What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at KTP can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at KTP, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what KTP can pretend not to have heard.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” KTP have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at KTP pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at KTP is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
“We pay for this every fortnight. The least we want is somebody who looks like he cares.” 4 of the 20 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
48 months left and silence from upstairs — no offer, no talks, nothing for his people to answer. Clubs that let a calendar do their negotiating usually end up negotiating with the calendar.