This seems to be the topic that is splitting most posters on the forum so thought I'd put it to a poll. 

Rules:

If you don't sell then you can enjoy one year of Niculae before he goes to another club for free.

The offer has come from a club outside the UK.

40% of the fee can be used to sign new players.

The question is this:

If an offer of ?1mil was made for Niculae and you had the finger on the button would you sell him?

I never knew the bit about the Kaiserlautern bid - are we a bunch of amateur businessmen fer fecks sake - wht are we pandering to a feckin mercenary -  make that _ the feckin two faced , lazy, lying, cheatin mercenary *******.

:rotflmao:

He is behaving like one of those travelling people from Ross shire.  :crazy07:

Still - I now have a feckin great song fer next season.  :015: :015:

I very much try to avoid commenting on this forum on running stories which I am covering since I have to avoid any potential clash of interest but there has been so much speculation that I feel it would be helpful to give you my understanding of the situation AS AT 1600 BST (things can obviously change) as a result of having been around the club in recent days and of my own deductions. What I am saying here is no more than what I have been reporting through the BBC up to yesterday (Wed) afternoon and I am not aware of any subsequent developments.

* It was reported that an offer for Marius Niculae to go to Kaiserslautern for what I believe to be 500,000 POUNDS was made a couple of weeks ago.

* The player then asked for leave of absence to go back to Romania and was given this for the "Denmark" week.

* Around the same time Marius expressed the preference to move home to Dinamo Bucharest rather than Germany and I understand he has subsequently brokered his personal deal with them by himself.

* Bucharest offered 500,000 EUROS (around ?400,000) and Caley Thistle said they would accept this IF the player waived his claim to his cut of the fee. (I don't know exactly how much this is but I could make a ballpark estimate of ?50-70,000)

* It is my understanding that Marius initially agreed verbally to this in advance of what was expected to be a more legally binding agreement and negotiations between the clubs continued on that basis.

*Accordingly Caley Thistle have refused to sign the deal until they have a legally binding confirmation from Marius that he accepts that arrangement. So far that undertaking has not been received at the Caledonian Stadium (the reasons for the delay are far from clear) so the transfer contract remains unsigned by Caley Thistle and is as a result so far invalid. Marius Niculae therefore remains an Inverness player.

* Caley Thistle invoiced Dinamo Bucharest for the transfer fee, payable (older stagers will remember the legal interpretation of that word back in 1995/96!) when the deal became complete - which it is not as yet. They therefore did not expect payment at this stage.

* Dinamo Bucharest all the same sent 475,000 euros (the 500,000 minus a 5% levy) to Caley Thistle, possibly implying that they regarded this as a done deal. I am not aware of any plan to "send it back" by 3pm today but equally I am not aware of any active "acceptance" of the cash.

* I cannot explain why there have been photos of the player with a pen in his hand on the Dinamo website.

* I am assuming that Marius, still a contracted employee of ICT, would have been expected back at training on Tuesday after his agreed leave of absence whereas I understand he is still in Romania. Is he therefore in breach of contract and is he likely to be paid the several hundred pounds a day which his contract, which is still in force, would normally entitle him? I take it he is still training (last seen by me in Inverness on the evening of the St. J game running out Holm Mains). If so, with whom and in the event of injury, who might be liable?

That's about it and I really do want to avoid any further comment on what, in my case, is a running story.

This is why I seek out Charles Bannerman posts.

Thanks for post this run down.  It is by far the clearest, most comprehensive, and most direct listing I've seen.

i fail to understand how dinamo can take action agaisnt us,or report us to uefa,when its them and marius that are in the wrong??

i fail to understand how dinamo can take action agaisnt us,or report us to uefa,when its them and marius that are in the wrong??

Not from their point of view however, and I am sure not from UEFA's point of view either.

They have paid for a player that they can't use.

they havent paid us the amount that was was due though , i guess its like buying a car for ?10,000, the car isnt yours until the garage has that ?10,000, its no use giving them ?9,000, its still no your car

Since when haven't they given us what was due?  I was under the impression that they had paid up in full?

On North Tonight It said Caley are unaware of the going ons!

Also said on STV that ICT were due Marius 100,000 Euros which was the second instalment of his signing fee which was due in July 2008....which ends at midnight...and that they would be pursuing payment through legal channels.

On North Tonight It said Caley are unaware of the going ons!

strange comment when grass was on mfr news at 5 saying we were owed cash

On North Tonight It said Caley are unaware of the going ons!

strange comment when grass was on mfr news at 5 saying we were owed cash

that's what I thought!

:024:.

Grassa never said on MFR that we were due cash...from what I heard he said that we were still awaiting the waiver forms.

ICT have the cash...the argument seems to be whether or not they have to pass on some of that to Marius....and it would now seem that they are due him a % of the transfer fee AND money outstanding from his signing fee.

I've been more vocal on this than anyone, but I actually think that the best thing everyone involved can do right now is say no more to anyone and appoint a mediator as it's getting to the stage where people are getting angry and are just looking for ways to score points over each other.  We've already had Grassa resort to having a pop at the integrity of individuals on the radio and that doesn't help the situation any.

It's obviously gone beyond the realms of reasonable negotiation and unfortunately the decision on what is what and who is right and who is wrong looks like it will be made by the relevant regulating bodies/courts.

I was thinking!

what is the worst thing that could happen from this situation?

I think the worst has already happened....we have gone from a situation where everyone could have been a winner to a situation where everyone will be a loser.

Seems that the heart of the dispute lies in an alleged conversation between Marius and the Club over his % of the fee and the rest is just smoke and mirrors. It has been reported that only three people were at this meeting so only three people can actually tell us what was said .... two of them have either spoken out themselves or through representatives and each story is different !!!!

What we do know is that Dinamo offered ICT 500,000 Euros and the club accepted. Dinamo then transferred 95% of the money to ICT (the other 5% is a legitimate levy detailed in UEFA/FIFA rules). As far as Dinamo are concerned, they have paid the money and concluded the deal. Dinamo could not have done any of this unless ICT had supplied them with their bank details for the transfer and ICT should not have supplied those details unless they were ready and prepared to conclude the deal. It may be ICT naivety, but as far as I am concerned, the action of providing your bank details to another company is a tacit "acceptance" of your deal/contract/agreement with them.

I also cannot get my head around what we are saying now which seems to contradict all three points contained in the statement issued by the club on the 26th July .....

Point 1: A fee has been agreed and we are just sorting out the paperwork.

Point 2: It is a straight deal although Marius is entitled to a percentage of it.

Point 3: It represents a good deal for the club and the player.

so we've been reported to uefa.

what will happen?

will we just be fined or worse?

Nothing will happen, it's all just posturing.

well they could ban us from Europe for a number of seasons, possibly put sanctions on us regarding transfer of players, fine us heavily, and other clubs may not want to deal with us.

well they could ban us from Europe for a number of seasons, possibly put sanctions on us regarding transfer of players, fine us heavily, and other clubs may not want to deal with us.

Look at what happened to Livi - transfer embargo placed upon them and they couldn't sign anyone for a season and a bit.

I noticed earlier that Niculae's Wikipedia (English) entry says he is a Dinamo player, whilst the Romanian version still has him with us. 

I don't know which one to fix  :017:

I had hoped Haghi was going to fix up a friendly with Dinamo for us but presumably that may not now happen.

All Marius has to do is accept that if Grassa  said 'Take a break with your new wife back in Bucharest, consider a ?500,000 move to Germany or Greece or Turkey and you get ?120,000 or Dinamo for ?380,000 and you get nothing', Marius could be forgiven for misinterpreting Grassa's accent. However, ICT must have given the nod to Dinamo by accepting the cash. Nobody sends me money without good reason. In fact, nobody sends me money!

Interesting to see if Europe's governing bodies make any comments tomorrow in order for the wrangle to be sorted in time for Marius to play on Sunday. Interesting to see who is the deal maker.

I had hoped Haghi was going to fix up a friendly with Dinamo for us but presumably that may not now happen.

:015:

So bored of this,  I just want us to get the money so we can start signing players.

I assume Marius must entitled to around ?50,000 - ?60,000 as that would seem about the difference between the Kaiser and Dinamo fees if Marius waved his cut.

But I can't believe we are going to fooled by the easiest trick in the book.  We didn't get him to sign anything to say that he was going to wave his cut???????? This beggars belief!!  Whats to stop Marius saying now " they asked me to wave my cut??  Away and feck yourself boys"    Honest to god I can't believe how naive and amatuer we are.

he should just come back to Inverness and discuss it!

bye  :sillywave: