite ridiculous that the club seem to point to this as holding us back but had he signed and we still got relegated we would have been in the exact same position financially regarding Sala.

Sorry but the court cases are our doing. If you've bot got any money then sorry but you take the Sala incident on the chin and pay the smallest amount. As it stand we've only paid court fees and one installment.
This whole thing could have been put to bed with the Premier League money or parachute payments a long time ago. We're the ones who have dragged it out.

I think that without the threat of having to pay another ten to fifteen million pounds for Sala hanging over us, Tan would have pushed the boat out in January in an attempt to avoid the drop - clearly, relegation is seen as a disaster by the club, yet their spending in January saw them putting nearly all of their eggs in the new, probably cheap, manager option.

[blue lewj]

I think that without the threat of having to pay another ten to fifteen million pounds for Sala hanging over us, Tan would have pushed the boat out in January in an attempt to avoid the drop - clearly, relegation is seen as a disaster by the club, yet their spending in January saw them putting nearly all of their eggs in the new, probably cheap, manager option.

But if he had survived and we went down we would have been in the same situation financially. Probably worse off due to his wages on top.

We still would have had to pay for Sala long before now. I don't get how they can still use it as a reason for our lowly plight now. We still would have had to pay it.

Yes, it isn't great having a transfer fee being payable and hanging over the club but if we refused to pay any transfer the same could be said.

[blue lewj]

Let's not forget that this didn't creep up on us.
There was always a very real possibility that we would have to pay.

Maybe the board thought it would never have been the case. Nothing would surprise me.

The messing around with paying the fee and the court battles have created more hardship for us.
The implications on non payment and an embargo would have been indicated to the club and missed. As it stands our board have overseen the whole situation handled the worst it could have been.

Long and expensive court drama, being told we had to pay and we couldn't even get that right. We paid it after a date that meant we put ourselves in an embargo.

[The Lone Gunman]

Tbh how can he have conned tan? After all the final say on transfers wasn’t down to Warnock. Yes he decided who comes in and who leaves etc etc but if someone isn’t checking what’s being spent then how can you ever keep tabs on your business.

Back in the summer of 2018, Warnock told the press he flew to Malaysia in order to talk Tan into buying Josh Murphy. He also signed Alex Smithies for £3 million and Greg Cunningham for £4 million during that particular transfer window.

In one of his rare interviews about City, Tan said the following in November:

"Neil Warnock did a good job taking us up, but then he creates a bad side and buys the wrong players. Murphy cost £11m, hardly scored any goals, then left on a free transfer. He was never worth that money. I was conned."

I have strong suspicion that the club's internal investigations into the Sala transfer brought to light a variety 'interesting' deals during Warnock's time here. But whether you or I think Tan is right to say he was conned is neither here nor there. The fact of the matter is that Tan himself believes he was conned by Warnock, so the chances of him coming back were absolute zero.

[blue lewj]

Back in the summer of 2018, Warnock told the press he flew to Malaysia in order to talk Tan into buying Josh Murphy. He also signed Alex Smithies for £3 million and Greg Cunningham for £4 million during that particular transfer window.

In one of his rare interviews about City, Tan said the following in November:

"Neil Warnock did a good job taking us up, but then he creates a bad side and buys the wrong players. Murphy cost £11m, hardly scored any goals, then left on a free transfer. He was never worth that money. I was conned."

I have strong suspicion that the club's internal investigations into the Sala transfer brought to light a variety 'interesting' deals during Warnock's time here. But whether you or I think Tan is right to say he was conned is neither here nor there. The fact of the matter is that Tan himself believes he was conned by Warnock, so the chances of him coming back were absolute zero.

The worrying part for me is the thought process behind why he thinks he has been conned.

He said he cost too much. A fee he would have discussed, agreed upon and signed off.

He then said that Murphy didn't score enough goals.
His goalscoring record here is almost the same as it was at Norwich. Did he expect him to come here and set the world alight?

Can you be conned if you had all of the information prior to signing the player and you agree the fee? I'm not sure how that is possible. You've just overpaid for a player and the transfer wasn't successful. It happens every year at most clubs. The owner doesn't cry foul play when it does in most cases though.

[The Lone Gunman]

The worrying part for me is the thought process behind why he thinks he has been conned.

He said he cost too much. A fee he would have discussed, agreed upon and signed off.

I guess it depends on what Warnock told him. We know from his press interviews that Warnock has a habit of exaggerating things. He told the press he had to fly to Malaysia to talk Tan into buying Murphy, so perhaps that particular transfer was initially turned down by the owner as he though it was too expensive, but he was swayed by Warnock's promises of great things to come from the player.

That's all supposition, though. All we know for sure is Tan believes he was conned by Warnock, and therefore there was no chance of him ever re-employing the man.

[the other bob wilson]

But if he had survived and we went down we would have been in the same situation financially. Probably worse off due to his wages on top.

We still would have had to pay for Sala long before now. I don't get how they can still use it as a reason for our lowly plight now. We still would have had to pay it.

Yes, it isn't great having a transfer fee being payable and hanging over the club but if we refused to pay any transfer the same could be said.

We didn’t miss out by much that season. In my view, Kaba is a limited player, but he’s scoring goals at a rate no one else in the squad can match - Sala was good enough to be one of the top scorers in Ligue 1, so he may have been just what we needed, supplied the five or six goals we needed to escape the drop and then we would have had another season’s worth of TV payments to work with. There’s no way of knowing for sure what would have happened, but you’re again trying to put all of the blame on Tan - he’s a major, probably the major, reason for the current mess, but he isn’t the only one.

[blue lewj]

We didn’t miss out by much that season. In my view, Kaba is a limited player, but he’s scoring goals at a rate no one else in the squad can match - Sala was good enough to be one of the top scorers in Ligue 1, so he may have been just what we needed, supplied the five or six goals we needed to escape the drop and then we would have had another season’s worth of TV payments to work with. There’s no way of knowing for sure what would have happened, but you’re again trying to put all of the blame on Tan - he’s a major, probably the major, reason for the current mess, but he isn’t the only one.

He might have scored, he might not. We'll never know.

If the board were banking on Sala keeping us up and couldn't afford to pay the fee otherwise then there is a greater level of lunacy in the board room than I'd first imagined.

I know what staying up meant to the club but Sala signing would not have guaranteed that. In which case, worst case scenario, we should have had a plan to pay for him if relegation did happen. The club seem to refer to Sala signif and the fee as something that has been forced upon us (like a few other things).
As with a lot that goes on at the club we've been reactionary, seem to have put little thought in to it or researched. Missing a deadline is in Football Club Ownership For Dummies, chapter 1.

[blue lewj]

I guess it depends on what Warnock told him. We know from his press interviews that Warnock has a habit of exaggerating things. He told the press he had to fly to Malaysia to talk Tan into buying Murphy, so perhaps that particular transfer was initially turned down by the owner as he though it was too expensive, but he was swayed by Warnock's promises of great things to come from the player.

That's all supposition, though. All we know for sure is Tan believes he was conned by Warnock, and therefore there was no chance of him ever re-employing the man.

What difference does it make what Warnock told him?
He can do his own research and make his own judgements.
Tan should be wise enough now to think for himself on these issues.

After all it isn't the first time he's alleged to have been misled, conned or had the wool pulled over his eyes.

[Hilts]

It goes back to May and a complete disaster of a transfer window.

[blue lewj]

What I would like to know is how many times is Tan going to be duped before he realises that making footballing decisions maybe isn't for him?

[the other bob wilson]

He might have scored, he might not. We'll never know.

If the board were banking on Sala keeping us up and couldn't afford to pay the fee otherwise then there is a greater level of lunacy in the board room than I'd first imagined.

I know what staying up meant to the club but Sala signing would not have guaranteed that. In which case, worst case scenario, we should have had a plan to pay for him if relegation did happen. The club seem to refer to Sala signif and the fee as something that has been forced upon us (like a few other things).
As with a lot that goes on at the club we've been reactionary, seem to have put little thought in to it or researched. Missing a deadline is in Football Club Ownership For Dummies, chapter 1.

If we’d have gone down, I’m 99 per cent sure we’d have sold him in the summer and got a good portion of what we paid for him back.

[The Lone Gunman]

What difference does it make what Warnock told him?

It makes the difference between Tan believing that he was conned or not conned, and it made a difference regarding any possible return for Warnock. Obviously.

[blue lewj]

It makes the difference between Tan believing that he was conned or not conned, and it made a difference regarding any possible return for Warnock. Obviously.

Well he can put it on his long list of f*** ups then can't he because it looks like our loss has been Huddersfield's gain.

A few here didn't want Warnock back either. I hope they enjoy League 1.

[The Lone Gunman]

Well he can put it on his long list of f*** ups then can't he because it looks like our loss has been Huddersfield's gain.

A few here didn't want Warnock back either. I hope they enjoy League 1.

Warnock has won three of his eight games as Huddersfield manager. Lamouchi won three of his first eight games as City manager. But yeah, our loss, their gain.

[blue lewj]

Warnock has won three of his eight games as Huddersfield manager. Lamouchi won three of his first eight games as City manager. But yeah, our loss, their gain.

So they've improved then?
They have 7 points from Millwall, Norwich and Middlesbrough recently. I wouldn't fancy us to get much from those fixtures if we were to play those three now.

Yes, our loss their gain.

I fully expect them to stay up.
I know you're not his biggest fan.

[The Lone Gunman]

So they've improved then? They have 7 points from Millwall, Norwich and Middlesbrough recently. I wouldn't fancy us to get much from those fixtures if we were to play those three now.

They have improved - they'd won two of their previous eight games before Warnock took over.

City's improvement in Lamouchi's first eight games was more significant. The Bluebirds hadn't won any of their previous eight before he took over.

I wouldn't fancy us to get much out of Millwall, Norwich or Boro either. However, City did beat Bristol 2-0 recently. Huddersfield played them a few days later and could only draw 0-0.