Diouf update

[Norfolk N Chance]

see FP site - looks unlikely

[Jenny]

If its true that it boils down to Diouf or Billy i'd much rather have Billy.

What ever happened with Diouf not being in it for the money?!

Published on Wednesday 18 January 2012 13:02

DEAN Saunders has admitted he could face a struggle to hold onto El Hadji Diouf.

Diouf verbally agreed an 18-month contract extension with Rovers last month.

But the Free Press understands the proposed deal was based on the assumption Billy Sharp would leave the club this month - thus freeing up funds to offer Diouf an improved contract.

Saunders said: “In an ideal world I’d love to keep both of them - but I’m not confident.

“There are lots of clubs interested in Diouf.

“Hopefully I can persuade the board to come up with some sort of deal which suits everyone.”

[NickDRFC]

Perhaps we can't afford both him and Billy. I don't think he would sign long term on the \"2k a week\" wage, certainly not for 18 months. From what I've seen if it was a straight choice between the two I'd take Sharp.

[MrFrost]

Fingers crossed. But at the end of the day Diouf could quite easily find a club and get a huge salary that we can't match. We could certainly do with him staying.

[Berkshire Rover]

Jenny, and everybody else, when quoting from publications could posters please put a link to the article and not reproduce the text, we have recently received gentle warnings from both the DFP and the cob on this issue. Part of their evenue comes from having hits on their sites so there more than happy for us to access the content that ay, but reproducing the text infringes copyright law
Thanks for your co- operation.

In case anyone is wondering I have deleted a post that quoted the text, if somebody could post a link that would be great.

[donnyroversfc]

Wouldn't be surprised if Diouf leaves to then be followed by Sharp on deadline day when a Premiership club come in for him.

So much for him being the biggest signing in our history.

[VikingJames]

Link

[sedwardsdrfc]

i would love to see him stay but if it was between him or billy i think sharp would edge it for me though but why not both till end of season at least

[muff licker]

Perhaps we can't afford both him and Billy. I don't think he would sign long term on the \"2k a week\" wage, certainly not for 18 months. From what I've seen if it was a straight choice between the two I'd take Sharp.

So what if Diouf doesn't sign and then Billy leaves at the end of the season...for me id keep Diouf as it would be an 18mth contract, UNLESS BS commits himself to the club via the new deal on the table.

You could also say why not offer EHD a contract till the end of the season and see what happens then?if BS does go then that frees up the coffers so EHD could then get a 12/18mth term.

Lots for JR and the board to work on and discuss however i feel EHD is too much of a good comodity to 'just let go' like that.

[danrover82]

Perhaps we can't afford both him and Billy. I don't think he would sign long term on the \"2k a week\" wage, certainly not for 18 months. From what I've seen if it was a straight choice between the two I'd take Sharp.

So what if Diouf doesn't sign and then Billy leaves at the end of the season...for me id keep Diouf as it would be an 18mth contract, UNLESS BS commits himself to the club via the new deal on the table.You could also say why not offer EHD a contract till the end of the season and see what happens then?if BS does go then that frees up the coffers so EHD could then get a 12/18mth term.

Lots for JR and the board to work on and discuss however i feel EHD is too much of a good comodity to 'just let go' like that.

Was thinking the same.


Why not offer both contracts to commit and EHD a percentage of a sell on or even a release clause if we get relegated?

[DearneValleyRover]

We have no control over Billy in respect to Transfer as it will be his decision so how can we realistically negotiate a contract with Diouf based on his possible departure, it doesn't make sense. I also read somewhere that he was stalling on signing because Billy could leave ie. would only sign if he stays.

[NickDRFC]

I'm not saying I want to lose him, I'm saying I don't think he would sign a longer term deal on any less money than Sharp is on now. And we know we can't afford to have 2 people on that sort of money at the club.

[grayx]

Perhaps we can't afford both him and Billy. I don't think he would sign long term on the \"2k a week\" wage, certainly not for 18 months. From what I've seen if it was a straight choice between the two I'd take Sharp.

Perhaps I'm being unrealstic here but I'd love to get them both under longer contracts with decent \"sell-on\" clauses built in. Surely we'd make good money on these two when the time was right for them to move on.

[mushRTID]

I wish we didnt embarrass ourselves like this.

If he leaves as I expect, we will be a total laughing stock coming out and telling the world he is signing.

Amateur.

[RobTheRover]

Perhaps we can't afford both him and Billy. I don't think he would sign long term on the \"2k a week\" wage, certainly not for 18 months. From what I've seen if it was a straight choice between the two I'd take Sharp.

Perhaps I'm being unrealstic here but I'd love to get them both under longer contracts with decent \"sell-on\" clauses built in. Surely we'd make good money on these two when the time was right for them to move on.

Although EHD has been great for us, I think its fair to say his best days are behind him.  I think if we offered him a lucrative 18 month deal then he would probably go for nothing at the end of it.

[Wild Rover]

I wish we didnt embarrass ourselves like this.

If he leaves as I expect, we will be a total laughing stock coming out and telling the world he is signing.

Amateur.

Nah we wont. EHD himself said he was staying.

[DonnyBazR0ver]

Don't have a problem either way. The club achieved what is set out to in signing short term someone of the calibre of EHD and, let's not forget EHD is not the only player part of this process.

In his time here he's added value and I hope the other players have learned something from him in terms of guile and experience. I'm sure the club have done everything reasonably possible to extend his stay here but EHD is not the be all and end all of this short term policy.

[graingrover]

And it will serve no purpose for us to criticise EHD if he does leave for richer pastures since the McKay experiment is founded on the very premise that we are a shop window for such high pofile players . We would never have seen him in  Rovers shirt otherwise.

[benaldo]

I suppose if nothing else we've had Dioufs services for some games and I'd rather that had happened than not. You could argue that the Ipswich win wouldn't have happened without him and he certainly still is a class player. The error the club has made is mouthing off about maybe's and perhaps's, when nothing was actually signed. Now this could have been for one of three reasons
1) Someone thought it was a good idea to play \"If you don't come and get Diouf now, he's staying here\"?
2) The club couldn't PR it's way out of a paper bag?
3) They were certain Sharp would leave, thus funding the long term deal with Diouf. (However, this is still a display of amateur PR in my humble opinion)

However you look at it, Diouf is a great player for any Championship club or lower Premiership club. He's done really well at Rovers, I like him, most people do, I hope he stays. His name alone has possibly been the deciding factor for some of our new arrivals when they were weighing up a move here!
But we end up back at - The board don't want to spend any more of their own money. That's at the heart of everything the club is doing. I think they are doing wonders without putting Rovers in the red, or emptying their own bank accounts.

Here's a little stat for you. In their promotion season Blackpool spent 130% of their total income on players wages alone. Want us to do that?

[inSODwetrust]

I honestly don't think we'd miss him!

[Muttley]

I honestly don't think we'd miss him!

Glad it's not just me - obviously a talented footballer but thought Coppinger outshone him v Cardiff and, apart from Ipswich, has he really had a match-changing impact on a game?

[Red wizard]

If we could get Fortune back from WBA that would be as good if not better than Diouf. Him and Billy was a real handfull.

[Mr1Croft]

When Saunders said on Saturday Sharp was staying I was pondering whether or not he is allowed to say that and the Diouf incident came to mind as he does talk alot about \"agreements\" in his interviews and that is probably because he is constantly optimistic, that said this was already published everywhere the Rovers could fit it and unless you read the articles, looking at the facebook and twitter feeds you'd be 100% confident it was a done deal.

As for Diouf himself I can't deny that his first touch in a Rovers shirt against Middlesboro was class and he showed some real promise. Since his great performace against Ipswich he has seemed to have suffered 'over-confidence' and has only seemed interesting in winding up either the ref or the opposition fans. That said he does show glimpses of quality in his matches and no denying his talent, I would be happy if we extended his stay (given it wasn't too much) but there wouldn't be no tears shed if he left either...

[madmick50]

If the DFP have got it right EHD was only ever going to stay if Billy left as this would release funds to offer EHD an improved contract. Why were we never told this? Do the PR department have a clue about what they're doing?

[Bristol Red Rover]

If the DFP have got it right EHD was only ever going to stay if Billy left as this would release funds to offer EHD an improved contract. Why were we never told this? Do the PR department have a clue about what they're doing?

I don't think its nailed on that he'll leave, not at all. As for our PR dept. - right now they are absolutely right not to mention anything negative that isn't a done deal. They were absolutely wrong to mention what they did before about Djiouf extending his contract, though I wonder what the details are as to how that came to be. Am fairly sure it would be written in good faith. We need an investigation, heads must roll!

[Filo]

If the DFP have got it right EHD was only ever going to stay if Billy left as this would release funds to offer EHD an improved contract. Why were we never told this? Do the PR department have a clue about what they're doing?

I don't think its nailed on that he'll leave, not at all. As for our PR dept. - right now they are absolutely right not to mention anything negative that isn't a done deal. They were absolutely wrong to mention what they did before about Djiouf extending his contract, though I wonder what the details are as to how that came to be. Am fairly sure it would be written in good faith. We need an investigation, heads must roll!

Any official release of information must surely have to get the nod from the media manager, ultimately he is responsible if inaccurate information is released

[Bristol Red Rover]

Any official release of information must surely have to get the nod from the media manager, ultimately he is responsible if inaccurate information is released

It depends what he was told. And could poss have been someone standing in for him. And Djiouf could have signed with disappearing ink. We can't make assumptions.

[Red wizard]

Just listened to Deano on player, says Diouf has spoke with JR and we are getting closer to getting him signed.

[RUPRECHT]

shiny new teeth thrown in as a sweetener?