O'Grady offer turned down according to the star

Unlikely to go back in for him

 

Six months ago I reckon they'd have given him away just to get him off the wage bill yet now they appear to be trying hold us to ransom. I would imagine that we have a price in mind and we haven't got there yet but we'll let it all go quiet for a few weeks then go back with a slightly improved offer. I still think COG will be a Barnsley player next season, as long as nobody else nips in of course. Personally I'd rather not get him than give Wednesday a penny more than Flicker thinks he is worth.

 

The report

Sheffield Wednesday: Owls reject Reds’ O’Grady bid

Chris O'Grady
Published on the
01 June
2013
07:19
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Barnsley have had a bid for Sheffield Wednesday striker Chris O’Grady rejected.

Barnsley have had a bid for Sheffield Wednesday striker Chris O’Grady rejected.

And Reds boss David Flitcroft has admitted he’s now given up hope of signing the player for next season.

Speaking exclusively to The Star, Flitcroft revealed: “We put in a bid for Chris with Sheffield Wednesday, but they turned us down.

“I don’t think a deal will be done now. We’ve tried our best to get him, but it doesn’t look like it’s going to happen.

“They know we want him and we felt we made a good offer, but they told us they don’t want to sell him.

“At the end of the day Chris has always been our No 1 target, but we can’t wait around for ever.

“He’s a Sheffield Wednesday player, so I’ve got to be careful about what I say.

“But we’ve got three or four good options and avenues we’re pursuing, so we’ve got to move on. Otherwise we’re going to get left behind.”

O’Grady, who has a year left on his Owls’ contract, joined the Reds on transfer deadline day on a loan deal until the end of the season.

And the 25-year-old impressed with six goals in 16 appearances. Some of his performances were key to helping the club avoid relegation from the Championship, especially with three goals in the last four games of the campaign.

“Never in football have I known a loan player who has put in so much effort for the cause,” stressed Flitcroft.

“He’s always had my heart, but he won the hearts of the players and our fans. But we can’t keep chasing waterfalls.”

The Reds are interested in signing Brentford striker Clayton Donaldson and ex-Blade Jon Stead, the latter now a free agent after his contractended at Bristol City.

But The Star understands the Reds have no interest in re-signing former player Danny Haynes, while rumours Michael Chopra is on their hit-list are wide of the mark.

 

Not the end of the world, although Flickers just playing the game.

 

.....or his he?

 

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm I shall go into it in more depth.

 

Come january they'll take any offer

 

Initially I thought it was just a case of trying to act disinterested and we'd go in for him later in an attempt to keep the price low.

However, after reading the article, if Wednesday have said that "they don't want to sell him" then they must actually want to keep him and it's not a case of wanting to get an unwanted striker off their books. That's the most worrying part because we've been assuming that they need to get rid of him to free up finances like they did when loaning him to us.

Of course, it could be Maurice working his magic already, fooling Wednesday into thinking we've given up on him while also letting other clubs know that they'll have to put up some serious money to sign him.

 

Jon Stead?


Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!

 

It is a direct quote from Flicker though, none of this "The Star understands..."

Whatever we'd have gone in for, they'd have wanted more. There's no such thing as a fair price, he's valued at however much we're willing to pay for him. All negotiations start low before coming to a compromise. The club would have got a ridiculous amount of stick going in and offering £350k straight away. Where do we go from there? We can't afford that much more.

It's not a school playground, it's serious money, money that will help their club to recruit and survive in the Championship, they're not going to turn that down over a few chants from rival supporters.

 

Do you know anything about business?? Never let the other party know how little you value your commodity they are hardly going to release a statement going "Barnsley seem to really want him and he's burned his bridges here, could do with getting rid to be honest" are they?

I trust flicker to find a good replacement and I'd rather follow that road than let them have the upper hand with us and make us over pay. They don't want him, he sounds to be on enough to impact their wage bill, call their bluff and make them sweat.

 

I wonder if ogrady will hand in a transfer request to force the issue ?

 

He will be with us next season. Nailed on after this, that's football.

 

Why not?

 

I hope every other thread on here isn't going to be about Chris O'Grady, I'd like him here but if Wednesday want to play silly buggers leave 'em to it. They've learnt a lesson from Reading last year with Antonio and are now applying that to us, I get the impression they aren't particularly flush with cash so you can't blame them for trying to get the best price possible, but they have to be realistic when he's only got a year left on his contract.

 

That's not my point. Suppose you hold a commodity that want to sell. A potential buyer comes in who you know is very interested but can also buy a similar commodity elsewhere. They offer a price lower than you're prepared to sell for, what do you do? You should say that the bid was too low and the offer needs to be much higher.

What you don't do is say that this commodity isn't for sale. Your potential buyer then goes elsewhere and you're left with this commodity that's costing you money to hold onto. Why would Wednesday do this if they don't actually want to keep him? That's what makes me believe that he might be part of their plans so we'll have to look elsewhere. That's why I find it worrying.

 

We should now sit on the fence for a bit & let them sweat & hope nobody else put a bid in.
I would be happy if we got John Stead if we fail on Chris O'Grady signed-up

 

shall we send em the video of him singing he hates wednesday?

 

Maybe they actually don't want to sell him, now that their loan players have gone back they have zero options up front - better the devil you know and all that.