Fascinating article again from TSF. Of course ‘tapping up’ happens in all walks of life, but it is funny how it’s made out to be a cardinal sin by modern day media when in fact we’d be stupid to think it wouldn’t happen.
We seem to have learnt two things from this article:
1. That TSF was both on the verge of transferring in the last few minutes of a deadline day only for it to fall through.
2. On another occasion he did complete a transfer on deadline day.
I say this because in one instance he says ‘If I had put pen to paper‘, suggesting the deal fell through when he didn’t put pen to paper with only half an hour of the window left. And in other instance he says ‘I knew I would be moving‘ and talks about a ‘far from illuminating’ chat with the manager who had just signed him on deadline day.
This must surely help us narrow it down a bit?
7 responses to “TSF on agents, ‘tapping up’ and deadline day”
Apparently Konchesky joined Liverpool on deadline day last year. Can’t say I remember it, but that’s what Wikipedia says. And looks like he was hoping for a transfer while he was at Charlton and West Ham, probably one could have fallen through on deadline day at one of these clubs? Sounds like he should be ruled in on those grounds, anyway.
I’m not sure it fell through. The wording is a bit ambiguous but I think is suggesting ‘if I had put pen to paper’ *before* noticing the ommissions and getting them corrected. Hmmmm… in any event I’m none the wiser
‘If I had put pen to paper’ does not necessarily mean that the deal fell through. It just means that he didn’t sign the first contract faxed to him. Quite possible that he got a new one with the previously agreed on bonuses (with some “Oh, sorry, we missed them in a hurry!” thrown in) and signed that one.
Another revealing part is this: “I had a club doctor say to me: ‘OK, you’ve had a hamstring injury, so let’s check the flexion of the semitendinosus and biceps femoris.’ I touched my toes five times and went home.”
Konchesky, of course, dealt with a hamstring injury most recently before his moves to Forest and then Leicester City.
I reckon he did infact move when he didn’t sign that contract, because he refers to the buying club as “My new employers”
” Because of that we got the usual fun and games with the notorious last-minute hitch – my new employers tried on the age-old tactic of unnecessarily leaving things until the last possible moment”
Ah yeh, so that would suggest he’s made two deadline day transfers as that one wouldn’t have been the one where he then met the manager who needed to speak to more players on the phone…
Figuring out who TSF is almost as rewarding as reading the articles – especially as he’s obviously playing along with this and dropping in the odd hint. So much so I’m starting to believe TSF doesn’t exist as one person.
If TSF works to the same pattern as any other (named) sportsman writing a column, then TSF definitely won’t write the column himself. The convention is that he’ll be assigned a staff writer to ghost for him, and they’ll have a chat on the phone once a week. If TSF is conscientious then he’ll demand approval before it goes to press.
If the same ghost writes the column every week (and the strict adherence to the Guardian style sheet suggests it’s either written by a journalist or completely rewritten by a sub) then it’s entirely possible that, while keeping the same style of writing, the column isn’t based on the recollections of the same guy every week.