Not sure where I stand on this. He is/was a Cardiff player, so technically they should pay the money. However, personally I believe the only people who should profit from this awful event is the players family. Hopefully common sense will prevail & the clubs will reach a suitable agreement
Yes but to look at it from Nantes point of view, he wouldn't have been on that plane had he not been sold. So yes they should be paid, and i'm sure they will be.
Agree that both sides should arrange a pre season friendly in memory of Sala and the proceeds go to his family.
Good article yet only bit I disagree with to an extent is the way he mentions that the Voicemail Messages shouldnt have been released
Yet funnily all the various news outlets were happy to write articles with the wording...
Just like the Raheem Stirling (Chelsea racism) incident, the journalists chum together to say how deplorable this sort of thing is yet each they're the bloody instigators!!
@ForeverAddickted Journalism comes in many forms. The difference between say the BBC's Lyse Doucet, more at home in Baghdad than Bristol, and Andrew Neil, intelligent but only really at home in an expensive London restaurant, and then a journalist pursing celebrities or bereaved families for the Sun, is enough for them to be almost three different professions whose only thing in common is the deployment of words.
@ForeverAddickted Journalism comes in many forms. The difference between say the BBC's Lyse Doucet, more at home in Baghdad than Bristol, and Andrew Neil, intelligent but only really at home in an expensive London restaurant, and then a journalist pursing celebrities or bereaved families for the Sun, is enough for them to be almost three different professions whose only thing in common is the deployment of words.
Could say the same for football agents, recruitment consultants or most professions
@ForeverAddickted Journalism comes in many forms. The difference between say the BBC's Lyse Doucet, more at home in Baghdad than Bristol, and Andrew Neil, intelligent but only really at home in an expensive London restaurant, and then a journalist pursing celebrities or bereaved families for the Sun, is enough for them to be almost three different professions whose only thing in common is the deployment of words.
Could say the same for football agents, recruitment consultants or most professions
In broad terms that's true, however there are two distinct differences if you compare journalism with many other professions. I would like to mention them since I am getting involved with the issue of how good journalism can survive, and hope people will think about it.
Firstly investigative journalism is the hardest branch, since it requires exceptional rigour, commitment and analytical skill, compared with either the celebrity driven roles of people like Andrew Neil or the Sun journalist doorstepping bereaved families. While I don't have exact figures I'm confident in asserting that Lyse Doucet probably earns only about 30% of what Andrew Neil earns, and probably about the same as the average Sun journalist. Other professions, including recruitment consultancy are broadly meritocratic. The harder you work, the better you are at the job, the more you earn. (Football agents cannot seriously be considered a "profession", although doubtless you'll see the argument potential in disputing that :-) )
Secondly and more importantly, investigative journalism is an increasingly dangerous job. In the last two years 54 journalists around the world, including two in EU countries, have been murdered. So far, no UK journalist has been murdered in recent times, however there are many incidences of intimidation and harassment, as Carole Cadwalladr among others has described. I can't think of another other profession with several distinct branches, where the most professionally challenging branch requires you to be careful about your personal security, whereas the less challenging branches don't and yet at the same time pay more.
I accept that this is all quite a long way from Daniel Taylor who I'm sure would never claim that his job presents a personal security risk, although I am equally sure he'd like us to think of him as doing a different job to that of, say, Jim White.
Surely Cardiff should have paid by now anyway? The insurance money has nothing to do with Nantes has it? Presumably as soon as Cardiff signed the player he became their responsibility and would have been covered by the Club's blanket death in service insurance policy? Cardiff will get paid by the insurance company once the death certificate has been produced.
Does make me wonder who leaked Nantes request to the press though - A source at Cardiff says they will honour the contract but not until they have clarified "all the facts". What facts?
So the plot thickens - and Cardiff are acting appallingly. They are disputing the amount to be paid because they believe, according to their lawyer, that they were going to have to pay an inflated figure for "the player that Cardiff tried to sign". That's "tried to sign" rather than "did sign" which they most certainly did. This is because the agent, Willie McKay, exaggerated the so called interest from other teams.
Let's be clear - this is the Cardiff Board that is seeking to do this. Had Sala not so sadly passed away nothing would have happened from Cardiff's end and they have a nil chance of making this stick in court.
This action is a total insult to Sala's memory - and to their fans too.
shock, horror - agent invents other interest to push up price and subsequently his fee. Cardiff are behaving despicably in my opinion. Pay what is due and then fight it out with your insurers. If Cardiff agreed an inflated fee then that is their fault, no one else's.
Again, while I agree that Cardiff are behaving very badly, nobody else seems prepared to comment on the behaviour of the agent. A reminder:
Warnock has been forced to defend his relationship with McKay. This relationship involves a player currently playing for Cardiff, Sol Bamba. Cardiff will have paid McKay a ton of money for that. Warnock's words here imply that McKay was also hired to land the Sala transfer for them.
McKay has two twin sons in Cardiff's U23 set-up, both currently out on loan. Naturally he is listed as their agent.
His older son Mark is also an agent, and described in the press as "an intermediary" in the transfer. Since it is reported that Sala had a French agent, we may infer that Mark McKay was being paid by Nantes.
Willie McKay was given a suspended ban by the FA in 2008 for conflict of interest in transfers. It would seem that he now "abides" by the rules by having a son who is an agent. I am sure the Chinese wall is perfectly intact.
However the lurid and nauseous email from W. McKay to Sala shows that McKay wanted to cover off a third revenue point in the transfer by persuading Sala to ditch his French agent for him.
And now we learn that McKay acted with his son to manufacture interest from other clubs in order to inflate further the final fee, and thus the commission flowing from it into the family business.
Is there anyone at all able to make a case that this is "normal" business, and that without such practices football would suffer?
Again, while I agree that Cardiff are behaving very badly, nobody else seems prepared to comment on the behaviour of the agent. A reminder:
Warnock has been forced to defend his relationship with McKay. This relationship involves a player currently playing for Cardiff, Sol Bamba. Cardiff will have paid McKay a ton of money for that. Warnock's words here imply that McKay was also hired to land the Sala transfer for them.
McKay has two twin sons in Cardiff's U23 set-up, both currently out on loan. Naturally he is listed as their agent.
His older son Mark is also an agent, and described in the press as "an intermediary" in the transfer. Since it is reported that Sala had a French agent, we may infer that Mark McKay was being paid by Nantes.
Willie McKay was given a suspended ban by the FA in 2008 for conflict of interest in transfers. It would seem that he now "abides" by the rules by having a son who is an agent. I am sure the Chinese wall is perfectly intact.
However the lurid and nauseous email from W. McKay to Sala shows that McKay wanted to cover off a third revenue point in the transfer by persuading Sala to ditch his French agent for him.
And now we learn that McKay acted with his son to manufacture interest from other clubs in order to inflate further the final fee, and thus the commission flowing from it into the family business.
Is there anyone at all able to make a case that this is "normal" business, and that without such practices football would suffer?
No, because no one would want to.
What the malpractice of SOME agents and SOME clubs doesn't suggest to me is that players should have no agents whatsoever, something you suggested earlier.
McKay is a dodgy agent, we get it. That doesn't mean ALL agents are dodgy nor excuse the clubs who go along with such agent to secure players that they want.
Again, while I agree that Cardiff are behaving very badly, nobody else seems prepared to comment on the behaviour of the agent. A reminder:
Warnock has been forced to defend his relationship with McKay. This relationship involves a player currently playing for Cardiff, Sol Bamba. Cardiff will have paid McKay a ton of money for that. Warnock's words here imply that McKay was also hired to land the Sala transfer for them.
McKay has two twin sons in Cardiff's U23 set-up, both currently out on loan. Naturally he is listed as their agent.
His older son Mark is also an agent, and described in the press as "an intermediary" in the transfer. Since it is reported that Sala had a French agent, we may infer that Mark McKay was being paid by Nantes.
Willie McKay was given a suspended ban by the FA in 2008 for conflict of interest in transfers. It would seem that he now "abides" by the rules by having a son who is an agent. I am sure the Chinese wall is perfectly intact.
However the lurid and nauseous email from W. McKay to Sala shows that McKay wanted to cover off a third revenue point in the transfer by persuading Sala to ditch his French agent for him.
And now we learn that McKay acted with his son to manufacture interest from other clubs in order to inflate further the final fee, and thus the commission flowing from it into the family business.
Is there anyone at all able to make a case that this is "normal" business, and that without such practices football would suffer?
If you are selling your house, put it on the market for £300K, someone offers £280K - you say sorry someone has already offered £290K so they offer £295K. Is that not the same thing? Cardiff did not have to agree to up their offer, but they did so because they wanted the player.
Again, while I agree that Cardiff are behaving very badly, nobody else seems prepared to comment on the behaviour of the agent. A reminder:
Warnock has been forced to defend his relationship with McKay. This relationship involves a player currently playing for Cardiff, Sol Bamba. Cardiff will have paid McKay a ton of money for that. Warnock's words here imply that McKay was also hired to land the Sala transfer for them.
McKay has two twin sons in Cardiff's U23 set-up, both currently out on loan. Naturally he is listed as their agent.
His older son Mark is also an agent, and described in the press as "an intermediary" in the transfer. Since it is reported that Sala had a French agent, we may infer that Mark McKay was being paid by Nantes.
Willie McKay was given a suspended ban by the FA in 2008 for conflict of interest in transfers. It would seem that he now "abides" by the rules by having a son who is an agent. I am sure the Chinese wall is perfectly intact.
However the lurid and nauseous email from W. McKay to Sala shows that McKay wanted to cover off a third revenue point in the transfer by persuading Sala to ditch his French agent for him.
And now we learn that McKay acted with his son to manufacture interest from other clubs in order to inflate further the final fee, and thus the commission flowing from it into the family business.
Is there anyone at all able to make a case that this is "normal" business, and that without such practices football would suffer?
No, because no one would want to.
What the malpractice of SOME agents and SOME clubs doesn't suggest to me is that players should have no agents whatsoever, something you suggested earlier.
McKay is a dodgy agent, we get it. That doesn't mean ALL agents are dodgy nor excuse the clubs who go along with such agent to secure players that they want.
And yet, immediately after your comment, someone does just that :-)
What I suggested was the merits of the PFA's attemptto take on the role of looking after the interest of players, while the agents would serve the interests of clubs in recruiting players, thus pushing them to a business model more like that of normal executive search consultants.
Again, while I agree that Cardiff are behaving very badly, nobody else seems prepared to comment on the behaviour of the agent. A reminder:
Warnock has been forced to defend his relationship with McKay. This relationship involves a player currently playing for Cardiff, Sol Bamba. Cardiff will have paid McKay a ton of money for that. Warnock's words here imply that McKay was also hired to land the Sala transfer for them.
McKay has two twin sons in Cardiff's U23 set-up, both currently out on loan. Naturally he is listed as their agent.
His older son Mark is also an agent, and described in the press as "an intermediary" in the transfer. Since it is reported that Sala had a French agent, we may infer that Mark McKay was being paid by Nantes.
Willie McKay was given a suspended ban by the FA in 2008 for conflict of interest in transfers. It would seem that he now "abides" by the rules by having a son who is an agent. I am sure the Chinese wall is perfectly intact.
However the lurid and nauseous email from W. McKay to Sala shows that McKay wanted to cover off a third revenue point in the transfer by persuading Sala to ditch his French agent for him.
And now we learn that McKay acted with his son to manufacture interest from other clubs in order to inflate further the final fee, and thus the commission flowing from it into the family business.
Is there anyone at all able to make a case that this is "normal" business, and that without such practices football would suffer?
No, because no one would want to.
What the malpractice of SOME agents and SOME clubs doesn't suggest to me is that players should have no agents whatsoever, something you suggested earlier.
McKay is a dodgy agent, we get it. That doesn't mean ALL agents are dodgy nor excuse the clubs who go along with such agent to secure players that they want.
And yet, immediately after your comment, someone does just that :-)
What I suggested was the merits of the PFA's attemptto take on the role of looking after the interest of players, while the agents would serve the interests of clubs in recruiting players, thus pushing them to a business model more like that of normal executive search consultants.
No, they defended one element of his practice, not all or even most of it.
Again, while I agree that Cardiff are behaving very badly, nobody else seems prepared to comment on the behaviour of the agent. A reminder:
Warnock has been forced to defend his relationship with McKay. This relationship involves a player currently playing for Cardiff, Sol Bamba. Cardiff will have paid McKay a ton of money for that. Warnock's words here imply that McKay was also hired to land the Sala transfer for them.
McKay has two twin sons in Cardiff's U23 set-up, both currently out on loan. Naturally he is listed as their agent.
His older son Mark is also an agent, and described in the press as "an intermediary" in the transfer. Since it is reported that Sala had a French agent, we may infer that Mark McKay was being paid by Nantes.
Willie McKay was given a suspended ban by the FA in 2008 for conflict of interest in transfers. It would seem that he now "abides" by the rules by having a son who is an agent. I am sure the Chinese wall is perfectly intact.
However the lurid and nauseous email from W. McKay to Sala shows that McKay wanted to cover off a third revenue point in the transfer by persuading Sala to ditch his French agent for him.
And now we learn that McKay acted with his son to manufacture interest from other clubs in order to inflate further the final fee, and thus the commission flowing from it into the family business.
Is there anyone at all able to make a case that this is "normal" business, and that without such practices football would suffer?
No, because no one would want to.
What the malpractice of SOME agents and SOME clubs doesn't suggest to me is that players should have no agents whatsoever, something you suggested earlier.
McKay is a dodgy agent, we get it. That doesn't mean ALL agents are dodgy nor excuse the clubs who go along with such agent to secure players that they want.
And yet, immediately after your comment, someone does just that :-)
What I suggested was the merits of the PFA's attemptto take on the role of looking after the interest of players, while the agents would serve the interests of clubs in recruiting players, thus pushing them to a business model more like that of normal executive search consultants.
No, they defended one element of his practice, not all or even most of it.
No. Simply writing "no" does not win an argument. I have simply described what part of the current role of agents the PFA believed, and still believes, to be better served by different people than the current crop of agents. But you know, if you think you know better than the Professional Footballers' Association, take it up with them.
In respect of this tragic incident my main concern is to ensure that the role of McKay and his family receives proper scrutiny.
Again, while I agree that Cardiff are behaving very badly, nobody else seems prepared to comment on the behaviour of the agent. A reminder:
Warnock has been forced to defend his relationship with McKay. This relationship involves a player currently playing for Cardiff, Sol Bamba. Cardiff will have paid McKay a ton of money for that. Warnock's words here imply that McKay was also hired to land the Sala transfer for them.
McKay has two twin sons in Cardiff's U23 set-up, both currently out on loan. Naturally he is listed as their agent.
His older son Mark is also an agent, and described in the press as "an intermediary" in the transfer. Since it is reported that Sala had a French agent, we may infer that Mark McKay was being paid by Nantes.
Willie McKay was given a suspended ban by the FA in 2008 for conflict of interest in transfers. It would seem that he now "abides" by the rules by having a son who is an agent. I am sure the Chinese wall is perfectly intact.
However the lurid and nauseous email from W. McKay to Sala shows that McKay wanted to cover off a third revenue point in the transfer by persuading Sala to ditch his French agent for him.
And now we learn that McKay acted with his son to manufacture interest from other clubs in order to inflate further the final fee, and thus the commission flowing from it into the family business.
Is there anyone at all able to make a case that this is "normal" business, and that without such practices football would suffer?
If you are selling your house, put it on the market for £300K, someone offers £280K - you say sorry someone has already offered £290K so they offer £295K. Is that not the same thing? Cardiff did not have to agree to up their offer, but they did so because they wanted the player.
Even "dodgy" Estate Agents have to declare when there is a "conflict of interest" regarding a sale.
No agent should be dealing with a club that they have an "interest" in.....in this case sons playing for said club & another son acting for said club.
Again, while I agree that Cardiff are behaving very badly, nobody else seems prepared to comment on the behaviour of the agent. A reminder:
Warnock has been forced to defend his relationship with McKay. This relationship involves a player currently playing for Cardiff, Sol Bamba. Cardiff will have paid McKay a ton of money for that. Warnock's words here imply that McKay was also hired to land the Sala transfer for them.
McKay has two twin sons in Cardiff's U23 set-up, both currently out on loan. Naturally he is listed as their agent.
His older son Mark is also an agent, and described in the press as "an intermediary" in the transfer. Since it is reported that Sala had a French agent, we may infer that Mark McKay was being paid by Nantes.
Willie McKay was given a suspended ban by the FA in 2008 for conflict of interest in transfers. It would seem that he now "abides" by the rules by having a son who is an agent. I am sure the Chinese wall is perfectly intact.
However the lurid and nauseous email from W. McKay to Sala shows that McKay wanted to cover off a third revenue point in the transfer by persuading Sala to ditch his French agent for him.
And now we learn that McKay acted with his son to manufacture interest from other clubs in order to inflate further the final fee, and thus the commission flowing from it into the family business.
Is there anyone at all able to make a case that this is "normal" business, and that without such practices football would suffer?
No, because no one would want to.
What the malpractice of SOME agents and SOME clubs doesn't suggest to me is that players should have no agents whatsoever, something you suggested earlier.
McKay is a dodgy agent, we get it. That doesn't mean ALL agents are dodgy nor excuse the clubs who go along with such agent to secure players that they want.
And yet, immediately after your comment, someone does just that :-)
What I suggested was the merits of the PFA's attemptto take on the role of looking after the interest of players, while the agents would serve the interests of clubs in recruiting players, thus pushing them to a business model more like that of normal executive search consultants.
No, they defended one element of his practice, not all or even most of it.
No. Simply writing "no" does not win an argument. I have simply described what part of the current role of agents the PFA believed, and still believes, to be better served by different people than the current crop of agents. But you know, if you think you know better than the Professional Footballers' Association, take it up with them.
In respect of this tragic incident my main concern is to ensure that the role of McKay and his family receives proper scrutiny.
But as I didn't just write "no" your point is moot.
You never mentioned the PFA before in this context only that players should not have agents. Big difference.
Comments
Agree that both sides should arrange a pre season friendly in memory of Sala and the proceeds go to his family.
RIP, glad that his family have had closure.
Although I hope they find the pilot soon as well, partly for his family but also to stop the conspiracy mongers from starting to pipe up.
I reckon this will be the end of the search now.
https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2019/feb/09/squabbles-over-money-before-sala-is-even-buried-expose-games-hard-face
Yet funnily all the various news outlets were happy to write articles with the wording...
Just like the Raheem Stirling (Chelsea racism) incident, the journalists chum together to say how deplorable this sort of thing is yet each they're the bloody instigators!!
Firstly investigative journalism is the hardest branch, since it requires exceptional rigour, commitment and analytical skill, compared with either the celebrity driven roles of people like Andrew Neil or the Sun journalist doorstepping bereaved families. While I don't have exact figures I'm confident in asserting that Lyse Doucet probably earns only about 30% of what Andrew Neil earns, and probably about the same as the average Sun journalist. Other professions, including recruitment consultancy are broadly meritocratic. The harder you work, the better you are at the job, the more you earn. (Football agents cannot seriously be considered a "profession", although doubtless you'll see the argument potential in disputing that :-) )
Secondly and more importantly, investigative journalism is an increasingly dangerous job. In the last two years 54 journalists around the world, including two in EU countries, have been murdered. So far, no UK journalist has been murdered in recent times, however there are many incidences of intimidation and harassment, as Carole Cadwalladr among others has described. I can't think of another other profession with several distinct branches, where the most professionally challenging branch requires you to be careful about your personal security, whereas the less challenging branches don't and yet at the same time pay more.
I accept that this is all quite a long way from Daniel Taylor who I'm sure would never claim that his job presents a personal security risk, although I am equally sure he'd like us to think of him as doing a different job to that of, say, Jim White.
Didn't have to pay it though did they?
Warnock has been forced to defend his relationship with McKay. This relationship involves a player currently playing for Cardiff, Sol Bamba. Cardiff will have paid McKay a ton of money for that. Warnock's words here imply that McKay was also hired to land the Sala transfer for them.
McKay has two twin sons in Cardiff's U23 set-up, both currently out on loan. Naturally he is listed as their agent.
His older son Mark is also an agent, and described in the press as "an intermediary" in the transfer. Since it is reported that Sala had a French agent, we may infer that Mark McKay was being paid by Nantes.
Willie McKay was given a suspended ban by the FA in 2008 for conflict of interest in transfers. It would seem that he now "abides" by the rules by having a son who is an agent. I am sure the Chinese wall is perfectly intact.
However the lurid and nauseous email from W. McKay to Sala shows that McKay wanted to cover off a third revenue point in the transfer by persuading Sala to ditch his French agent for him.
And now we learn that McKay acted with his son to manufacture interest from other clubs in order to inflate further the final fee, and thus the commission flowing from it into the family business.
Is there anyone at all able to make a case that this is "normal" business, and that without such practices football would suffer?
What the malpractice of SOME agents and SOME clubs doesn't suggest to me is that players should have no agents whatsoever, something you suggested earlier.
McKay is a dodgy agent, we get it. That doesn't mean ALL agents are dodgy nor excuse the clubs who go along with such agent to secure players that they want.
What I suggested was the merits of the PFA's attempt to take on the role of looking after the interest of players, while the agents would serve the interests of clubs in recruiting players, thus pushing them to a business model more like that of normal executive search consultants.
In respect of this tragic incident my main concern is to ensure that the role of McKay and his family receives proper scrutiny.
No agent should be dealing with a club that they have an "interest" in.....in this case sons playing for said club & another son acting for said club.
This is all dodgy as f**k.
You never mentioned the PFA before in this context only that players should not have agents. Big difference.
Ouch.