Aaron Speaks...

All valid questions. I'm confident the club will answer them in due course.....eventually.

 

but don't hold yer breath.

 

T'was said with a touch of sarcasm......not expectation lol

 

I think for many of us, it's complete guesswork and the only people who can enlighten us are ones who work for football clubs and play a part in transfers, particular since Brexit.

I mentioned last week, we surely can't be in a position to legally pay them until they get a visa to work in the UK.

I think we're just going to have to wait and hope it comes out fine. I'd hope the myriad questions are then answered, but I suspect they are unlikely to be.

 

I’ve no idea what you’re implying, but there’s no comparison to be made between refugees and professional footballers. Absolutely none.

 

There will be players signed by clubs on deadline day that will be subject to clearance so it'll take as long as it takes,trouble is,weve signed players before and it ant to this long,dee kay wa short of an international cap to move ere on loan and it didnt take as long as this,maybe players were waiting to get clearance are going to get picked by there country's during this international break.woulnt surprise me.theres always a way round things in the football world.dodgy 2hats.

 

I guess if either of those two scenarios (not being able to play till Jan / having them under contract but not going to be eligible to play) are looking likely in a few days time, then they'll need to look to loan them out, probably to one of the owners' European clubs, and bring them back in Jan, or look to sell.

 

We sell them for an undisclosed tiny fee to Man City and they'd be ok to play straight away.

 

I was thinking if there's no answers by middle of this week, we'd need to think about loaning them out before the window closes. That might be later in some countries, but don't know any specifics.

 

Not read the whole of the other thread but I assume that from that people are aware that it could be four months before we see the Belgians?

That is one of the 3 or 4 situations the club could now be in with them.

As someone wrote above the key to players getting visas post-Brexit is the Governing Body Endorsement (GBE). Once such endorsement is gained then the visa application can be processed in one day. The club will know this from the Dike loan.

A player qualifies for GBE if the player can score 15 or more points against a set of criteria based around whether they are internationals, full and/or age group, the standard of league they have played in and number of appearances made, together with the relative levels of fees and wages involved in their transfer. The club will know all this information and with it, it is pretty easy to assess if 15 points are attained. Again, the club will have experience from the Dike process.

If a player does not score 15 points then an appeal can be made to an independent three person panel by the club concerned. The appeal can for example include things like injuries that prevented the player making the requisite qualifying number of appearances, or, indeed, anything that is relevant. These panels are convened and decide swiftly and if the appeal is successful then GBE is given.

The issue comes with a failed appeal – if an appeal to the independent panel is unsuccessful then no further appeal can be made for at least FOUR MONTHS from the date of the ruling.

So, the club could be in one of the following positions with the Belgians:-

1) The club hasn’t worked out how many points the Belgians score yet – surely not and I’ve included for completeness only (I hope)!

2) The club has worked out that the Belgians automatically score 15+ points but hasn’t processed the necessary paperwork yet despite all the time it’s had – again I would think this unlikely but if it is the case, it’s probably the best scenario as, despite the startling level of incompetence it implies, the paperwork can be done, the GBE obtained and the one day turnaround visa applications completed so that they are available in a day or two (if fit ).

3) The club has worked out that the Belgians don’t automatically score 15+ points but has not yet made appeals to the independent panel. Again this would potentially indicate a staggering level of neglect but is probably the second best scenario as it means an appeal can be progressed, a GBE received and visa quickly obtained.

4) The club has worked out the Belgians don’t automatically score 15+ points but has failed with an appeal to the independent panel. As I’ve mentioned above, this would be disastrous as a further appeal can’t be made until four months have elapsed. Additionally it would be difficult to understand the thinking of the club signing players that they weren’t absolutely sure they’d be able to get through the appeal process. There are a couple of circumstantial reasons as to why I don’t think the club have got to this stage (but I could be wrong):-

a. Iseka played 21 times in France’s Ligue 1 last season – by my reckoning that gets him 12 of the 15 points for automatic GBE on its own;

and (perhaps more pertinently)​

b. Both Iseka and Oulare look to have the same or more qualifying criteria than the Dutch lad Piroe who scored Swansea’s winner at Bristol last Friday. If Piroe has got through the appeal process but Iseka and Oulare have failed then that would seem prima facie to be terribly incompetent by the club when compared to Swansea. As I say, I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt but the lack of comms is worrying.​

As far as I know there are no holdups in visa processing for applications with GBE and there is a premium one day service and so it would only seem that one of the above four scenarios (or variants on the same theme) is applicable. In which case I’m keeping my fingers crossed its 2, failing that 3 and praying it’s not 4!

(NB – I’m classing ‘the Belgians’ together in the above – it is of course perfectly possible that the two are in different situations within the same four scenarios).

Sent from my former BBS member mate’s login (rip).

 

Dont forget that they are unfit, or so we are told.
It will no doubt take approx 4 months to get their fitness up to scratch then hey ho it all falls into place. Then we wont care any more.

 

We won't be told, we'l just see them pop up on twitter with a couple of goals for Oostende

 

You’d hope the local journos could ask a straight question like, have the players got the GBE, and get some straight answers. At the moment, all exchanges seem to be “any news on the Belgians?” “Hopefully soon”.

Nothing said really gives much confidence

 

Thanks for a really informative post.

 

What do you base them having more points than piroe on? I checked and they both appear to have less

 

The prospect of no extra fire power up front before the end of October if that’s when Morris is due back is worrying to say the least we surely need to know if the Belgium two will be available soon before Tuesdays transfer deadline

 

There is also the possibility the club have appealed but it is waiting for a response

 

Wouldnt have had this problem with mastercard

 

Oulare looked to have the worst chance of the two and even he easily reaches 15 points.

Table 1 International appearances: 0 pts (U21 only)
Table 2 Domestic Minutes: 4 pts (Played in 12 of Standard Liege's 34 league games in a Band 2 league during 2020/21 - Belgian First Division A)
Table 3 Continental minutes: 2 pts (Played in 6 of Standard Liege's 9 Europa League games in 2020/21)
Table 4 Last Club’s Final League Position: 0 pts (Standard Liege finished 6th & didn't qualify for Europe for 2021/22)
Table 5 Continental Progression of Player’s Last Club: 2 pts (eliminated at the group stage of a Band 2 Continental competition in 2020/21 - Europa League)
Table 6 League Quality of Player’s Current Club: 10 pts (Was in the match day squad for at least 1 game for Standard Liege in a Band 2 league - Belgian First Division A)

Total 18 points