Santa's Sack

[Guest]

It's that time of year again, nearly half way through the season. Things are not going our way and the vultures are coming out.

I have noticed that there are some posters, who at the beginning of the season called for calm and time, are now becoming more vocal towards a shift in the personnel running our club. A video was posted by one member comparing a certain person to the worst dictator in human history, surely a breach of site rules.

Instead of all the small digs, and seeding of discontent, could I challenge all of those who feel a change in club management is required to post their thoughts here.

IHE is probably the only member of this site who comes out directly, without all the wee backstabbing digs or unwillingness to quantify his claims, to explain his thoughts.

I may be wrong, I may have missed your (any anti board campaigners) posts, but if you really do feel strongly that you need to convince us you could stop hiding your thoughts in other threads and post here, you could stop hiding behind second accounts and posting videos which are defamatory.

Personally I am not happy with what is happening at our club, I don't want to be supporting a mid table first division side but I can't really see any alternative to what we have, maybe you could point me in the right direction. I think if we end up having a sack the board campaign it will damage ICT more than the fiasco when the Trust delayed Brewster's sacking by flexing their muscles.

Convince me with rhetoric and not mind games, please.

Edited December 7, 2009 by Revbirdog

[davie]

First off revbirdog, do you want change in the management team, the board or both? It seems that there is a case for pressuring the Board to actively seek increased external funding (rather than go straight to cutting budgets) and to involve the fan base in this. I personally could not name many (if any) of the Board if they were in an ID parade at the polis station. I am unaware of the exact role of our Director of Football (although I would recognise him) So yes, there probably is a case for change at Board level.

How do you get this? the present incumbents don't appear willing to shift, or allow anyone else to share at their table. Therefore pressing for incremental change would seem the only way forward, and seeking more inward investment would be a good place to start. I believe that there are people out there who would invest if they were encouraged to do so.

[gordyfromsneck]

First off revbirdog, do you want change in the management team, the board or both? It seems that there is a case for pressuring the Board to actively seek increased external funding (rather than go straight to cutting budgets) and to involve the fan base in this. I personally could not name many (if any) of the Board if they were in an ID parade at the polis station. I am unaware of the exact role of our Director of Football (although I would recognise him) So yes, there probably is a case for change at Board level.

How do you get this? the present incumbents don't appear willing to shift, or allow anyone else to share at their table. Therefore pressing for incremental change would seem the only way forward, and seeking more inward investment would be a good place to start. I believe that there are people out there who would invest if they were encouraged to do so.

A good place to start is to ask for a full and clear official explanation of the Marius fiasco.

This is the nub of everything, and may prove and interesting catalyst for any subsequent claims and demands.

I will certainly think twice about giving my hard-won cash next year to any administration that can't even manage a contract negotiation.

[Georgeios]

Investment from where, everyones sking and laying off or cost cutting so why would any company in the right mind want to splash already tight money on a football club?

[Guest]

First off revbirdog, do you want change in the management team, the board or both? It seems that there is a case for pressuring the Board to actively seek increased external funding (rather than go straight to cutting budgets) and to involve the fan base in this. I personally could not name many (if any) of the Board if they were in an ID parade at the polis station. I am unaware of the exact role of our Director of Football (although I would recognise him) So yes, there probably is a case for change at Board level.

How do you get this? the present incumbents don't appear willing to shift, or allow anyone else to share at their table. Therefore pressing for incremental change would seem the only way forward, and seeking more inward investment would be a good place to start. I believe that there are people out there who would invest if they were encouraged to do so.

I really don't know what I want davie, I know something has happened to our club and that I don't like where we are. I only know what has been said about situations at the club on this forum. I am not in the internal circle either on here or at the club itself. All I know is what is allowed to be posted on these forums and what has been released by quite a secretive club. There are posters on here who are quite vocal and there are many angles to any story which is reported within these pages, which ones should be trusted? Which discarded as nonsense? If there is to be a movement pressing for incremental change, why should I join in that push? What makes any of us who post here think that we are qualified enough to decide that the guys running the club are not doing the best possible job?

[gordyfromsneck]

First off revbirdog, do you want change in the management team, the board or both? It seems that there is a case for pressuring the Board to actively seek increased external funding (rather than go straight to cutting budgets) and to involve the fan base in this. I personally could not name many (if any) of the Board if they were in an ID parade at the polis station. I am unaware of the exact role of our Director of Football (although I would recognise him) So yes, there probably is a case for change at Board level.

How do you get this? the present incumbents don't appear willing to shift, or allow anyone else to share at their table. Therefore pressing for incremental change would seem the only way forward, and seeking more inward investment would be a good place to start. I believe that there are people out there who would invest if they were encouraged to do so.

I really don't know what I want davie, I know something has happened to our club and that I don't like where we are. I only know what has been said about situations at the club on this forum. I am not in the internal circle either on here or at the club itself. All I know is what is allowed to be posted on these forums and what has been released by quite a secretive club. There are posters on here who are quite vocal and there are many angles to any story which is reported within these pages, which ones should be trusted? Which discarded as nonsense? If there is to be a movement pressing for incremental change, why should I join in that push? What makes any of us who post here think that we are qualified enough to decide that the guys running the club are not doing the best possible job?

The way the Marius "money outstanding" fiasco has been handled would indicate that someone behind a desk is not at the top of their game. We should be demanding to find out who.

[absent friend]

What makes any of us who post here think that we are qualified enough to decide that the guys running the club are not doing the best possible job?

I don't want to be supporting a mid table first division side but I can't really see any alternative to what we have

I have stolen two of your quotes from this thread and to deal with the second one first -

Are we entitled to be an SPL team?

Do we have the fan base/financial support to carry an SPL team?

Without a 'sugar daddy' can we do a Dundee and get better players in considering our financial and geographic, positions.

Half full/half empty!! I think we were very fortunate to have the run we had in the top flight and it will come again BUT we have to 'enjoy' the games in the interim, against teams that were not in our league for the past few years until we regroup and become a force once more.

Kingsmills showed his annoyance with the team, after Saturdays result and that is understandable but we have different players, almost a new team, to knit together and that will take time, especially when we accept that there will also be movement within the squad in the New Year.

Are the Board doing the best job??

No way. Why? Because we should still be in the SPL, we should be better off financially and, in my opinion, that is a fact!

However the past is past, what is done is done and they should move forward learning from their managerial/player signing mistakes.

Are the posters better qualified than the Board members? I don't know as I have no idea who each poster is (the thread showing the posters occupations is an eye opener!) but I would hazard a guess that in no way are the posters, in the main, better qualified unless one takes hindsight into it as a factor!

.

[Guest]

gordy, don't get me wrong I see what you are saying and appreciate your point. To play devil's advocate, would any contract drawn up by the club not be sent off to the club's solicitors to be checked and if so then surely it is the fault of any legal advisor if loopholes were left in the contract?

[Scotty]

This is a hard one, and as much as I like to be comfortable and dont like change, perhaps it is needed ?

MANAGEMENT

In terms of the management team, I am not advocating change. I have been consistent in terms of what I have said about Butcher (and Brewster before him). You need to give them a certain amount of time - at least one full season - before passing judgement. Do I like how the season is going? No of course I dont.... but might part of that be down to my own arrogance in assuming we should walk some of the games we play rather than what we all know to be true which is that the 1st division is full of sides that can compete with the most of the SPL.

We have no divine right to expect a win and some of us forget that. This is not "Football Manager" on the computer, it is real life and there are no cheat codes or game editors !!! We are working with less cash, less staff and less of a squad so some leeway is required. Having said that, there are things I think Butcher needs to get sorted. First and foremost seems to be our ability to only play for 45 minutes out of the 90. Whether its a great first half or a great second, we dont seem to be able to be consistent over a full 90 and having watched some of the highlights posted on club websites or youtube the football seems scrappy at best and at times pretty woeful. We should be doing better here. I would also question the desire of one or two players? Are they actually playing for the shirt or are they going through the motions? They each have to take a good look at themselves in the mirror and answer the question as to whether they are doing the best job they can.

COMMERCIAL/OFFICE

In terms of the commercial/office staff I would say there is virtually nothing left to cut !!! We have lost some very good members of staff and some not so good but overall I think we are less effective due to these cuts even if they were necessary. One positive for me is the promotion of Darren into Mike's post. I am not going to run Mike down but I think it is safe to say that he was not a "people person". I do believe that he was very good at certain parts of his job but most of that effectiveness may have been inward looking rather than outward facing so his relationship with the fans was at best tempestuous. Darren, on the other hand, is a commercial guy so it has been his job for a number of years to try and go face to face with people to earn the club money. He may not be everybody's cup of tea, but he will do for me.

Perhaps I am biased but one of the instant changes we saw with Darren was a willingness to talk to fans through this website as well as the official one. We have always been willing - even when we are not happy with the club - to promote, advertise or generally do whatever we can to work with them for the good of the club. At the end of the day we are all ICT fans and we all want whats best for the club in our own opinion. The club may not like some of the views expressed by fans on here at times, and indeed some of it may go over the top but I firmly believe that they created a rod for their own backs over the last 5 years by treating the fans like mushrooms (kept in the dark and fed on ****). I lost count of the number of times I asked them to feed us positive little stories as well as the major ones so we could emphasise the positive things about the club along with any negatives, but it seems no-one could be bothered or worse still were expressly told not to speak to CTO !

I welcome Darren's appointment and whilst he may not have the accountancy qualifications that Mike had, he does have something else that is equally important to me. He has a desire to listen to the fans, engage with them, see what they want, or what they think can be improved, and work with club groups such as the Supporters Trust or others to try and bring about those changes. Whilst he has no control over what happens on the park, I think we will see some positive news over the coming months in terms of the "matchday experience" or things like club shop (which we already know about - new merchandise due soon).

DIRECTORS

This is a toughie! Its not an easy job running a football club, and although every single one of us probably thinks we could do a better job, I severely doubt we could. Again, its the "Football Manager" factor. Great game, but it makes us all think we can do any job at a football club far better than the incumbents.

We are, in the main, talking about very succesful, and astute businessmen here, and they didnt climb the corporate ladder or turn their firms into multi-million pound enterprises by being stupid so what is it that suddenly makes them incapable - in some peoples eyes - of running the business of a football club? The goldfish bowl effect perhaps? or the fact that the silence from them is deafening?

I can honestly say that I did not really have cause to even raise an eyebrow during the club's initial 10 years of existence, and lauded DFS for bringing us back from the brink, however the last 5 years or so have seem to have raised more questions than answers including several that have yet to be answered or addressed - "Marius-gate", Savage/Sutherland war of words, Stadium Ownership, Brewster re-employment, Derogatory statements about supporters organisations, Robbo having to put the board on the spot and ask if they really wanted to be promoted .... etc.

Again, we tried to let them have their say or at least to address points that fans were asking about - via Boardroom Banter - but for the second time that fell by the wayside as each issue raised more comments about the questions that were avoided than those that were answered. I suggested at the inception of the second series of BB that not only should they answer fan questions but perhaps they should take a few minutes each month to emphasise things they were doing or even things where their hands were tied so that fans had a better understanding of how much time it took to perform duties and be enlightened about some of the stuff they had to deal with ( a sort of look inside the boardroom) but as you can see from the articles that was not forthcoming.

So to summarise, I dont really call for a change in the personnel in any area. I think we have effected change in the commercial/office area already and a change in attitude elsewhere might be enough. I do however have a few things on my wishlist for ICT in the coming years.

1. Get everyone pulling in the same direction. Fans are not the enemy because you dont like their opinions or because they say something critical. They are the lifeblood of the club and without them there is no club. Please realise this and work with them to effect positive change.
   
2. Use every avenue at your disposal to talk, talk and talk again to fans. Whether it is through the supporters trust, the supporters club, the shareholder lists, the centenary club, a spot in the matchday programme or releases to the official or unofficial websites or all of the above .... start talking up the positives at the club. The negatives will be discussed, it is inevitable, but no-one talks about the positives unless the club give it a big-up first so as one of my old bosses used to say .... JFDI ! (just ******* do it).
   
3. Dont treat everyone with suspicion. Some people offer to help the club in various ways because they are just regular supporters who dont have a bulging bank balance and want to feel like they are doing their bit. In the last 6 or 7 years I have heard of DOZENS of instances where offers of help have been refused because the motives were regarded as suspicious. There is a word for this ... its called paranoia !
   
4. Sort out the club's PR. The club's PR has been a joke almost from day 1. That may have been acceptable as we climbed the divisions but now, with fans having experienced the SPL and having tasted the bitterness of relegation for the first time, it is crucial we get this done properly. TB is very good at PR even in the face of mediocre results but the club itself is still lagging way behind.
   
5. Be more open about things. Too often over the last 6/7 years we have had 'edicts' about how things are or how they will be. Talk to us not at us.
   
6. Encourage investment. I was really excited when Savage came along. I thought his ideas and Sutherland's prudence would result in good times for ICT. Unfortunately personalities seemed to get in the way. County are advertising for investors, and Dundee did so to great effect so maybe we should be looking at that too? If the powers that be at the club would be willing to allow some of our unissued shares to be taken up without getting into a p****** contest?
   

I am sure I can think of other things on my wishlist but bottom line is that I want the club to be seen by its fans as something positive, by other people as a good side that we should be proud to be associated with, and that we should be plying our trade in the top league in Scotland on merit.

[Alex MacLeod]

It's that time of year again, nearly half way through the season. Things are not going our way and the vultures are coming out.

I have noticed that there are some posters, who at the beginning of the season called for calm and time, are now becoming more vocal towards a shift in the personnel running our club. A video was posted by one member comparing a certain person to the worst dictator in human history, surely a breach of site rules.

The poster did not compare anyone to Hitler. He used a video clip that has been used on many an occassion by other football fans to create a rather funny parody.

Instead of all the small digs, and seeding of discontent, could I challenge all of those who feel a change in club management is required to post their thoughts here.

IMO, and I've said it for some time. The changes occured when Alan savage was pushed out by a puppet master.

IHE is probably the only member of this site who comes out directly, without all the wee backstabbing digs or unwillingness to quantify his claims, to explain his thoughts.

I may be wrong, I may have missed your (any anti board campaigners) posts, but if you really do feel strongly that you need to convince us you could stop hiding your thoughts in other threads and post here, you could stop hiding behind second accounts and posting videos which are defamatory.

There is nothing defamatory about the video clip

Personally I am not happy with what is happening at our club, I don't want to be supporting a mid table first division side but I can't really see any alternative to what we have, maybe you could point me in the right direction. I think if we end up having a sack the board campaign it will damage ICT more than the fiasco when the Trust delayed Brewster's sacking by flexing their muscles.

Sorry but IMO the damage was done when Savage was pushed out and Sutherland made an Honorary whatever.

Convince me with rhetoric and not mind games, please.

What do you need convinced on. As things are at the minute the club is not in a good state. The buck stops with the majority shareholder. Does he have an ulterior motive? Can he see ?'s in front of his eyes? I dont know but I do feel that things will get a lot worse if major changes aren't made at the top.

[Guest]

Thank you for taking the time to post that Scotty, it is very well thought out and put forward. I think that unless anyone from the sack the board camp can come up with anything as thought out and articulated then I am definitely drawn towards keeping the management of the clubs day to day running as is.

I am sure many people will post their opinions here as fact but I can't really see any argument for putting the club under a great strain at this time of year by starting a "sack the board" campaign. It would all end in tears and there seems to be a movement towards this, which worries me more for ICT's future than having two bad seasons on the bounce.

[gordyfromsneck]

gordy, don't get me wrong I see what you are saying and appreciate your point. To play devil's advocate, would any contract drawn up by the club not be sent off to the club's solicitors to be checked and if so then surely it is the fault of any legal advisor if loopholes were left in the contract?

No idea mate, that is why I am asking the question. What is true is that UEFA did not interpret it the same way as our board did, and that is not good.

[Guest]

Defamation : Definition

Defamation law exists to protect the reputation of a person from defamatory statements made about him/her to a third party without lawful justification. A statement is defamatory if, when said about a person and published to a third party, it would make ordinary people think less of that person.

"I have worked for years on this, I was going to sell that land for a f*cking mint and finally retire"- 1min 49secs in.

[absent friend]

UEFA did not interpret it the same way as the boards solicitors did.

I would assume that any transaction entered into by the Board members, in their everyday work, would have a legal input prior to any docs being signed and work commenced.

Should the transaction have any overseas involvement I would suggest that a legal beagle with international knowledge would be brought in to confirm understanding.

However reading between the lines of some posters on here, we as a club, with the same professional people at the helm, signed an overseas player up using the back of a fag packet.

Aye, Right!!

There may be room for a difference of opinion in law but that is hardly a 'fag packet' signing.

[CaleyD]

I don't think there's any more discontent being shown towards the current board of directors now than their has been for quite a while and I've seen nothing to suggest that any "sack the board" campaign has been ramped up by anyone.

My views on the situation are well documented on this forum, as were/are my predictions about the situation we currently find ourselves in, predictions made 2 or 3 years ago (if not more). A situation I take no pleasure or satisfaction in whatsoever.

As has been our (ICT's) downfall on a few occasions now, we are slow to react and reluctant to be proactive. This nearly cost us our place in the SPL to begin with, it has cost us more than a few good players over the years, maybe even a couple of good managers, SPL survival and almost certainly some much needed investment.

One of the hardest things for a person to do is admit that they have perhaps done all the can and things are now beyond them....for whatever reason. We have a lot to be thankful for over the years and credit where credit is due for those things. However, much of that goodwill is being rapidly undone by what I can only view as people either doing nothing, taking their lead from someone with (possible) alternate motives and/or individuals out of their depth and scrambling to cover their own inadequacies.

That's life....and sometimes we have to take our cue from others, regardless of whether we like what they are saying or not. I don't need to think I am capable of doing a better job to realise that the job being done now is below par.. When you can look at so many situations and see that things should/could have been so much better then that in itself should have the alarm bells ringing....it's not as if we're arguing over a single screw up, which everyone is entitled too now and again.

If wanting a Board of proactive individuals who do what's best for the club without surrendering to the whims of one individual makes me a "Sack the Board" campaigner....so be it. If achieving a better long term future means we have to suffer some short term pain....so be it. What I no longer accept, in terms of our Board, is the "give them time to learn by their mistakes" argument. Most of these people have been on the board for many years, made many mistakes, continue to make mistakes and show no signs of learning from anything.

Things are not going to change over night, and the opportunity still exists for the Board to turn around the views of many. If that happens and the current incumbents can show they are capable of turning things around then you'll get little argument from me, but so long as they remain anonymous with heads buried in the sand that will never happen.

[gordyfromsneck]

UEFA did not interpret it the same way as the boards solicitors did.

I would assume that any transaction entered into by the Board members, in their everyday work, would have a legal input prior to any docs being signed and work commenced.

Should the transaction have any overseas involvement I would suggest that a legal beagle with international knowledge would be brought in to confirm understanding.

However reading between the lines of some posters on here, we as a club, with the same professional people at the helm, signed an overseas player up using the back of a fag packet.

Aye, Right!!

There may be room for a difference of opinion in law but that is hardly a 'fag packet' signing.

Not sure what your point is beneath the layers of irony, AF.

However, my minimal understanding of legal practice tells me that solicitors "take instruction" ie you tell them what you want and they frame it for you. As we know however, many a slip between lip and cup; variables in malfunction could include such factors as; the accomplishment of the solicitor, their knowledge of that specific legal environment and, of course, the feasibility of the request.

As I said I have no opinion, I am asking a question. As a season ticket holder, my continued enthusiasm/spend for ICT depends on getting answers.

[Johnboy]

As I said I have no opinion, I am asking a question. As a season ticket holder, my continued enthusiasm/spend for ICT depends on getting answers.

I think you speak for a sizeable chunk of the support with that comment.

The anonimity and wall of silence that has surrounded this sorry and costly mess is very hard to bear.

[absent friend]

Not sure what your point is beneath the layers of irony, AF.

However, my minimal understanding of legal practice tells me that solicitors "take instruction" ie you tell them what you want and they frame it for you. As we know however, many a slip between lip and cup; variables in malfunction could include such factors as; the accomplishment of the solicitor, their knowledge of that specific legal environment and, of course, the feasibility of the request.

As I said I have no opinion, I am asking a question. As a season ticket holder, my continued enthusiasm/spend for ICT depends on getting answers.

Your question - Who cocked up the Marius contract?

I assume from the highlighted area that you accept that maybe, just maybe, the Board did employ a legal advisor and he may have made a mistake as opposed to the ICT office girl sending Marius a one line email to confirm the signing.

If this be the case, are you asking for the name of the legal firm involved or the actual solicitor acting, within the legal firm?

I think you speak for a sizeable chunk of the support with that comment.

The anonimity and wall of silence that has surrounded this sorry and costly mess is very hard to bear.

Did we lose out financially on the Marius deal i.e. did we as a club pay out more for his service than we received over the period??

[Johnboy]

Did we lose out financially on the Marius deal i.e. did we as a club pay out more for his service than we received over the period??

I would imagine that Stevico1 would be the best person to answer that one.

[CaleyD]

Seems to be some assumption that their was an error in the contract...I've not seen anything from either side to suggest this is the case.

From what I can ascertain, the issue that FIFA decided on surrounds who instigated the transfer. FIFA have obviously ruled that it was the club and Niculae is due payment....as per his contract.

In regards to "losing out"....we're probably getting very close to losing out as the legal fees, interest and exchange rates all mount against us.

[Scotty]

Did we lose out financially on the Marius deal i.e. did we as a club pay out more for his service than we received over the period??

I think CaleyD once posted that even with Marius' payout we did not lose out financially over the course of his contract. Its unlikely we will ever know that for sure though as this will be buried deep in the accounts somewhere.

However, in the whole Marius saga my own untrained opinion is that we did indeed lose out in several ways. We may not have made a financial loss over his overall contract but we certainly didnt maximise any profit and we also took a massive PR hit.

1. We made the mistake of confusing Euros and Pounds.
   
2. We (presumably) paid for legal counsel all the way along from the moment we decided to dispute his payout until (and beyond) the FIFA decision. That will not have been cheap.
   
3. We took a hit based on the exchange rate between Euro/Pounds when we should have paid him and the present time.
   
4. By letting it get as far as FIFA we now look like a club that is hard to deal with (or at the very least, not straightforward) not only in Scotland or the UK, but also all over Europe.
   
5. Regardless of who is telling the true story (and we have done that discussion to death), a very public wrangle over player contracts will not have endeared us to agents or players alike when we are looking for signings.
   

[gordyfromsneck]

Seems to be some assumption that their was an error in the contract...I've not seen anything from either side to suggest this is the case.

From what I can ascertain, the issue that FIFA decided on surrounds who instigated the transfer. FIFA have obviously ruled that it was the club and Niculae is due payment....as per his contract.

In regards to "losing out"....we're probably getting very close to losing out as the legal fees, interest and exchange rates all mount against us.

I think the bold bit answers it all. Nothing, zilch, nada. There was an error on the contract, evidenced plainly by the fact that ICT sought to dispute the outcome. Therefore the interpretations of what was and was not permissible under the contract diverge.

What we must demand to know is who, why what and so on?

Someone somewhere got it badly wrong. Who?

[gordyfromsneck]

1. We made the mistake of confusing Euros and Pounds.
   
2. We (presumably) paid for legal counsel all the way along from the moment we decided to dispute his payout until (and beyond) the FIFA decision. That will not have been cheap.
   
3. We took a hit based on the exchange rate between Euro/Pounds when we should have paid him and the present time.
   
4. By letting it get as far as FIFA we now look like a club that is hard to deal with (or at the very least, not straightforward) not only in Scotland or the UK, but also all over Europe.
   
5. Regardless of who is telling the true story (and we have done that discussion to death), a very public wrangle over player contracts will not have endeared us to agents or players alike when we are looking for signings.
   

And if that ain't back-of-the-fag-packet stuff, then I would like to know what is!

The question we must ask is, whose fag packet? We should be told!!!!

[Georgeios]

Correct me if Im wrong but didnt I read somewhere before we fell down to the SFL1 that his possible money was put to one side anyway.. so the money was safe and budgeted for before we dropped.... Im i right or wrong to beleve i read this.?

[Johnboy]

I think it's worth re-gurgitating this extract from an interview Marius gave to the Highland News a few weeks ago.

This is of course, just one side of the story, but it still speaks volumes for me :

"The move to Inverness had worked for me as I was scoring goals and my form helped to get back to the Euros, which was a dream. I made a lot of friends in Inverness and the supporters were terrific to me.

"I had one year left in my contract and I wasn't interested in talking to another club as I wanted to continue to play for Inverness. There was then the question over whether they could afford my wages and the offers soon arrived and the transfer was worked out for me to come back to Dinamo.

"I have everything written in black and white, according to international rules, while Inverness have just come forward with stories. You can't go into any court just with stories, you need proof and I have presented that and FIFA made its decision."

As the ICT prepare to appeal to the Court of Sport Arbitration, Niculae was asked whether he's aware how damaging his successful case could be to the now First Division club.

He said: "I am not asking for money that does not belong to me. It was in my contract that I was due this amount for being transferred. The club are now in Division One and they probably have less money, but by taking this to the Court of Arbitration they stand to lose even more which is disappointing and I'd rather that didn't happen.