The two Belgian lads.

4 months farming turkeys for Christmas will do em the world of good

 

I thought when one of them was announced it was said then they didn’t meet the criteria but the club felt it wouldn’t be an issue on appeal(can’t remember which one though).

 

I'm not sure either come anywhere near to be honest.
To qualify you need 15 points, to be able to submit an appeal for special dispensation they have to have between 10 and 14 points and be able to justify why they failed to reach 15. I don't see how either player gets 15 points at all

 

I don’t either, just saying it was said about one of them

 

It's always the fans, sorry, the customers who are in the dark.

Next time someone asks for an example of The Board lying, remind me of this thread.

It's such a shame as well, because it's been a brilliant 18 months on the field.

 

Stop moaning, someone fell from a US air force plane the other day.

Or summat

 

The most worrying aspect of this, for me, are the comments that Schopp has been making in interviews regarding them.

Before the Coventry game there was a comment that Oulare would miss that game, but might be involved vs Luton. Clearly, given today's developments, this was completely untrue.

So we have a new Head Coach who is either providing false information in interviews as part as some sort of agreed cover story within the club or, as I suspect is more likely, he's as unaware of what's going on in the background with visa issues than the other staff members who Doug O'Kane says were in the dark about this. He then being forced to 'wing it' when asked the obvious questions about why they're not involved in the squads.

Neither looks good from a supporters' perspective, but one reflects much more badly on Schopp than the other.

Additionally, if you're either of these players and have been reading updates from the HC about how you're not yet fit enough to be involved on matchdays, when you're actually unable to play in any circumstances, what kind of impression does that create about your new employers?

Whatever is happening behind the scenes its a mess, on this particular issue at the very least.

 

It might turn out to be like Afghanistan.

There's a Belgian team to put out soon, somewhere in the world, and a helicopter lands on the pitch after the match and the players are all scrambling for a seat to be able to get them out to places like Barnsley.

And they're yelling about how many points they've now got.

Wonderful.

 

Surely the key issue here is that the senior people at the club were unaware there was an issue over visas until yesterday?!?!?! I mean.... how is that even possible?

We have a stand in CEO who allegedly is worldly wise in commerce and owns multiple football clubs across the continent, so it's not like there is nobody acting in that capacity. Dane Murphy spoke in length about the issues of signing players from Europe post Brexit and widely talked of shifting target markets to the Americas. It's in the public domain, surely there are documented processes for such things, thats pretty basic stuff and you'd think would be a core element given the rate we turn people over.

Or are we just in the realm of Dominic Raab excuses where "nobody" could possibly have seen issues until yesterday?

Absolutely staggering. Yesterday I thought it was simply trying to play down the delay for the work permits and they hadn't been asked the questions so they decided to keep it behind closed doors. Not what I'd do, given the resentment the young new players were starting to get, but I could sort of see why someone might take that tack.

It seems much much worse. Absolute staggering incompetence.

 

Not sure if its just me but surely you would get that stuff sorted before announcing it, seems a bit backwards not to. Plus surely the EFL etc. wouldn't sanction the move if they didn't think he would qualify all seems weird.

 

Down the years, I can certainly recall the phrase "subject to international clearance" being bandied about plenty. Just generally, not necessarily always us, so for that phrase to be in the public domain, signings must take place and be announced first ahead of clearance being given.

I can't recall anything falling down because of a permit, or anything taking in excess of 3-4 weeks though. But we're in post brexit times.

Let's just hope these players are given the green light eventually. It would be devastating on a number of levels if they aren't.

 

Pretty sure it was mentioned in Helik's announcement as well. Though that was during the Brexit transition period.

Part of me isn't surprised that the club are struggling to process an appeal for a visa. I suspect the home office don't even know what the process for that is.

Would be surprising if noses are turned up at potentially a couple of grand a week tax being paid... I'm assuming the EFL are in support of the application, otherwise, it is a clusterf***

 

I spoke to a senior member of the clubs coaching staff on the academy side last week and he said it was fitness issues. I don’t believe he was lying. It seems the entire coaching staff are unaware of what is going on regarding these players. What happened to our CEO? I thought we played Man City so he could be here by now. More visa issues? Quarantine?

 

He's had rabies and had to be put down.

 

I suspect you're right re the Home Office. But given we didn't even know (allegedly) that there was a visa issue until yesterday, you have to wonder if we've even applied for one or put in an appeal. Who knows how long this could drag on and there has to be a possibility (hopefully a very small one) that we could end up owning two players that can't even play for us.

It does seem that they are lacking fitness too, but it can't be easy signing for a club in another country and essentially being ostracised while you wait for a piece of paper you may never get. I feel for them.

 

I'm curious where the problem is. From what I can work out the system is relatively simple. The club contacts the fa and the players points are calculated. If they get 15 or above they are automatically given a government body endorsement, if it's lower than that the club has to appeal and justify why they think the player should be endorsed. Then that GBE is included in the forms set to the home office. Without he GBE they won't issue a permit, with one they should.

Suggests to me that we have got problems long before it's gone to the work permit stage but I'm just guessing

 

They did say, didn’t qualify for a Visa, but they didn’t think an appeal would be an issue.
Like you say hopefully it is just a beaucratic hold up.

 

I think the fitness thing is a load of rubbish. How can we possibly have checked their current fitness levels with any kind of accuracy without them working for us?