Daily Mail's Martin Samuel does a hatchet job on City.

[jon1959]

He claims Jack McKay 'helped broker' the Sala deal. Rubbish. Jack and Paul McKay may not be worth professional player contracts with Cardiff (and they are evidence I think of an unhealthy backscratching relationship with the McKay empire), but the twins are not agents. All Jack did was pass on to Emiliano Sala a free flight offer from his father/brother.

The references to Sol Bamba leaving Leeds - whatever agents were involved - are pathetic. Sol publicly criticised the Leeds owner at the time and was shown the door via the bench and the reserves. Garry Monk got some temporary brownie points for it, but I haven't seen any suggestion that Willie McKay engineered the situation to benefit Cardiff a year later!

Samuel is right in some of his claims, and I doubt our club would be questioning so many elements of the deal if the plane had landed safely in Cardiff that night - but he seems to wilfully ignore the way McKay has put his dishonesty and full role into the public domain since the tragedy. I think the club may have gone after too many targets - and invited hostile press coverage and comment as a result - but I'm glad they haven't ignored it.

[Cyclops]

He claims Jack McKay 'helped broker' the Sala deal. Rubbish. Jack and Paul McKay may not be worth professional player contracts with Cardiff (and they are evidence I think of an unhealthy backscratching relationship with the McKay empire), but the twins are not agents. All Jack did was pass on to Emiliano Sala a free flight offer from his father/brother.

The references to Sol Bamba leaving Leeds - whatever agents were involved - are pathetic. Sol publicly criticised the Leeds owner at the time and was shown the door via the bench and the reserves. Garry Monk got some temporary brownie points for it, but I haven't seen any suggestion that Willie McKay engineered the situation to benefit Cardiff a year later!

Samuel is right in some of his claims, and I doubt our club would be questioning so many elements of the deal if the plane had landed safely in Cardiff that night - but he seems to wilfully ignore the way McKay has put his dishonesty and full role into the public domain since the tragedy. I think the club may have gone after too many targets - and invited hostile press coverage and comment as a result - but I'm glad they haven't ignored it.

Shouldn't that be the bankrupt McKay?

[Don Corleone]

Must admit it's a well written argument with some pretty pertinent points. I don't think there is much suspicion over Bamba leaving Leeds, for some reason they never seemed to rate him, but the rest is pretty spot on and we wouldn't be questioning the role of agents etc if Sala was now playing for us

[Loramski]

He claims Jack McKay 'helped broker' the Sala deal. Rubbish. Jack and Paul McKay may not be worth professional player contracts with Cardiff (and they are evidence I think of an unhealthy backscratching relationship with the McKay empire), but the twins are not agents. All Jack did was pass on to Emiliano Sala a free flight offer from his father/brother.

The references to Sol Bamba leaving Leeds - whatever agents were involved - are pathetic. Sol publicly criticised the Leeds owner at the time and was shown the door via the bench and the reserves. Garry Monk got some temporary brownie points for it, but I haven't seen any suggestion that Willie McKay engineered the situation to benefit Cardiff a year later!

Samuel is right in some of his claims, and I doubt our club would be questioning so many elements of the deal if the plane had landed safely in Cardiff that night - but he seems to wilfully ignore the way McKay has put his dishonesty and full role into the public domain since the tragedy. I think the club may have gone after too many targets - and invited hostile press coverage and comment as a result - but I'm glad they haven't ignored it.

You've misread the bit about Jack McKay, he said Willie McKay 'helped broker' the deal.

I think you're right about Bamba though, Monk admitted at the time that he was responsible for his exit.

https://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co....monk-1-8114966

[jon1959]

You've misread the bit about Jack McKay, he said Willie McKay 'helped broker' the deal.

I think you're right about Bamba though, Monk admitted at the time that he was responsible for his exit.

https://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co....monk-1-8114966

You are right about the Jack McKay bit as it is worded now. However, I'm fairly confident the Mail Online has changed the way that para was originally punctuated to change its meaning. I made the mistake of commenting below the line - after reading that bit very carefully - and all the online press (WOL especially) use the moderating delay to correct cockups, errors and idiocies pointed out by readers.

Bottom line for me is that Samuel is partly right and makes some valid points, but has gone OTT with some sloppy claims and his own agenda (aimed more at Warnock than Cardiff). There will be more of this kind of stuff before it becomes chip paper.

[Pedro de la Rosa]

Bottom line for me is that Samuel is partly right and makes some valid points, but has gone OTT with some sloppy claims and his own agenda (aimed more at Warnock than Cardiff). There will be more of this kind of stuff before it becomes chip paper.

Samuel has called ROI "predators" over Declan Rice today. The bloke's a joke. He's also written articles that Grealish shouldn't be allowed to play for Ireland but in the same article, that Januzaj should have a choice. He's as one eyed as it comes.

[the other bob wilson]

He claims Jack McKay 'helped broker' the Sala deal. Rubbish. Jack and Paul McKay may not be worth professional player contracts with Cardiff (and they are evidence I think of an unhealthy backscratching relationship with the McKay empire), but the twins are not agents. All Jack did was pass on to Emiliano Sala a free flight offer from his father/brother.

The references to Sol Bamba leaving Leeds - whatever agents were involved - are pathetic. Sol publicly criticised the Leeds owner at the time and was shown the door via the bench and the reserves. Garry Monk got some temporary brownie points for it, but I haven't seen any suggestion that Willie McKay engineered the situation to benefit Cardiff a year later!

Samuel is right in some of his claims, and I doubt our club would be questioning so many elements of the deal if the plane had landed safely in Cardiff that night - but he seems to wilfully ignore the way McKay has put his dishonesty and full role into the public domain since the tragedy. I think the club may have gone after too many targets - and invited hostile press coverage and comment as a result - but I'm glad they haven't ignored it.

It is an inconsistency isn't it. On the one hand, the attitude appears to be "well, we all know what agents are like and it's inevitable that things like this are going to happen" and, on the other, he goes through the club's dealings with a fine toothcomb to the extent that he is talking about three players, who use a company which has Neil Warnock's son on their payroll, that signed for us years before his father became our manager - three players who, to the best of my knowledge, had never played for a club managed by Warnock before he came here. I can see a conflict of interest now that Neil Warnock is our manager, but how does that exist in the period 2012 to 2014 when Morrison, Noone and Healey signed for Cardiff?

[goats]

It is an inconsistency isn't it. On the one hand, the attitude appears to be "well, we all know what agents are like and it's inevitable that things like this are going to happen" and, on the other, he goes through the club's dealings with a fine toothcomb to the extent that he is talking about three players, who use a company which has Neil Warnock's son on their payroll, that signed for us years before his father became our manager - three players who, to the best of my knowledge, had never played for a club managed by Warnock before he came here. I can see a conflict of interest now that Neil Warnock is our manager, but how does that exist in the period 2012 to 2014 when Morrison, Noone and Healey signed for Cardiff?

Exactly, he clearly has an agenda. I think we should just pay Nantes the first instalment, then go after insurance for whoever arranged that flight.

[Taunton Blue Genie]

Apart from stating at the very outset that a number of things will unravel in due course I have refrained from commenting on this case so far. However, it's not without a certain irony that signing an expensive, marquee centre forward to keep us in the Premier League has again resulted in opening a can of worms regarding agents and all the other parties involved in such transfers. No doubts such activities are ubiquitous in the world of football but they seem to have been particularly highlighted by the two aforementioned events at our club.

[Pedro de la Rosa]

It is an inconsistency isn't it. On the one hand, the attitude appears to be "well, we all know what agents are like and it's inevitable that things like this are going to happen" and, on the other, he goes through the club's dealings with a fine toothcomb to the extent that he is talking about three players, who use a company which has Neil Warnock's son on their payroll, that signed for us years before his father became our manager - three players who, to the best of my knowledge, had never played for a club managed by Warnock before he came here. I can see a conflict of interest now that Neil Warnock is our manager, but how does that exist in the period 2012 to 2014 when Morrison, Noone and Healey signed for Cardiff?

Samuel hates Warnock. He raises some good points but there's too much bile and rubbish that dilutes his argument. There are basic errors and extremely tenuous links that just makes it a smear article, rather than having any real merit.

As you say, his attitude of "this is how football works" and then Cardiff use McKay and are therefore bad is just mad. As I've said before, I'd be happy if the McKays had nothing to do with us ever again but if we want to sign players from France that might be difficult, although I can't see it happening in the short term!