Leicester would be stupid beyond belief to allow Ford to go--if its true.
His vision, ability and in hand thought process especially with his grubbers is way above Floods'
By all means transform Flood into a 12 to accomodate Ford---however with Burns looking like the next England 10 , it could be we get Flood back a lot more often....
A Harrison / Ford combo with Youngs/ Bowden back up doesnt sound too bad .
but no doubt Youngs would take umbrage and go elsewhere.
Looks like the Tigers 'stars' are going to be systematically targetted now, especially as the dam is starting to break......
There's no indication at all that Tigers want to let Ford 'go', in fact, as far as can be ascertained, they clearly don't want Ford to go:
Tigers will be without Flood's deputy, George Ford, on Saturday because he is now with England Under-20s.
Cockerill said contract negotiations with Ford were going well but that he would only play during the Six Nations if it was right for him.
"He wants to stay at Leicester and we want to keep him, so it bodes well," added Cockerill.
Players make their own choices as well - either for playing opportunities or for money. I can't fathom some of the criticism here - Tigers do develop great players, but whether they go on to hold down the shirt here depends on a range of factors, including who the incumbent is, how good they are, whether they get injured and so on. It's no different at any other club - a talented 18 year old scrum half at Clemont would have to get past Parra for the shirt!
norfolkexpat wrote:Looks like the Tigers 'stars' are going to be systematically targetted now, especially as the dam is starting to break......
Tigers have quality players which other clubs will always "target". Historically we have done very well to keep the players we want with many of our top players preferring to stay rather than accept lucrative offers elsewhere (e.g. Croft and Bath, Youngs and Saints, Cole and Saffas, Castro and the entire French league etc). As is standard after a World Cup we are reducing the size of our squad but I think Billy is the only player leaving who we would have liked to have kept and even he, rightly or wrongly, wasn't a first choice pick. I would hardly describe this as "the dam starting to break"
This whole thread does tend to ignore the fact that there is a salary cap! You can keep only just so many top players and when any of them go there will be their faction which cry foul.
In many ways it's not the cap in itself that's the problem but the fact that it hasn't changed in line with wages. As it was pointed out during the RWC - the cap is the same as it was at the time of the 2007 RWC but players are, on average, getting paid at least 50% more.
The club have a far greater incentive to retain Ford than they did any of Moody, Twelvetrees or Hipkiss so he'll probably stay I suspect. But what do I know? I am, of course as my wife would tell you, never wrong - merely usually far less correct than I think I am!
For when the One Great Scorer comes to write against your name,
He marks - not that you won or lost - but how you played the Game."
The club have a far greater incentive to retain Ford than they did any of Moody, Twelvetrees or Hipkiss so he'll probably stay I suspect
It doesn't appear to matter too much these days. It just seems to be one big merry go round sometimes! Your club develops a player and loses him to another club because the timing is wrong. Then you take another player from another club who's timing wasn't right.
Smurphswillgetya wrote:Quote from Merc "Ford wants to stay and we want to keep him". Nuff said, everything is in people's minds!
That was said by Mr. 12trees and the club.
The difference being that the club REALLY want to keep Ford, and will actually make him a good offer to stay.
I gather that even when we picked him up from Leeds as a 15-year old, the club was making all sorts of deals and promises to accommodate him, so I can't see them letting the last three years of development go to waste.
There's a very worrying piece in the Times today about the corrosive influence agents are having with young promising players - 'Battle joined against head-turning agents'. Incentives offered to persuade players to change agents are 'a Nando's Gold Card, free computer games and a concierge service'!! The fact that Billy Twelvetrees got his agent to tell Cockers he had signed for Gloucester seems to confirm this trend. I hope the RPA and the RFU can come up with something that will stop this development.
Ford now captain of England u20 means a few quid onto his price....personally I would not be tempted to play in Stockport or Salford on a cold wet Friday night in December-Feb as I grew up doing just that!
Leicester Tigers 1995-
Nottingham 1995-2000
Swansea (Whites) 1988-95
A game played on grass in the open air by teams of XV.
beech wrote:There's a very worrying piece in the Times today about the corrosive influence agents are having with young promising players - 'Battle joined against head-turning agents'. Incentives offered to persuade players to change agents are 'a Nando's Gold Card, free computer games and a concierge service'!! The fact that Billy Twelvetrees got his agent to tell Cockers he had signed for Gloucester seems to confirm this trend. I hope the RPA and the RFU can come up with something that will stop this development.
It did sound like the agent was instrumental in the defection. Hopefully rugby will be the driving force with george..
I posted this yesterday on the thread titled 'Crisis?':
'Rugby is going down the same path as football in many ways - Player agents, player behavior, celebrity attitudes, corporate entertainment at games, charging mascots, sponsorships, moving KO times to accomodate TV, silence (lack of) for kickers, more and more crowd 'incidents' at games .............
How long before segregation?'
I can't access the Times online (they charge!) so havn't read the article but would be interested if someone posted the content.
