2014/15 Transfer Speculation

Best ask Rodi Burns about that.

No decent shopping?

If the money on offer for Burns is correct then he would be a mug to turn it down. He is 26.....so he could take the money and play in China. If it didn't work out after a couple of years he is still young enough to come back to the A-league and have a good career. Plus he would have a couple of million in the bank.

Best outcome for the Nix is if he stays until we win the Grand final then we get a nice fat transfer cheque. He could go at the end of year two on a free and the club gets ziltch.

By the way Shanghai is a very cool city. Probably the most hip, stylish Asian city I have visited. The downtown area is a combination of new/modern and some great 1920's art deco style buildings. Its a very international city.....the food and shopping are world class. (shame Mr Smeltz didn't take Mrs Smeltz there). Spending two years playing football there on big money would be OK IMO(shame about the dirty air though)

Shandong Luneng is located in Jinan (capital of Shandong).  By all accounts it is a sharkty, grubby industrial city in contrast to it's more glamorous coastal city Qingdao (think Tsingtao Beer).

Shanghai Shenhua is located in Shanghai, the most developed and glitzy city in China.  It's f*cking ace although inhabited by effete Shanghainese.

I followed this thread in its full length and my comment is as follows:

The only contract I would like to extend at any cost, even if it meant dipping into my own pocket for a small donation, is Ernie's.

Yeah chinese regional cities aren't allot of fun, and as a westerner you stand out and get lots of unwanted attention.

but the massages...,

Anyhow, does Brockie want to come back now?

Sell him. Have first option to buy back in his contract. Buy him back in 6-12 months for 1/4 what we sold him for.

If the stories about his contract Are true (leaving after one year for fudge all of a transfer fee), then we would be mad not to sell him now and Gareth when it comes to money is not mad. He is gone for sure.

The timing sux however big time. We let Brockie go and potentially now Burns. From having depth up front we would now have none.

Keeping it interesting. Watched that movie about the Crazy Gang and how they won the FA Cup with a fan base of 6,500 playing route one football and hacking the crap out of everyone, and next moment everyone was sold to larger clubs. And we've only got to second and been there for a game week.

Guess this is a new problem for the 'Nix to have, but let's be honest: I'd rather have the problem of big money offers coming in for our players than of where the next win or goal is going to come from!

Burns is not leaving. Nothing to see here...

#carelesschinesewhispers

The memories came flooding back.

or where the next sponsorship deal is coming from, to pay our loyal bunch who are not looking around for the next best deal

Bring back Ricki!

Kunming is the coolest little city in China.

Xi'an is the sharktiest shark hole in sharkland.

We back packed around Heilongjiang province on the way down to Beijing when we left Russia once (down through Blagoveshensk and Heihe). It wasn't allot of fun until we hit Beijing. Even got taken to a police station after getting in an argument with a taxi driver who was following us around harassing us.

Really wanted to see the ice sculptures in Harbin, but there was an earthquake and things were pretty chaotic so never got around to it.

Beijing was cool though.

I enjoyed most of China except for Shanghai.

Traffic was nuts there - I couldn't figure out how to cross the road.

Tibet was interesting.

Chengdu Panda centre was probably my highlight.

He must have made enough between Europe and Asia to already have a decent nest egg if he was good with his finances.

A few more developments in this article. 

http://theworldgame.sbs.com.au/article/2015/01/20/...

Apparently Burns has told the "Phoenix Chiefs" that he wants to go.

We've chucked a $2mil price tag on him.

Shanghai have/are offering closer to $1mil

That's a pretty clear sign that the club don't want to sell him, but leaves the door open for discussions.

I guess Shenhua will probably look elsewhere as there must be other options in Sth/Cent America, Africa and the rest of Asia.

if we sell him and it covers welnixs loses on the united tour and small yearly deficits and means welnix appreciete the club and invest more into it seeing potential and FFA see we are financially viable and in the green and extend our license. Then get Burns on the next plane, I'm sure Ernie can find more coal to turn to diamonds.

Credibility lost.

Stein got injured in his second game back in the Belgian Second Division in mid-November and hasn't played since...

Ernie was wise not to offer him the two year deal he wanted, knowing he's injury prone.

Two players and the manager of that Crazy Gang have NZ connections.

Former Miramar player and 1982 Chatham Cup finalist, striker John Fashanu being part of that Crazy Gang.

Also future Otago United player-coach Terry Phelan was starting left back in that team that beat Liverpool.

And manager Bobby Gould fathered current Phoenix goalkeeping coach and former Hawkes Bay United coach Jonathan and his Kiwi grandson now plays in goal for Cheltenham in League Two. Bobby was also assistant coach to Jonathan in our national league with Hawkes Bay for a while.

To be fair, Wimbledon were a team that more than held their own in the old First Division at that time, winning four of their first five games in their first season in the top flight in 1986-87 and finishing sixth.

They finished seventh, twelfth and eighth in subsequent seasons.

And the star players weren't all sold instantly -  they were a tight-knit group and most stayed on - Fashanu didn't leave for Aston Villa until 1992, the same year fellow striker Alan Cork left for Sheffield Utd. Dennis Wise signed for Chelsea after another two seasons at Wimbledon, centre back Eric Young stayed two more seasons before signing for Palace.

Terry Phelan, probably Wimbledon's best player, only left to become the world's most expensive defender at Manchester City four years later in 1992 before finding international fame as a key part of Ireland's team at the 1994 World Cup where they beat Italy and made the second round.

Terry is now running a football academy in Manchester with former team mate John Fashanu for young players who have fallen through the cracks:

http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/sport/footb...

It was Justin who played for miramar, wasn't it?

"The clubs look at the wages, rather than market value, and that’s becoming a major issue.

"Clubs in China can go to France, Belgium or Germany and pick up quality players for the same price. Clubs in the A-League are trying to cash in but salary has nothing to do with a transfer fee. Clubs need to be a little more realistic in their expectations."

Or, maybe, the Phoenix want to keep hold of the guy who's the fastest to 10 goals in an A League season, especially considering that we just sold a striker anyway? $2 million would be a decent amount to look for a replacement with.

No, of course it's all the club being greedy and getting in the way of the player's dream.

Yea those quotes cracked me up big time, what a joke.

F*ck off to europe and sign someone else then, or wait until the player comes off contract. 

"Clubs need to be more realistic in their expectations"???? 

I think the expectations are very realistic; either the player is expected to honour his contract or the club wanting to take him is expected to pay what we deem necessary to break that contract. Simples. If you don't want to pay it, then either f*ck off or wait until his contract is finished. 

Yeah considering he is probably the MVP in the A-League and we are pushing for the title this year, it is probably worth more for us to sell him than it would have been in previous years.

I'm sure we will, it's just part of the negotiation.

The agent does come off as a slimy piece of shark doesnt he. Trying to paint the nix as the baddies.

I want to know who has been leaking info from burns.

Interest to hear what domey has to say about it next time hes on the pod...

$2m is clearly what the Nix believe to be his value to the Nix. If Shanghai don't think he's worth that much to them then he's not the player they are after. The agent obviously thinks the A-League is a league to find a good bargain and seams surprised clubs aren't letting their payers go at bargain prices

Exactly. Nothing new here - the agent is simply pissed off at the possibility Burns may leave for an even smaller fee at the end of the season which means the agent's cut will then be proportionally smaller than if Burns went today for an offer Shanghai is prepared to pay.  

I do not think he is criticising the figure Welnix wants but probably the lower likelihood it would happen. Just watch thisspace - if the Shanghai club actually pays what Welnix is asking, the agent will be the first one to say "Yeah, I knew all along he was worth that much" and happily count his cut.

Justin played for Miramar

Burns is gooooooooone. Just hope we get decent money for him.

It's going to screw us this season, though. I believe we have the depth to cover, but we've got nothing beyond that anymore. We will be heavily reliant on Krishna getting us goals.

if we got the cash that is some fat marquee money to splash - how about chris wood on loan until the end of the season

don't bother abusing, I know it won't happen

Still have reasonable depth: Cunningham, Krishna, Boyd, Fenton.

The window is rapidly closing on us but we do have a bit of cash (combined Brockie and Burns salary) so could pick someone quality from one of the struggling European leagues. I'd look at getting someone from Russia, they have had to take a blanket 20% pay cut because of the economic problems.

As far as I can tell, the only person talking about this is the club's supposed agent in Australia. None of the Nix, Shanghai, Burns, or his agent have said anything, right? I wouldn't be saying Burnsy's out the door just yet

Will still have to be a NZ/Aus player.

Honestly, I would not spend $2.13 million (1.4 million Euros) on Burns. The foreign quota limit, Burns being an AFC player, does push up his value to Shanghai a little bit but still not worth THAT much on top of his $2.67 million NET per season contract. If I was Burns, I would be rather annoyed - he wouldn't earn that amount over 10 years with us. It could push him to look for a move when the release clause kicks in at the end of the season.