Acoording to reports Nobby has commited himself to Peru much to BR displeasure. So do we think we should be happy we have an experiencved international , after all he was when we signed him , or Do we let him move to spain and reap any profits now....

I for one think we should cash in but for no less than 15 million.

-- Anonymous, August 20, 2001

Answers

Don't be silly...

-- Anonymous, August 20, 2001

I'm not happy at the way YBR has sounded off on this one. Nobby has an inalienable right to represent Greece Peru and we have to live with the fact. Heath have just shelled out £28m for Veron, and many top Spanish and Italian sides seem to cope with South Americans in their teams. We have to do likewise.

Every player has a price, but unless huge offers are being received and we can identify the perfect replacement, then we should remain firm, hold on to wor Nobbs and stiffen our resolve. As it were.

YBR should not be publicly castigating a player wanting to play for his country IMHO.

-- Anonymous, August 20, 2001

I'm with you Jonno....yes it's an irritation that we his wage payers have to do without his services but it's only natural that he wants to play for his country....he's too good for us to be talking about selling him because he's going to miss some games...

-- Anonymous, August 20, 2001

Although I do agree with you Jonno , I also feel that if Nobby has said one thing then changed his mind then he should be castigated. Although why this wasnt put into his new contract defeats me.
For 15 million we could maybe buy a Hard midfield man such as a Keane type character.

-- Anonymous, August 20, 2001

Although why this wasnt put into his new contract defeats me

I'm pretty sure that no such clause could be enforced in a contract with FIFA regs being what they are. Am I right in that assumption?

-- Anonymous, August 20, 2001

http://www.planetfootball.com/Article.asp?ARTICLE=56932

article from planet footy stating robson is not afraid to sell nobby...

ken

-- Anonymous, August 20, 2001

I'd be unhappy if he was sold, agreeing firmly with Jonno's point that every player has a right to represent his country.

AS for BR, I can't see why he wants to this Australian "Brett Emerton". Suely he would have similar problems as Leeds do with Viduka and Kewell. It's one of the problems our football managers should somply accept as part of football management.

-- Anonymous, August 20, 2001

Thanks for that link Kennyboy. I'm afraid I'm a bit shocked to read that and IF the facts are as presented there, I'll be very disappointed in YBR's attitude. In the Ronnie Nobby is quoted as saying "I hope he (YBR) understands". If YBR were talking to an England player in this manner he would be rightly vilified in the press and the facts, as presented here, sound very disquieting to me. Can you imagine Shearer coming back as strong as ever next month, Sven says "come back", Al accepts the call - Robson would not dream of standing in his way. (All right you can't imagine that - never mind)

Still we've got the ideal replacement in - er - Gavilan. Now where does he play his internationals? :-)

-- Anonymous, August 20, 2001

To my mind this has nothing to do with clauses in Contracts, the legality of such, or even the right of any player to represent his country. It HAS to do with a players word, his integrity, and his working relationship with his Team Manager.

It has been reported that Solano gave his word to BR during his new contract discussions that he was finished with international football - to the extent that Bobby decided it didn't need an Acuna- style clause in his new contract.

If this is factual, and Solano renagued on his word at the very first opportunity, I feel strongly that BR is quite within his rights to be thoroughly brassed off with Solano - in fact if I were in Bobby's position, I would kick his @rse out of SJP at the first opportunity.

-- Anonymous, August 20, 2001

and swap him for Hutch ?

-- Anonymous, August 20, 2001

Let's assume that the stories are all true.

In that case, IMHO, I think YBR has asked Nobby to make a commitment that it was unfair to ask of him. How can you ask a man to give up his country? Maybe, it's possible that Nobby had had a bad time in Peru and was p*ssed off with the situation there for a period. He thinks he can kick it into touch but then the call comes, the Peruvian media wants him back - and suddenly he feels that pride swell within his chest - who knows what goes through a man's mind at such times?

Nobby's relationship to his country must be a deeply personal thing and not something that he could be expected to promise to lay on one side. I should have thought that YBR, more than almost anyone else I can think of, would be able to relate to that.

It's a shame it's all come to this. I like the player but then again, no-one is bigger than the club so we can get other players, but I'm disappointed. If we sell, please let it not be an English club.

-- Anonymous, August 20, 2001

What Bobby has said is that the Club offered Solano a generous new contract only because he indicated he had effectively retired from international footy. The very obvious implication here was the Club would not have offered him improved terms if he was intending to bog off every few weeks and exercise his apparently unalienable right to play for Peru.

It seems abundantly cear to me that Solano has said what needed to be said to secure an improved contract, and then renagued on a pledge made to Newcastle United, that he willingly entered into, at the very first opportunity.

No respect, in my books I'm afraid.

-- Anonymous, August 20, 2001

Solano is being a right tw@t about this in going back on his word, but unfortunately he set up most of our goals last season.

Unless Diego Gavilan makes a dramatic first team entrance and takes over Solano's place, it would be stupid to sell. (There's also Dyer I suppose ???)

-- Anonymous, August 20, 2001

Sorry Paul, but if he has renagued on a verbal agreement willingly entered into with Bobby Robson, then his behaviour is inexcusable.

No player is bigger than the Club, and in any enterprise you must have mutual respect and trust. Rotten apples must be removed or they will contaminate the entire barrel.

I'll say again, if I were BR and what I've described was the real situation, then Solano would go - no doubt about it.

-- Anonymous, August 20, 2001

I'm with Clarky on this. The club (apparently) offered an improved contract on the basis of him being available for all games (excluding injury and suspension). They must have calculated what this was worth and made the appropriate offer which was subsequently accepted.

I'm pretty certain thinking that a contract could have been constructed which linked availability with remuneration (appearance money in old terms). But Nobby appears to have thrown this out of the window at the earliest opportunity (but it was only a contract so that's OK).

With Robert fitting in so well (allbeit only 2 games so far), perhaps the thinking is that we can't be any worse off than last season and with £10M plus in the bank for Nobby, we can go shopping again. Or offer LKD a better contract...........

-- Anonymous, August 20, 2001

I agree with what you're saying, but without Solano we just don't create the chances. It's true that Robert looks like settling in well, but then we're back where we started last season, with a one winged team.

The situation has to be sorted soon though, either Solano accpets a pay cut, gives up on international football for good or he moves on.

We would really miss his assists if he left though.

-- Anonymous, August 20, 2001

I'm not going to get into the 'he said, he promised' debate. From purely a personnal stand point, Nobby has every right to step out for his country. In a perfect world, we'd have a fit Dyer to cover for Solano's absences. As it stands, by the time Nobby's off again Dyer should be back. The team will cope.

And if Robson's top target is Aussie Brett Emerton from Feynoord, then he better get used to players flying half way round the world to represent their countries. Emerton would never turn his back on representing Oz.

-- Anonymous, August 21, 2001

Can we afford a midfield of say , Nobby, Dyer (Acuna, Bassadas, Speed , Lee) Robert, Doesnt look like being very defensive does it.

Ken

-- Anonymous, August 21, 2001

But we've got a world class defence to support them. 15-0 win I say.

-- Anonymous, August 21, 2001

15-0 sounds a bit on the low side don't you think?

-- Anonymous, August 21, 2001

Only Given could be bothered to turn out for the second half

-- Anonymous, August 21, 2001

And he got sent off after 60 minutes for giving away a penalty

-- Anonymous, August 21, 2001

Bobby Robson is being quoted this morning as having said:

"I will be meeting Nobby and will tell him what I think about the way he has let us down and broken his promise. If he finds that a problem, we will put him up for sale."

Tre - you might not wish to get into the "he said: he promised" debate, but that is the substantive issue here, and I'm totally with Bobby if he puts him up for sale.

-- Anonymous, August 21, 2001

Nobby should stick by his word, it's no different to paying a builder for work at your house up front then him not turning up to do the work. This has nothing to do with his international ambitions because he didn't have any before contracts were exchanged.

-- Anonymous, August 21, 2001

I struggle with this one as I see international football as the most boring pointless exercise there is. From the quarter finals of major competitions onwards there seems to be some excitemnt, before that zilch.

The only 'if' around selling Solano is whether we'd get an equal or better replacement if we sold him. If we could get a better player than any of the ones we have for equal or less money then it's a no- brainer that we do so.

Arguably (!) we have an excellent right winger in Dyer who is at least as good as Solano. Then the argument becomes can we strengthen the side/squad more with the sale money than by keeping him. This is even more arguable and I'm not even going there. (Well apart from buying Michael Carrick maybe)

-- Anonymous, August 21, 2001

Yes, moving on from the rights and wrongs of the Nobby/Bobby argument, (I think there'll remain the 2 valid schools of thought there) the question becomes what action to take.

I agree with Macbeth 100% about the waste of time international football is (for me). So yes, the question is do we sell and what do we do with the proceeds? Buying in that strong central midfielder at the expense of the Nobmeister would certainly beef up a lightweight midfield. Could be a good move. If we are to go that route, I'd like to see us negotiating the 2 deals almost simultaneously. It would be silly to sell Nobby and then everyone knows we've got £10-12m burning a hole in our pockets.

I'll be sorry to lose Nobby though, a player I like.

-- Anonymous, August 21, 2001