Donstuie wrote:
Well said.
I can't sit here and say whether he's the best in the business (Graeme Wright and Stephen Wells top that list IMO), but he's proven his ability to get deals done that are fair for both parties, while being in our best interests. This means that despite the need from the peanut gallery for trades and action to happen for the sake of it, he won't budge from the core objective to get the best talent into the club without overspending. Sometimes this means a stalemate.
Has he got them all right? No, but few have. I admit thinking at the time we picked Finbar "We should've rolled the dice on Stack there", and rookie/late selections have been sketchy at best (although is this more Brodie's doing?). But he's hardly Robinson Crusoe there.
Yesterday he took a hit, but not of his making. He came up against two incredibly stubborn and stupid organisations (GC and *) who wanted to make a point, and were willing to cut their noses to spite their faces. The difference is where those organisations get celebrated for 'standing firm', SOS cops it for failing to bend over and take it, undoubtedly because of his profile and the club he represents. Would you all have been satisfied if we sacrificed all of our draft currency (and/or players) for Papley and Martin? Because that's what it would've taken.
He had no Plan B? On the radio this morning he was categorical that there was a Plan B, which was to take the "Papley pick" to the draft and nudge Martin to PSD. Works for me.
My point is that whether or not he's the best we can get, we're in very good hands nonetheless with SOS and the team at his disposal.
This post along with the opening post from Mosche make a lot of sense.
At the end of the day, we may have missed out on Papley this year because he was in contract and Swans wanted to add players and ignore the welfare of one of its most loved players.