Sam Sodje

[SQUELCH]

In the News of the World page 87 says that sam sodje is the subject of a 1 million pounnd transfer to either West Ham or Blackburn!

It also says Blackburn have made the most significant offer so far but also depends on West Hams result today in the play off final.


True or paper talk? they even quote sodje?

1 million but would imagine theres a lot of appearances and sell ons in that.

From Margate to Premier league in a year!

 

[homerbees]

I read that in the notw too.

Not sure what to make of it, my first impression was its just paper talk. I hope so but the bit about a 1 million pound price tag is nice but id like us to hold out for more, it not going to be a surprise when he does well in the premiership and either club will say they've found a star and raise his value 3 or 4 times higher.

 

[Deleted member 2202]

Good old News of the World...£1 million, as if

 

[Nick Signal]

Just seen this as well. Be gutted if he goes but the man is different class and deserves the attention. That said, anything close to a million would take the sting out of it a little. Also when you consider what we paid for him, potentially pappa Allen may know of another 25 Sam's in the lower leagues worth throwing a few bob at. Provided we don't get mugged off on the transfer then I for one will put on a brave face & bid him farewell.
Having said that, the truth of it is more likely to be that Southend have offered us 25 quid and an ink cartridge for the season ticket printer causing mass hysteria at board level!

Sam, u am the man. Don't leave us on the cheap!

 

[North London Bee]

I ahve no problem in ANY player leaving us as long as he goes to a club which will benefit him professionally (this could mean at a lower as well as higher level) as as long as Brentford receive the correct level of remuneration for him - which also could mean lots as well as nothing dependingupon the circumstances.

What ****es me off is if

- good players make sideways moves eg Stanislaus (altho £90K was a fair price) and the Gillingham crew,

- we get ripped off eg Holdsworth, Mahon,

- we do deals that look good at the time but in retrospect are poor eg Marcus's Gayle and Bent

- or if by bad management (mainly from Chairman's office) we allow good players to run their contracts doen and leave on a Bosman eg Evans, Owusu, Ivar

Smith was a reasonable deal as it wa a buyers' market, there was no competition for him and we are protected for the future, Deano was the epitome of a bad deal, average price obtained when lots of others were also sniffing around, 2 poor players taken in part exchange, no sell on clause and most of the fee ****ed away in bad deals.

Andy McCullough is another example - we bit Sheff Wed's arm off at their first thowaway offer of £60K.

This is all off the top of my head - come on let's hear other viewpoints and examples !!

 

[SQUELCH]

cant see us getting anywhere near 1 million tho............... more likely £500,000.

yeah in the past deals have been p!$$ poor so hopefully MA might be different and you never know like was previously said he might pull another gem out of the lowere leagues.

 

[Beesnut]

In the News of the World

Enough said...

 

[Woking Bee]

If this is legit and either or Blackburn/West Ham are after Sam then as long as Martin Allen is heavily involved in the transfer then I would hope that we should get close to what we're after.

As has been said previously in this thread, good players have been sold off far too cheaply but more often than not by the incompetent management that has run this club for what feels like donkeys years.

2 more names from the distant past that were sold for a song: Cross & O'Mara.

 

[High Street Bee]

I think that if this story is true,we must get John Mac involved in any transfer negotiations at the very earliest stage :suspect:

Only his level of expertise can ensure that we stay true to all our stalwart previous transfer history

 

[-superbees2k3-]

I would be sad to see Sam go but if we are getting a million then its not all bad. Cant see it happening though

 

[High Street Bee]

http://skysports.planetfootball.com...&title=Sodje+reveals+suitors&channel=League_1

 

[Les Beeavinu]

Add this to his comments not long ago and it sounds like Sam doesn't want to play for us anymore.

I think one decent season does not mean he can make it in the Premiership. A lot of things he got away with in League 1 he would be slaughtered for in the Premiership. He needs to spend a bit longer concentrating on defending and less of the flash stuff. He might find he's not as good as he thinks if he tries it against Henry or Van Nistelrooy!

 

[Deleted member 2202]

Don't forget which club made your career, Sam

 

[Deleted member 2202]

Add this to his comments not long ago and it sounds like Sam doesn't want to play for us anymore.

Exactly. I know he's 26 and ambitious and wants to move up quickly, but he could show a bit more respect for the club that transferred him from a dirty Margate defender to a Premiership transfer target.

I certainly wouldn't turn down £1m though, as Sodje does have his faults and we could finance enough new players to win the championship with that amount. However, a lot depends on how much of it is given to Martin for new players.

 

[Stanley]

If we got anything close to a £1m even with appearances etc we should snap their hand off. He's good but not that good..

I agree with NLB we have a history of not making enough out of the few prize assets we have had over the years largely because we have never been in a strong negotiating position. Every other club knows we are penennial strugglers financialy and capitalise on it.

Fingers crossed on this one although as its NOW large doses of salt to be honest.

 

[sussexb]

In the Observer as well.

 

[abee]

Andy McCullough is another example - we bit Sheff Wed's arm off at their first thowaway offer of £60K.

Jack Charlton was Sheff Wed's manager at the time and he wrote (either for a newspaper article or in his autobiography I forget which) that he regarded Andy McCulloch as one of his best if not his best signing. Charlton had the authority of the Sheff Wed board to go to £90k but the word in football was that Brentford had always been a soft touch and Charlton put in what he considered to be a sighting bid of £60k. He couldn't believe it when Brentford said "We'll get back to you as soon as possible". Charlton said to his Assistant Manager Maurice Setters "I can't believe it. I think they are actually gonna buy it".

He and Setters waited sweating by the phone and Charlton told Setters "However fidgety I get don't let me pick up the phone to Brentford and ask how it is going. Let them worry at their end"

Sure enough we got back to Charlton and told him that we accepted their £60k bid. We left £30k on the table which was a lot of monies in those days.

Likewise Deano. Martin Lange told me that he was in the States at the time and had delegated day to day responsibility for the running of the club. He claimed that he was incandescent with rage when he heard that we failed to negotiate any sell-on fee.

 

[Les Beeavinu]

Likewise Deano. Martin Lange told me that he was in the States at the time and had delegated day to day responsibility for the running of the club. He claimed that he was incandescent with rage when he heard that we failed to negotiate any sell-on fee.

So the chairman of the club didn't want to be consulted on the sale of our star player. A touch negligent, perhaps? Deano's next move after Wimbledon was of course £3.5m to Bolton. :sad:

I don't think Sam is good enough so I'd rather we linked add-on's to appearances 'cos I couldn't see him commanding a huge fee in the future. If he goes that is.

 

[Waterlooville Bee]

If my memory serves me correctly, Lange wasnt chairman at the time of Deanos sale and our promotion.

 

[Les Beeavinu]

Actually, I think your probably right, but he was the majority shareholders none the less.

On that point, what happened to Martin Lange? Is he still a fan and regular attendee a GP? I thought he might have renewed influence after Noades' departure.

 

[abee]

So the chairman of the club didn't want to be consulted on the sale of our star player. A touch negligent, perhaps? Deano's next move after Wimbledon was of course £3.5m to Bolton. :sad:

Martin Lange had handed over the chairmanship to his friend Gerry Potter at the start of the promotion season but he was still guaranteeing the bank overdraft. I believe that Lange went to Florida for a couple of years for tax reasons following the sale of his publicly quoted master company Marlboro Holdings and also to try and do some business in the USA. Deano was easily our most saleable asset and it was always clear that he was likely to go. I assume that they had telephones in the States at that time........ .........and it seemed incredible to me that the majority shareholder had not agreed a "Deano sale policy" with his appointed chairman. Martin Lange returned to the UK towards the end of our relegation season and the first match he attended was I believe the 0-4 drubbing at West Ham where we laid down and died. When he saw the wage bill and the cost of the signings who were on the bench and not even playing he I gather went ape sh*te. He took back the chairmanship and Gerry Potter went back to vice chairman but I was told that the relationship between Lange and Potter was never the same and Gerry Potter's handling of the club's finances during his chairmanship fractured what was once a warm friendship. The implication was that Gerry Potter was not taking the same care with Lange's money as perhaps he would have done with his own. That was the story as I heard it anyway and I believe that it is more or less correct. Potter shortly after resigned his directorship and stopped coming to Griffin Park.

 

[abee]

Actually, I think your probably right, but he was the majority shareholders none the less.

On that point, what happened to Martin Lange? Is he still a fan and regular attendee a GP? I thought he might have renewed influence after Noades' departure.

I don't think that he comes at all now. He still has 25% of the BFC shares but I believe his stance is that he had a go and that it is someone elses turn now. I imagine that ours is still the first result that he looks for but I don't see him playing any active role financially although I would have thought that if he is up for it he should be invited to be a non-executive director when Bees United obtains control. Lange has the experience and has been there and dunnit........

 

[larrysigny]

I don't think that he comes at all now. He still has 25% of the BFC shares but I believe his stance is that he had a go and that it is someone elses turn now. I imagine that ours is still the first result that he looks for but I don't see him playing any active role financially although I would have thought that if he is up for it he should be invited to be a non-executive director when Bees United obtains control. Lange has the experience and has been there and dunnit........

Doesn't he also have some sort of veto over the sale of Griffin Park?

 

[loyalbee]

couldnt stand to hear the sodje song on motd coming out of dirty notherners and monkey blowing geezers

 

[BoroBee]

What's the inside track, Tracey?

 

[North London Bee]

Yes let's inaugurate The Gerry Potter Award for the worse transfer deals in and out thta we have "negotiated."

My initial shortlist

OUT

Deano
Marcus Gayle
Marcus Bent
Mahon
Andy McCulloch
Joe Allon

IN

Joe Allon
Murray Jones
Shane Westley
Garry Johnson/Lee Frost - joint larceny
Bill Glazier - free was too much for him

Over to you all.....

 

[thanetbee]

Exactly. I know he's 26 and ambitious and wants to move up quickly, but he could show a bit more respect for the club that transferred him from a dirty Margate defender to a Premiership transfer target.
.

Now now, nothing dirty in Margate, just good old sea air and fish and chips.

 

[Les Beeavinu]

I don't think that he comes at all now. He still has 25% of the BFC shares but I believe his stance is that he had a go and that it is someone elses turn now. I imagine that ours is still the first result that he looks for but I don't see him playing any active role financially although I would have thought that if he is up for it he should be invited to be a non-executive director when Bees United obtains control. Lange has the experience and has been there and dunnit........

So what is the inside opinion of his stewardship? It seems to me that he had to make difficult decisions that weren't at all popular (imagine if the GPG had existed when they agreed to knock down the Roal Oak!) but he did seem to have some positive impact as well (after all, the play off's have bit us on the arse a few times but I wouldn't be without them). Do people believe that we should have made more progress in his time? Be interested to hear some views.

Seems that we were landed in it when he sold to Webb but by then was he just looking for a way out?

 

[PJ]

Martin Lange returned to the UK towards the end of our relegation season and the first match he attended was I believe the 0-4 drubbing at West Ham where we laid down and died. When he saw the wage bill and the cost of the signings who were on the bench and not even playing he I gather went ape sh*te. .

If I remember correctly the famous quote of that time from ML was that we had £13k worth of weekly paid players either on the bench/sitting in the stand at Upton Park. It was a fortune in those days, and basically all of Deano`s fee had been spunked on "replacements" and inflated salaries for inept/injured players (ring as preferred).
The financial management of BFC in those (comparatively heady) days was scandalous. ML and GP were both to blame to one extent or another, and what is it 13 years on and we`re still in the financial mire... , albeit the "motives" in those days were at least "honourable" compared to RN`s deliberate destruction of BFC

 

[bees66]

Yes let's inaugurate The Gerry Potter Award for the worse transfer deals in and out thta we have "negotiated."

My initial shortlist

OUT

Deano
Marcus Gayle
Marcus Bent
Mahon
Andy McCulloch
Joe Allon

IN

Joe Allon
Murray Jones
Shane Westley
Garry Johnson/Lee Frost - joint larceny
Bill Glazier - free was too much for him

Over to you all.....

Out
Sinton....£350,000 Had an added % sell-on though
Hurlock....£90,000
Forster...£brumscum
Cullip...£40K

 

[Streetboy]

Out
Forster...£brumscum

Yep, for about 20p, after Arsenal and Crystal Palace were supposed to be ready to shell out £1million.

 

[Jimbee]

Yes let's inaugurate The Gerry Potter Award for the worse transfer deals in and out thta we have "negotiated."

My initial shortlist

OUT

Deano
Marcus Gayle
Marcus Bent
Mahon
Andy McCulloch
Joe Allon

IN

Joe Allon
Murray Jones
Shane Westley
Garry Johnson/Lee Frost - joint larceny
Bill Glazier - free was too much for him

Over to you all.....

The only disagreement is with the Joe Allon transfer in that we sold Deano for £750k and bought in Joe for £275k so as a comparison it wasn't a bad deal. I always feel Joe got a hard deal from some sections of the crowd but you couldn't really argue with his goalscoring record for us. He followed on from our 2nd best striker of all time in scoring terms so maybe he was on a hiding to nothing.

 

[North London Bee]

The only disagreement is with the Joe Allon transfer in that we sold Deano for £750k and bought in Joe for £275k so as a comparison it wasn't a bad deal. I always feel Joe got a hard deal from some sections of the crowd but you couldn't really argue with his goalscoring record for us. He followed on from our 2nd best striker of all time in scoring terms so maybe he was on a hiding to nothing.

He was so one dimensional - a bit like Grazioli
in that if he did not score he had not contributed anyting else to the team ethic.

I just think that the £275K could have been spent better - like on Collymore who would have cost less than half and netted us a profit of over a million if he had done as well for us and he had at Southend - he would also have probably kept us up as well !! That's why I included Joe Allon in the Gerry Potters.

 

[Jimbee]

He was so one dimensional - a bit like Grazioli
in that if he did not score he had not contributed anyting else to the team ethic.

I just think that the £275K could have been spent better - like on Collymore who would have cost less than half and netted us a profit of over a million if he had done as well for us and he had at Southend - he would also have probably kept us up as well !! That's why I included Joe Allon in the Gerry Potters.

I can't disagree with any of that but I just find it hard to include him in the same sentence as Murray Jones - Allon was unlucky, Jones was patently sh*t.

For me, Holder's defining moment at GP was when he told the fans forum that his reason for not signing was that Collymore 'does nothing for 80 minutes and then scores a goal'. I can't remember if that was before or after he got his hat-trick against us at Roots Hall.

Unfortunately, he had to pay at least double for Joe who did nothing for about 150 minutes and then scored a goal.

 

[JANORAK]

Yes let's inaugurate The Gerry Potter Award for the worse transfer deals in and out thta we have "negotiated."

What about that waste of space, Paul Davis, sometime England international? Webb signed him from Arsenal, admittedly at the end of his career, but it took him about 10 mins of his 1st game at our level to decide he couldn't be bothered. Rather than do the decent thing & retire, he sat back & took his (presumably substantial) wages until the end of the season...

 

[The H]

whatever happened to the money Lange (Brentford.... :suspect: ) made on 48 flats :scratch:

 

[Leonardo]

NLB I think you've forgotton Scott Marshall on your IN list. A waste of £250K.

 

[smiffy superbee]

whatever happened to the money Lange (Brentford.... :suspect: ) made on 48 flats :scratch:

£2M in.

£1M..... to build flats and Wendy house.
£1M..... to offset BFC debts
(good business at the time!)

Also re. above other posts:-

1. Hermann transfer figures (in/out, sell-on) anyone?

2. 2nd highest scorer?....not sure about that! ...Phillips or Towers for a start!

Have a good bank holiday everyone!

 

[longdistancebee]

I think a lot depends on how much say MA has. Although I cannot be sure, because I did not see the subsequently deleted comments about GW's very brief tenure at the club, I seem to recall that he felt that MA had too much say - as manager - over affairs more linked to the general running of the club as a business. Although I cannot comment as I have no idea as to the specifics of that situation, I would certainly love MA to be in charge of any transfer negotiations, as I bet he is one hard nut.

 

[North London Bee]

NLB I think you've forgotton Scott Marshall on your IN list. A waste of £250K.

Good call. Just look at Herman, shut your eyes and compile an identikit footbaler with all the opposite attributes and there you have Scott Marshall - A complete "Gerry Potter" !!

 

[abee]

I think a lot depends on how much say MA has. Although I cannot be sure, because I did not see the subsequently deleted comments about GW's very brief tenure at the club, I seem to recall that he felt that MA had too much say - as manager - over affairs more linked to the general running of the club as a business. Although I cannot comment as I have no idea as to the specifics of that situation, I would certainly love MA to be in charge of any transfer negotiations, as I bet he is one hard nut.

Not sure about this. Most managers are in it for the short term and if they believe that a player is needed to strengthen the team then they tend to have a cavalier attitude towards the budget. Most managers believe that their board of directors has a duty to finance any and all of their player requirements and equally the directors will know that every manager in the history of football is always at least two players short of a table topping team.

My instincts tell me that it has to be a partnership with either the CEO or an assigned director as the senior partner but working with the manager to bring in the player concerned at a transfer fee and a wage commensurate with the overall budget and perhaps equally important in line with the squad wage structure. Stories abound of the "deals" done solely between managers and where boards of directors had lost control to a manager with a strong personality......W H Smith was running out of brown envelopes at one time.........

So I vote........."non"........ Martin Allen (and all managers) should certainly be closely involved with but not in charge of any transfer negotiations..........

 

[The H]

Mark McCammon

 

[Ronan]

'most significant offer so far...'

Bye Sam.

 

[Mr Cynical]

The only disagreement is with the Joe Allon transfer in that we sold Deano for £750k and bought in Joe for £275k so as a comparison it wasn't a bad deal. I always feel Joe got a hard deal from some sections of the crowd but you couldn't really argue with his goalscoring record for us. He followed on from our 2nd best striker of all time in scoring terms so maybe he was on a hiding to nothing.

I think 275k was our highest transfer fee at the time so that was a lot of money.. Joe was a very poor player IMO, he managed a reasonable goal ratio but he tended to score a lot in 2s or 3s. He never seemed to be anywhere when you really needed him. He could also trap a ball further than most could kick it!!

 

[Ibby]

I can't see us using much of the money from the Sodje sale to be honest.

 

[ianallon]

I think 275k was our highest transfer fee at the time so that was a lot of money.. Joe was a very poor player IMO, he managed a reasonable goal ratio but he tended to score a lot in 2s or 3s. He never seemed to be anywhere when you really needed him. He could also trap a ball further than most could kick it!!

Don't diss Joe! Bees Legend

Anyway, back to Mr Sodje. He shouldn't be attacked for wanting to move on to better things. I've heard MA telling all the players before a match "You don't want to be appearing in a testimonial here in ten years time, you should be making something of yourself, getting some money together." And quite right too - we can't really complain.

I can't really see Sam going for anywhere near £1000000. I would have thought we could take a 0 off, plus a bit for appearances and sell-on's etc. Hope I'm wrong.

 

[Leonardo]

I've heard MA telling all the players before a match "You don't want to be appearing in a testimonial here in ten years time, you should be making something of yourself, getting some money together." And quite right too - we can't really complain.

I think Dobbo does

 

[davido_i]

Good luck to Sam, to be honest with our track record in the transfer market £1M up front in our current situation, I'd snap their hands off, but not before asking for a 10% sell-on (as we should do every time we sell)

The thing that strikes me about it is how amazingly noisy he (or his agent??) is apparently being about the possible transfer. I can't blame the bloke for wanting to progress, being at Margate 1 season ago as a 25 year old, I guess he had given up "the dream" & now is again hoping to live it & secure his financial future.

And I don't think as Bees fans we have so much to complain about, he's only been here one season, & is under a long term contract so we have a chance to negotiate a good deal for BFC.

However, if I were Mark Hughes or Alan Pardew, I would be less than happy about whatever initial contact there may have been being broadcast to the nation, alerting other clubs. I might even go so far as to switch my focus to other rumoured targets (Danny Gabbidon at Cardiff) who might display some tact.

It's all been done so crassly, I ask myself if he is not trying to do us, the selling club, a favour in trying to generate the bidding war we were so desperately in need of when selling Paul Smith (at £250K the biggest Potteresque rip-off of them all IMHO, the whopping £50K add-on if he plays for England, FFS, just added insult to injury)

However much substance there is to all this, lets hope this works out well both for Brentford & Sam.

 

[Ronan]

I think Dobbo does

lol rofl lol

 

[Jakalo]

Yes let's inaugurate The Gerry Potter Award for the worse transfer deals in and out thta we have "negotiated."

My initial shortlist

OUT

Deano
Marcus Gayle
Marcus Bent
Mahon
Andy McCulloch
Joe Allon

IN

Joe Allon
Murray Jones
Shane Westley
Garry Johnson/Lee Frost - joint larceny
Bill Glazier - free was too much for him

Over to you all.....

i believe we(i mean n****s) brought mark mccammon for an initial £130,000 with an extra £30,000 going to charlton for every appearance.

we also bought carl hutchings back temporarily for all of two weeks after we had initially sold him. Either this or the Guardian Sport is worse than the NOTW