To those who think there’s some weird Fulham-led anti-American conspiracy at play here, you really need to ask yourself this question: why was Brede “same contract situation as Dempsey” Hangeland the team captain on Saturday?
Just like Dempsey, Hangleand is in the last year of his contract. He and the club are, according to Brede, “nowhere close” to reaching a new agreement. However, Brede not only played, but he was made captain.
Also, Hangeland was born in Houston. There ain’t even an anti-Texas bias at work here.
You clearly don’t follow Fulham at all. Danny Murphy was captain and they were never going to change that. Now that Murphy was gone perhaps Dempsey had a chance to be captain but that is gone now. I have actually been to Craven Cottage and I can tell you that the fans there loved, supported and respected Clint. Whether they would ever take him back after this.. probably not but why would they?
Also McBride an AMERICAN has a pub named after him inside the stadium. Brad Friedel for a decade has been one of the most well respected players in the league. FFS.
I get the distinct impression that there is more going on at Fulham than people realize. They have lost about 4 or5 players from last year’s squad including Danny Murphy – the Captain. Something gives.
It is not the same thing as New England/MLS. When you played in MLS you had no control over your future you were essentially an indentured servant whose contract was directly with the league. Unlike anywhere else in the world,I am pretty sure the players didn’t get a portion of the transfer fee. New England had bids for Dempsey and refused to even entertain them while at the same time refusing to renegotiate his contract and pay him fair market value for his skills (literally taking money out of his pocket). This is exactly why many young Americans preferred to go to secondary leagues in Europe like Norway, Denmark and the like rather than tie thier futures up in MLS.
I believe some of this may have been fixed in the last contract but Dempsey while in NE was clearly one ofthe top 2 or 3 players in the league and had no control over his livlihood and wasn’t paid as a top player.
Bingo. I like Clint as a player, but I’ve always had a sense he could be a bit difficult at times. Anyone notice he isn’t captain of US team, where there is no supposed anti-American bias?
I wish him the best though, and I hope this gets resolved soon for all parties involved.
Just indicating they buy more Yanks than any other team in EPL. They must love some part of them… Maybe not anymore. Will this be the first year in many that Fulham don’t have an American?
Dempsey silent, for now. Agent silent. Fulham manager can’t get his story straight. People that know Dempsey say he’s not the type would refuse to play. No one really knows what’s going on. Makes me think something is actually going on.
Well, just from a common sense point of view, his teammates have to deal with this guy until they move, a guy who is proving himself capable of trashing a player for tactical advantage it looks like.
is he entitled to be captain now? Where did this come from? It’s your on-field leader, not just your best player. If he’s angling during the season to leave the club and was known last year to want out, maybe he’s not the guy the rest of the players will follow.
You are so far off base it is not even funny… while I will certainly grant you that Americans face a tough time in Europe due to some level snobbery but he was not made captain because Murphy was the captain and should have been… you clearly have no clue about the workings of Fulham at all..
Not surprised his teammates aren’t offering public support. He is American. They treat all Americans like crap in the EPL. He should have been captain the last two years but his teammates would never vote an American captain. I have to say, players who don’t want to go to Europe and play are not as dumb as previously thought. Why go there just to get pushed around and disrespected when you can be a big deal in the MLS?
Yeah I don’t think people would be defending him so much if he wasn’t one of our guys. If Dembele did the same thing(he also hasn’t signed a new contract) I doubt we would have the same reaction.
this is not Dempsey’s fault…everyone else is too blame…Fulham, Jol, agent..i think it is all a conspiracy against the US national team. Dempsey has been treated horribly, I have tons of evidence…most conclusive is from message boards and body language in videos of Jol 😉
lol, anyway…i hope it gets resolved and we get to watch Dempsey on field soon…no matter what the club.
I see your point but I used the words “is taking”, not “has taken” on purpose. IMHO, his total record of achievement combined has exceeded all those you mentioned individually, including Altidore’s 20+ goal season last year. Clint has scored 50 goals in the EPL (the most of any American in one of the best leagues in the world). He had 17 last year alone (tied for 4th in the league). He was the first American to ever score a Hat-trick in the EPL. Oh, and he is only a mid-fielder, not a striker right? He is a two time American Male Soccer athlete of the year, second only to Donovan I believe. Anyways, I know it can be debated, but he is has my vote and I hope he is able to continue moving ahead.
I see your point but I used the words “is taking”, not “has taken” on purpose. IMHO, his total record of achievement combined has exceeded all those you mentioned individually, including Altidore’s 20+ goal season last year.
Clint has scored 50 goals in the EPL (the most of any American in one of the best leagues in the world). He had 17 last year alone (tied for 4th in the league). He was the first American to ever score a Hat-trick in the EPL. Oh, and he is only a mid-fielder, not a striker right? He is a two time American Male Soccer athlete of the year, second only to Donovan I believe. Anyways, I know it can be debated, but he is has my vote and I hope he is able to continue moving ahead.
This is like the umpteenth time Fulham has tried to blackball a player into a contract extension.
Aunt called me, she lives near Hammersmith by Fulham and said people are on the verge of just giving up with how they’re treating players in general. She also heard what Biff said above that he’s trying to send a message to Dembele who for some reason is much more liked by the club.
What we really don’t know is anything about what is actually going on.
This is a lot like being asked by your co-worker to take sides in their divorce.
Some of you all may have a lot of opinions and “inside” information but overall is it just another sordid business deal whose unpleasant inner workings have been revealed for the benefit of the tabloids.
For me the big losers here are Fulham and Dempsey in equal measure with the USMNT a distant third.
Sooner or later someone with half a brain will figure this out and we can get on with real life.
Dempsey isn’t negotiating a contract, he’s trying to change clubs. His agent is already getting paid for the contract Clint is currently serving.
There’s nothing that can be done about it at this point except by Fulham and whichever teams are in the running to purchase Clint. I don’t think the player or the manager get any cut from a transfer fee. His agent will only have work to do when it is time to negotiate another contract.
His value is actually going up as teams’ desperation grows and the pool of available players shrinks. The problem for both sides is that at a certain point the situation becomes lose/lose, and we are getting close to that point.
I believe what we are seeing is a club’s desperate attempt to rope in a major contributor, and I don’t think Deuce is responding how they predicted or hoped he would.
Anything Clint could try to save face would only make him a less attractive option for other clubs. Players have to let stuff that happens in the locker room and manager’s office stay there. I know we all want to know his side of it because we’re sick of the only reports coming from Fulham’s side, but in the end it is better for Clint to keep his mouth shut until he’s wearing another shirt.
Jol is putting pressure on him to acquiesce by saying that no offers are coming in for him. Clint knows who wants him and what they are willing to pay, but he doesn’t care what Fulham get for him in return. He think’s he’s earned the chance to play somewhere else, and the fact that he said that is likely what put Fulham on the defensive regarding the whole transfer saga.
Where is Dempsey’s agent in all of this? To me, it sounds like he isn’t doing his job. He’s allowing his client to be seriously devalued by all of this.
I’ll take 5-0 results every game if this is how they play without him. Fulham looked really good. He’d be smart to realize staying at fulham may be better than moving to Liverpool. That said…arsenal may be looking for another forward, city too after that injury blow today.
good point, Nick. I saw that video also, and all three guys speaking made good points and all fully supported Dempsey. They know what is going on. Here is the link, I hope SBI allows it.
Actually his coach at new England Steve Nicol said on Espn that he thinks dempsey is getting a little blackballed because when he left new england he voiced his displeasure on not being sold but he never said he wouldn’t play for new England and that he knows Dempsey and dempsey would play no matter what if he was able to play
Could I ask all you guys bashing Dempsey: Don’t you think a player should have the right to decline to sign a contract extension in order to move to a new team without being bullied like Fulham is bullying Clint? That is what this all boils down to. Clint declined to sign the extension and Fulham has refused to accept his decision and maybe has told any teams who have inquired about Clint that he is not far sale or has set an unrealistically high transfer fee. And now Martin Jol and Fulham billionaire owner Mohamed Al-Fayedd, who Jol brags is quite strong, have turned brutal in their efforts to break down Clint, basically treating him like $hi+ because he declined to sign their contract extension.
Until Clint makes a move from Fulham to a top club it is hard to argue he is “taking the American flag further than any other US Player” when we have Michael Bradley at AS Roma, Tim Howard at Everton and LD who has been at both Everton and Bayern Munich. We wont count Gooch though, that debacle at AC Milan hardly qualifies.
Like what you say, Brett, except that Clint is doing the “right thing by staying silent.” Initially, that was true. But after Jol’s first vicious attack followed by Jol’s fake Mister Nice Guy routine, Dempsey now desperately needs to release a statement instead of letting Jol dominate and control and twist the news story to fit his needs.
Giovani dos Santos a few weeks ago came up with the ideal solution when dealing with a dictatorial club management trying to bully a player in the last year of a contract to sign an extension or else pay a heavy emotional and personal price. dos Santos simply said something along the lines of: I am never going to sign an extension. Either I leave by August 31 and Tottenham can collect a nice transfer fee. Or I stay and in January sign with another club on a free transfer and Tottenham gets nothing. It’s all in Tottenham”s hands. Since then, Tottenham is being a bit more agreeable with him.
That is what I think Dempsey should do, put it in those terms and let Fulahm make the decision whether pocket 5-10 million now or watch him sign a pre-contract in January–and leave for free. And there are good teams that will sign him for free in January, albeit maybe not CL teams. And when he makes that statement, he should spill his guts. I have no doubt he loves Fulham and the fans and has a lot of great memories and that this whole thing is killing him inside, but he wants a new challenge and nothing is going to stop him.
The home fans greeted Fulham’s fifth strike – a fierce penalty from Sidwell – by chanting ‘Are you watching Clint Dempsey?’. But Jol feels the 29-year-old deserves more respect from the fans despite his recent rebellion. “I don’t want to hear the fans were chanting against him because he was a terrific player for us,” Jol told a press conference.
“He was the most productive midfield player in the whole league last season.”
Yeah, he does sound condescending and in other news stories quoting him it is ever worse, oozing false contriteness for his vicious, planned attack on Clint. Disgusting. Surprising that none of Clint’s teammates are offering any public support.
I was reading a thread on one of the Fulham fan Web sites and someone posted that Jol’s hatchet attack on Dempsey was actually done to catch the attention of another player. The poster did not explain, but he might be referring to Moussa Dembele, who also is in the last year of his contract and wants to leave and Fulham have dug in their heels on him even stronger than with Dempsey. Apparently Fulham has a long history of intimidating players who want out, with someone posting these players Bullard/Steed/Davis/Schwarzer and mentioning that the Sean Davis affair was particularly vitriolic. His Wikipedia page says he got injured the summer before a planned transfer so could not pass a medical to move to Everton and so he caved in and signed an extension. (I wonder if his summer injury occurred internally during Fulham training or in a pre-season game.) But I can now understand why Dempsey is so worried about an injury and being so careful and did not want to travel to the Swiss camp with his teammates.
I have no problem with him saying he wants to leave as long as he’s respectful and he keeps playing while saying it. If you dislike your job are you under any obligation to not say that when asked?
“Everything we know about Clint suggests he would play out his deal for Fulham, and do it smiling”
Actually not. Clint is doing that same thing he did when he left MLS. Ir was wrong before and it’s wrong now.
He tweeted the truth will come out soon and there are two sides to every story. Deuce is taking the American flag further than any other US Player. I hope he can plant it on Liverpool mountain and continue to represent as he always does. It would be good for the game here at home, not to mention American-owned Liverpool for growing its brand here as well.
I honestly can not, and do not, believe he has refused to play. I think he’s being blackballed because he didn’t hide his desire to play for another club. Now Fulham block transfer offers for him and hope that he will sign another contract extension to get the club to put him back on the pitch. Fulham has never shown loyalty to its players on the edge of departure.
It was unprofessional of him to come out in the media and say he wanted to switch clubs, but everything we know about Clint suggests he would play out his deal for Fulham, and do it smiling. He said as much before the summer started.
I’m really interested to know Dempsey’s side of it, but he’s doing the right thing by staying silent.
I generally agree with what he said, but his tone seemed overly condescending. Not building any goodwill there. I guarantee that there has been interest by a lot of clubs- the “no offers” bit may have been true by the letter, but only because the club has either put down any talk of selling him or has demanded an unreasonable transfer fee before negotiations could begin.
On his side, you’ve got to play dude. You signed a contract. The team would be unreasonable if they decided not to pay you while demanding you show up, so why would it be reasonable that you refuse to play while still on contract?
To those who think there’s some weird Fulham-led anti-American conspiracy at play here, you really need to ask yourself this question: why was Brede “same contract situation as Dempsey” Hangeland the team captain on Saturday?
Just like Dempsey, Hangleand is in the last year of his contract. He and the club are, according to Brede, “nowhere close” to reaching a new agreement. However, Brede not only played, but he was made captain.
Also, Hangeland was born in Houston. There ain’t even an anti-Texas bias at work here.
Thanks for the link biff I was too lazy to look it up lol
You clearly don’t follow Fulham at all. Danny Murphy was captain and they were never going to change that. Now that Murphy was gone perhaps Dempsey had a chance to be captain but that is gone now. I have actually been to Craven Cottage and I can tell you that the fans there loved, supported and respected Clint. Whether they would ever take him back after this.. probably not but why would they?
Also McBride an AMERICAN has a pub named after him inside the stadium. Brad Friedel for a decade has been one of the most well respected players in the league. FFS.
I get the distinct impression that there is more going on at Fulham than people realize. They have lost about 4 or5 players from last year’s squad including Danny Murphy – the Captain. Something gives.
It is not the same thing as New England/MLS. When you played in MLS you had no control over your future you were essentially an indentured servant whose contract was directly with the league. Unlike anywhere else in the world,I am pretty sure the players didn’t get a portion of the transfer fee. New England had bids for Dempsey and refused to even entertain them while at the same time refusing to renegotiate his contract and pay him fair market value for his skills (literally taking money out of his pocket). This is exactly why many young Americans preferred to go to secondary leagues in Europe like Norway, Denmark and the like rather than tie thier futures up in MLS.
I believe some of this may have been fixed in the last contract but Dempsey while in NE was clearly one ofthe top 2 or 3 players in the league and had no control over his livlihood and wasn’t paid as a top player.
Jol’s defending Dempsey yesterday against Fulham fans’ taunting is like a player helping up an opponent after cutting his legs from under him.
Bingo. I like Clint as a player, but I’ve always had a sense he could be a bit difficult at times. Anyone notice he isn’t captain of US team, where there is no supposed anti-American bias?
I wish him the best though, and I hope this gets resolved soon for all parties involved.
Just indicating they buy more Yanks than any other team in EPL. They must love some part of them… Maybe not anymore. Will this be the first year in many that Fulham don’t have an American?
Based on what? Any idea how they treated Brian McBride? They named a stadium pub after him.
Dempsey silent, for now. Agent silent. Fulham manager can’t get his story straight. People that know Dempsey say he’s not the type would refuse to play. No one really knows what’s going on. Makes me think something is actually going on.
Well, just from a common sense point of view, his teammates have to deal with this guy until they move, a guy who is proving himself capable of trashing a player for tactical advantage it looks like.
is he entitled to be captain now? Where did this come from? It’s your on-field leader, not just your best player. If he’s angling during the season to leave the club and was known last year to want out, maybe he’s not the guy the rest of the players will follow.
Perception is reality.
Which is exactly why Jol lied to the media about the situation.
Nothing says, “I’m sticking up for my player” than misrepresenting the facts to the media/public.
Nothing more honorable than your scumbag manager lying about the situation.
The more I hear, the more I side with Dempsey.
You are so far off base it is not even funny… while I will certainly grant you that Americans face a tough time in Europe due to some level snobbery but he was not made captain because Murphy was the captain and should have been… you clearly have no clue about the workings of Fulham at all..
Really? Was Dempsey captain the past two years? Loved means what? Allowed them to play? What love do you speak of?
Terriers are fierce puppies.
Not surprised his teammates aren’t offering public support. He is American. They treat all Americans like crap in the EPL. He should have been captain the last two years but his teammates would never vote an American captain. I have to say, players who don’t want to go to Europe and play are not as dumb as previously thought. Why go there just to get pushed around and disrespected when you can be a big deal in the MLS?
Fulham have loved Americans in the past. What gives?
They played Norwich…
Yeah I don’t think people would be defending him so much if he wasn’t one of our guys. If Dembele did the same thing(he also hasn’t signed a new contract) I doubt we would have the same reaction.
this is not Dempsey’s fault…everyone else is too blame…Fulham, Jol, agent..i think it is all a conspiracy against the US national team. Dempsey has been treated horribly, I have tons of evidence…most conclusive is from message boards and body language in videos of Jol 😉
lol, anyway…i hope it gets resolved and we get to watch Dempsey on field soon…no matter what the club.
I see your point but I used the words “is taking”, not “has taken” on purpose. IMHO, his total record of achievement combined has exceeded all those you mentioned individually, including Altidore’s 20+ goal season last year. Clint has scored 50 goals in the EPL (the most of any American in one of the best leagues in the world). He had 17 last year alone (tied for 4th in the league). He was the first American to ever score a Hat-trick in the EPL. Oh, and he is only a mid-fielder, not a striker right? He is a two time American Male Soccer athlete of the year, second only to Donovan I believe. Anyways, I know it can be debated, but he is has my vote and I hope he is able to continue moving ahead.
I see your point but I used the words “is taking”, not “has taken” on purpose. IMHO, his total record of achievement combined has exceeded all those you mentioned individually, including Altidore’s 20+ goal season last year.
Clint has scored 50 goals in the EPL (the most of any American in one of the best leagues in the world). He had 17 last year alone (tied for 4th in the league). He was the first American to ever score a Hat-trick in the EPL. Oh, and he is only a mid-fielder, not a striker right? He is a two time American Male Soccer athlete of the year, second only to Donovan I believe. Anyways, I know it can be debated, but he is has my vote and I hope he is able to continue moving ahead.
Wow, check out Jol’s body language. Crossed arms, he’d not open to anything but his own opinion. Look out, Clint, this guy is not kidding.
This is like the umpteenth time Fulham has tried to blackball a player into a contract extension.
Aunt called me, she lives near Hammersmith by Fulham and said people are on the verge of just giving up with how they’re treating players in general. She also heard what Biff said above that he’s trying to send a message to Dembele who for some reason is much more liked by the club.
What we really don’t know is anything about what is actually going on.
This is a lot like being asked by your co-worker to take sides in their divorce.
Some of you all may have a lot of opinions and “inside” information but overall is it just another sordid business deal whose unpleasant inner workings have been revealed for the benefit of the tabloids.
For me the big losers here are Fulham and Dempsey in equal measure with the USMNT a distant third.
Sooner or later someone with half a brain will figure this out and we can get on with real life.
Dempsey isn’t negotiating a contract, he’s trying to change clubs. His agent is already getting paid for the contract Clint is currently serving.
There’s nothing that can be done about it at this point except by Fulham and whichever teams are in the running to purchase Clint. I don’t think the player or the manager get any cut from a transfer fee. His agent will only have work to do when it is time to negotiate another contract.
His value is actually going up as teams’ desperation grows and the pool of available players shrinks. The problem for both sides is that at a certain point the situation becomes lose/lose, and we are getting close to that point.
I believe what we are seeing is a club’s desperate attempt to rope in a major contributor, and I don’t think Deuce is responding how they predicted or hoped he would.
Moussa Dembele hasn’t signed a new contract either. Yet he still played against Norwich. Why hasn’t Dembele received the same treatment?
Anything Clint could try to save face would only make him a less attractive option for other clubs. Players have to let stuff that happens in the locker room and manager’s office stay there. I know we all want to know his side of it because we’re sick of the only reports coming from Fulham’s side, but in the end it is better for Clint to keep his mouth shut until he’s wearing another shirt.
Jol is putting pressure on him to acquiesce by saying that no offers are coming in for him. Clint knows who wants him and what they are willing to pay, but he doesn’t care what Fulham get for him in return. He think’s he’s earned the chance to play somewhere else, and the fact that he said that is likely what put Fulham on the defensive regarding the whole transfer saga.
Where is Dempsey’s agent in all of this? To me, it sounds like he isn’t doing his job. He’s allowing his client to be seriously devalued by all of this.
I’ll take 5-0 results every game if this is how they play without him. Fulham looked really good. He’d be smart to realize staying at fulham may be better than moving to Liverpool. That said…arsenal may be looking for another forward, city too after that injury blow today.
Yes, Clint has the right not to sign an extension. What we don’t know is who is right about him willing to play.
Maybe Clint’s agent needs to say something.
Did you know Tim Howard was at Man U? Also, Jon Spector, but he didn’t see many games.
good point, Nick. I saw that video also, and all three guys speaking made good points and all fully supported Dempsey. They know what is going on. Here is the link, I hope SBI allows it.
http://www.espn.co.uk/football/sport/video_audio/165699.html
Actually his coach at new England Steve Nicol said on Espn that he thinks dempsey is getting a little blackballed because when he left new england he voiced his displeasure on not being sold but he never said he wouldn’t play for new England and that he knows Dempsey and dempsey would play no matter what if he was able to play
Could I ask all you guys bashing Dempsey: Don’t you think a player should have the right to decline to sign a contract extension in order to move to a new team without being bullied like Fulham is bullying Clint? That is what this all boils down to. Clint declined to sign the extension and Fulham has refused to accept his decision and maybe has told any teams who have inquired about Clint that he is not far sale or has set an unrealistically high transfer fee. And now Martin Jol and Fulham billionaire owner Mohamed Al-Fayedd, who Jol brags is quite strong, have turned brutal in their efforts to break down Clint, basically treating him like $hi+ because he declined to sign their contract extension.
Until Clint makes a move from Fulham to a top club it is hard to argue he is “taking the American flag further than any other US Player” when we have Michael Bradley at AS Roma, Tim Howard at Everton and LD who has been at both Everton and Bayern Munich. We wont count Gooch though, that debacle at AC Milan hardly qualifies.
Like what you say, Brett, except that Clint is doing the “right thing by staying silent.” Initially, that was true. But after Jol’s first vicious attack followed by Jol’s fake Mister Nice Guy routine, Dempsey now desperately needs to release a statement instead of letting Jol dominate and control and twist the news story to fit his needs.
Giovani dos Santos a few weeks ago came up with the ideal solution when dealing with a dictatorial club management trying to bully a player in the last year of a contract to sign an extension or else pay a heavy emotional and personal price. dos Santos simply said something along the lines of: I am never going to sign an extension. Either I leave by August 31 and Tottenham can collect a nice transfer fee. Or I stay and in January sign with another club on a free transfer and Tottenham gets nothing. It’s all in Tottenham”s hands. Since then, Tottenham is being a bit more agreeable with him.
That is what I think Dempsey should do, put it in those terms and let Fulahm make the decision whether pocket 5-10 million now or watch him sign a pre-contract in January–and leave for free. And there are good teams that will sign him for free in January, albeit maybe not CL teams. And when he makes that statement, he should spill his guts. I have no doubt he loves Fulham and the fans and has a lot of great memories and that this whole thing is killing him inside, but he wants a new challenge and nothing is going to stop him.
The home fans greeted Fulham’s fifth strike – a fierce penalty from Sidwell – by chanting ‘Are you watching Clint Dempsey?’. But Jol feels the 29-year-old deserves more respect from the fans despite his recent rebellion. “I don’t want to hear the fans were chanting against him because he was a terrific player for us,” Jol told a press conference.
“He was the most productive midfield player in the whole league last season.”
Good to see Jol stick up for Dempsey.
Yeah, he does sound condescending and in other news stories quoting him it is ever worse, oozing false contriteness for his vicious, planned attack on Clint. Disgusting. Surprising that none of Clint’s teammates are offering any public support.
I was reading a thread on one of the Fulham fan Web sites and someone posted that Jol’s hatchet attack on Dempsey was actually done to catch the attention of another player. The poster did not explain, but he might be referring to Moussa Dembele, who also is in the last year of his contract and wants to leave and Fulham have dug in their heels on him even stronger than with Dempsey. Apparently Fulham has a long history of intimidating players who want out, with someone posting these players Bullard/Steed/Davis/Schwarzer and mentioning that the Sean Davis affair was particularly vitriolic. His Wikipedia page says he got injured the summer before a planned transfer so could not pass a medical to move to Everton and so he caved in and signed an extension. (I wonder if his summer injury occurred internally during Fulham training or in a pre-season game.) But I can now understand why Dempsey is so worried about an injury and being so careful and did not want to travel to the Swiss camp with his teammates.
I have no problem with him saying he wants to leave as long as he’s respectful and he keeps playing while saying it. If you dislike your job are you under any obligation to not say that when asked?
“Everything we know about Clint suggests he would play out his deal for Fulham, and do it smiling”
Actually not. Clint is doing that same thing he did when he left MLS. Ir was wrong before and it’s wrong now.
I thought Shrek had more of a Scottish accent?
He tweeted the truth will come out soon and there are two sides to every story. Deuce is taking the American flag further than any other US Player. I hope he can plant it on Liverpool mountain and continue to represent as he always does. It would be good for the game here at home, not to mention American-owned Liverpool for growing its brand here as well.
I honestly can not, and do not, believe he has refused to play. I think he’s being blackballed because he didn’t hide his desire to play for another club. Now Fulham block transfer offers for him and hope that he will sign another contract extension to get the club to put him back on the pitch. Fulham has never shown loyalty to its players on the edge of departure.
It was unprofessional of him to come out in the media and say he wanted to switch clubs, but everything we know about Clint suggests he would play out his deal for Fulham, and do it smiling. He said as much before the summer started.
I’m really interested to know Dempsey’s side of it, but he’s doing the right thing by staying silent.
+1
+1
I generally agree with what he said, but his tone seemed overly condescending. Not building any goodwill there. I guarantee that there has been interest by a lot of clubs- the “no offers” bit may have been true by the letter, but only because the club has either put down any talk of selling him or has demanded an unreasonable transfer fee before negotiations could begin.
On his side, you’ve got to play dude. You signed a contract. The team would be unreasonable if they decided not to pay you while demanding you show up, so why would it be reasonable that you refuse to play while still on contract?