Steve Sidwell signed

Berty23 said:

I remember going to highfield road in c 2003 and seeing us draw 0 0 with cov. I am sure that I walked away saying "That ginger fella was the best player in the pitch". Therefore 12 years (or so) later this is an amazing signing.

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albionite said:

Maybe I remember incorrectly but Arsenal accepted our offer and reading matched it and it was up to the player where he went.

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Thunder Bolt said:

Wasn't that his last game for us? I know Pardew was there watching him.

Gary Hart went to the game yesterday, but bought a ticket when he arrived. He's a friend of Bobby, too. He wasn't wined & dined in the boardroom.

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GT49er said:

My response was to your 'ten years too late' comment - i.e, ten years after their prime.

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Thunder Bolt said:

Wasn't that his last game for us? I know Pardew was there watching him.

Gary Hart went to the game yesterday, but bought a ticket when he arrived. He's a friend of Bobby, too. He wasn't wined & dined in the boardroom.

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Thunder Bolt said:

Gary Hart went to the game yesterday, but bought a ticket when he arrived. He's a friend of Bobby, too. He wasn't wined & dined in the boardroom.

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pasty said:

I guess we're not trying to sign Harty though

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NooBHA said:

Was it the Boardroom or the Players Lounge ? If it was The Boardroom then there is probably something in this story. If it was the Players Lounge then he could correctly just have been Bobby's Guest. I think the players only get 2 tickets per match free, although they can purchase more. That was a Directive by HMRC around 2005 to all football clubs that any more than 2 hospitality tickets to Football players had to be treated as a Taxable Benefit and Employers NIC paid on it.

There is also a Managers Lounge, where the Manager's and Coaches guests go into. That's mostly friends and family of the Coaches and Management team, although you can come across Players Agent's in there occasionally and there is no numbers restriction but it rarely exceeds 20

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Ernest said:

Do you go in Hughton's room and watch PAINT dry ? I hear that is one of the THINGS that EXCITES him

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NooBHA said:

**** off - You are becoming boring

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NooBHA said:

Have a listen to Chris' post match interview where he is directly asked the question about whether he is interested in signing Sidwell.

He knows how to skip round a question but he will never openly lie in an interview. He makes a mistake and gets caught in two minds on whether to skip round the question OR answer truthfully and he nearly says Yes I would be interested or No that's not what we are actually looking for.

He then corrects himself and avoid the question. That leaves us no further forward but I have a feeling he would be interested in him but probably he may want more money than we would be willing to pay for someone that age, hence he danced round the question, just in case nothing comes of it.

Can't really be sure though but is was very strange to see him get caught that way during an interview. The journalist did very well to make him at ease enough to almost give something away in a press interview.

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Lush said:

I imagine that there is a total transfer budget for January - and if a striker we want agrees to come at a price we can afford, there may not be much left in the pot for Sidwell.

If we have to lower our sights on a striker, Sidwell may be possible. Negotiations will take place up to the wire, which is probably why Hughton is non-committal.

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Exile said:

The Stoke paper suggests a loan deal, and both the Albion or Fulham would be delighted with that. I can't see it though. The player is 33 and out of contract in 5 months. Sidwell will go to a club that is prepared to give him a 2 year contract.

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Tom Hark said:

I certainly remember Sidwell playing a dozen games for us on loan back in 2002-03 (OK, had to look up the exact season) but didn't realise or had quite forgotten that he scored an impressive tally of FIVE goals for us in those dozen games

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NooBHA said:

Was it the Boardroom or the Players Lounge ? If it was The Boardroom then there is probably something in this story. If it was the Players Lounge then he could correctly just have been Bobby's Guest. I think the players only get 2 tickets per match free, although they can purchase more. That was a Directive by HMRC around 2005 to all football clubs that any more than 2 hospitality tickets to Football players had to be treated as a Taxable Benefit and Employers NIC paid on it.

There is also a Managers Lounge, where the Manager's and Coaches guests go into. That's mostly friends and family of the Coaches and Management team, although you can come across Players Agent's in there occasionally and there is no numbers restriction but it rarely exceeds 20

Click to expand...