1 month ago
Every noticed how Darren Moore gets what he wants?
Darren Moore has just signed for Barnsley after City boss Stuart McCall told everyone that he wanted to bring the big man back to Valley Parade and for the second time I’m left feeling a bit used.
Moore is a good guy cause he is a Christian and knows Wayne Jacobs and everyone will tell you that he is a good bloke. In fact footballers like him so much that they elect him to the PFA. He sits around the table with Gordon Taylor when the footballer’s union make sure that no one get get anywhere when they suggest that players need salaries capped.
He is a good bloke and never made a noise after having his request for £15,000 a week from City turned down nine years ago. He went to Portsmouth and on to a great career that we all followed and cheered with only a bit of a bitter taste in the mouth about the way it all ended.
Great guy but when City came in for Moore how come it got out to the media so quickly? And what was the effect of it getting out. To us it said that City had high ambitions but to the rest of the game it said two things. First that Bruno was on the move and secondly that to get him you needed to compete with big spenders.
So the likes of Leicester City and Nottingham Forest all start to be interested and soon it looks like City’s hope if plucking Moore’s heartstring and pushing a bit of extra cash in his pocket to get him but when a club two divisions higher want to offer the chance of a fifth promotion to the Premiership of course he is interested.
So fast forward on the month and Bruno has got a move to the Championship probably on the money that City offered him and no one can blame him but for the second time City have figured in a deal that ended up with Darren Moore getting what he wanted and us being left with egg on our faces.
Graeme Lee is not Darren Moore in our hearts but neither was David Wetherall when he was signed the last time Moore decided he wanted to be somewhere else and maybe in nine years time we will look at Lee like we look at Weathers now.
July 3rd, 2008 at 13:18
To be honest, the comment regarding City fans taking David Wetherall to heart after losing Darren Moore is more or less spot on. Lee can be twice the player Moore is for us, lack of mobility, lack of speed, I really think this is the season Big Dave will get found out. I am counting it as a blessing, and it keeps a few bob in the coffers for other players.
July 3rd, 2008 at 13:22
I think Moore wanted a two year contract and I imagine we would only have offered him one season at 36 years old. Lee is a great defender and at 31 - or is it 30? - has a few years left and can be an inspirational captain for us. I’m not bothered at all that we lost out on Moore but don’t think the fact Moore is a Christian is relevant. We are talking contracts and ultimately money.
July 3rd, 2008 at 18:40
Moore was using us? Anyone who seriously thought Moore was set to sign for us ahead of interested clubs two divisions higher must be living in cloud cuckoo land. I think City were stringing this along shifting a couple of season tickets on the back of his name.
July 3rd, 2008 at 20:54
Not sure there was anything sinister in it by Bruno to get it into the media.
It first got in the T&A when some kid on one of the messageboards said we were signing him and the T&A picked up on it.
Anyway, Lee will be a better signing in my opinion.
July 4th, 2008 at 12:23
It never ceases to amaze me what a low opinion some fans have of the club they love.
I really don’t think City were claiming to sign him just to sell more season tickets. It was a genuine attempt to sign a former hero who is good mates with the current management and who would be a wonderful signing for this division.
I’d assume Moore would have wanted higher wages than Lee and this, coupled with his continuing delay to make a decision, appears to have led Stuart to give up and sign up Lee before someone else did.
July 5th, 2008 at 22:16
I would have to disagree with the article’s point about Bradford City being left with egg on our faces; to me it shows that we have the ambition and finances to compete with clubs two divisions above us for the signature of a player who played Division 1 football last year.
The fact that he opted for a Division 2 side over us is no disgrace whatsoever. How many other Division 4 clubs would have been in the running to sign him? He’s a professional player and is entitled to go where the money and level of football is highest.
As for City being used as a pawn in his pursuit of better offers, as much as I love the club, I can think of plenty of others that would have been far more effective if he wanted to “use” one for his own gain. I don’t remember him making us any promises and then going back on them, so I don’t really understand the fuss.
As for the Lee signing, on the face of it he’s a great acquisition and looks to have the potential to be a major player this season.