Moody leaves Leicester - his version

[Crumblies]

Couldn't have put it better myself smudge

[Jay C]

Au contraire I was disgruntled that we hardly ever saw Moody, let alone saw him play, and I think Tigers took a justifiable stand.

Yep - I'm with jg on this one.

[daktari]

I stood in 'Smiths today reading the chapter. It all seems very odd, a lot of finger pointing at MOC who wields Jedi capabilities apparently. As always, 3 side to every story yours, mine and the truth.

[tig1]

From what I understand, it wasn't a case of paying Lewis whatever he wanted but at least paying him the same as he was on or that plus the rate of inflation.
Hardly greed or a crime? To offer him 20% less was a ****ing insult to a great servant of the club.
As it happened he has retired from international rugby after the world cup but as he say's, that was up to him and certainly should not have been dictated by the club.
Did we say that to Croft or Castro or any other international? Of course not.Will we ever say that to internationals again? If we did we would loose them.
Taking a broader view, Tigers is the one English club that all players aspire to play for.It is not that Leicester is a nice place to live or has a pleasant climate. It is because it is the place to win things and to play with the best.It is also a family club and training facilities are top notch.
Traditionally we have looked after all aspects of our player's welfare.
With that in mind, most , if not all, of the players, will have noted Lewis's treatment and be disappointed by it.
The lesson is clear, you can give your heart to the club, win everything there is to win for them but don't expect to be treated any better than the journeymen and even be humiliated by a 20% pay cut to keep your job, even though you are a current England International.

That Lewis was very hurt by it should be to the regret of everyone who has ever supported the club.

A couple of comments Smudge. Croft and Castro are in their prime. The re-negotiation of their contracts is entirely different. Lewis was 32 years old when he left and struggling badly with injuries. I think even the least objective person would acknowledge that his time at Bath, with regard to availability through injury, has been a shocker.

When you talk about the pay cut, maybe its best in absolute numbers. I dont know what he was earning, but likely they offered him 200k a year rather than his existing 250k a year. I think thats an incredible salary for a guy right at the end of his career.

Finally lets not forget here that at the point of negotiation Lewis was comfortable to leverage the interest of other French and English clubs against Tigers. He wasnt offering to sign for Tigers if the offer wasnt competetive.

And finally..the book. No publisher pays you decent money unless you dish the dirt where required. So he has been well recompensed through dishing the dirt on RC and MOC. He does have a choice about writing a book, and he does have a choice what he discloses in it.

I think every single Tiger fan loves and respects Lewis, but regret the way things parted.

[Tiglon]

nicely put tig1

[Yelphere]

Always for me a 100% Leicester player - but I have to say I do remember him more as "Lewis Moody - plays for England or injured". Best of luck to him - a tremendous world class player at his peak.

[Chuckster]

I think the overall sentiment is the same, Tigers legend, injured a lot, 32 years old, England callups etc...

All true, but as great as I think he was, what a shame he still has a grudge and has decided to lower his standing here. We also only hear one side of the story too - can't wait for the RC autobiogaphy.....

[PM76]

Lewis was a great player when fit and it was sad to see him go but nobody has a divine right to stay at a club and with hindsight Cockers and O' Connor made the right decision to release him, he played 12 games for Bath last year.

[Smudge]

Yesterday Cockers was talking about how he wants loyalty from his players.
How hypocritical is that?
I would not like to have been with Lewis when he read that nonsense.

[Isambard]

and the role of his agent in all this??? Agents in sport have a very poor reputation as far as morality, truth and loyalty go.
and who actually wrote the book? ghost writers have agendas set by publishers in order to hype sales of the book.

[hugh78]

wondering what people think now, in the light of the leaked england player report. Sounds a lot like the older players, Moody included (or perhaps even led by Moody if some of the 'allegations' are correct), were eyeing up their pensions as a priority. I don't have a real problem with that, it's good sense to try and secure your future: but let's not criticise the club too harshly for refusing to bend over backwards for someone who WAS a legend but is pretty clearly now very focused on getting as much cash as possible in his last few years. All a bit of a shame really.

[Isambard]

Moody leading the senior players, that is a a surprise that the captain be delegated to lead a player group.! (Not.) I think that fact and truth left the stage a very long time in all this reporting garbage in the media. "Murdoch paper prints leaked information."