Tuesday 3 September 2013

Welcome Cameron Stewart

First the really good news - once again we survived a transfer window closing without losing one of our better players. Perhaps that isn't good news from the Owners perspective and it may lead to further tough decisions downstream but you have to believe that things might not be as desperate on the financial front as we have lead ourselves to believe. Desperate obviously but not dangerously so. I am guessing selling in the January window is the optimum slot for us when the window is shorter and some of our prospective buyers will be in Last Chance saloon.

Secondly the good news - we have signed Hull City left winger, Cameron Stewart, on loan until January. Like most of you, I guess, he is unknown to me being a fringe player at Hull (37 appearances and 1 goal). He has pace and should provide cover and fresh legs for Callum Harriott. Failing that, he can probably earn a living as a Jermaine Jermaine Jenas look-a-like.

The signing of Stewart coincided with the loan of Danny Green to MK Dons for a month, presumably whilst they take a look at him. If that leads to something more permanent then Green can have few complaints having failed to take his opportunities fully whilst with us.

The other worthy news is that Rick Everitt had his long-awaited day in court yesterday with his former employers. Martin Protheroe and a highly paid QC were there to represent the club but they chose to settle Rick's case before the juice was split in public in front of the Judge and media. I think we would have all wanted to hear what the club's case was and Rick's defence. However, Rick's primary driver would have been to secure compensation for the salary denied by what he obviously felt very strongly was wrongful dismissal. As much as part of him would have liked to have spilled the beans, a settlement was the pragmatic solution and I am sure that the other part of Rick didn't want to be responsible for any untoward damage or embarrassment for the club. The fact that Rick has followed in the footsteps of Peter Varney in having taken his former employers to court tells me what I needed to know about the merits of the cases and Steve Kavanagh can, presumably, look forward to his settlement when his time comes. 

Hopefully those in charge learn the lesson that it's better to avoid being taken to court in the first place if you are going to have to settle last minute anyway. QC's don't come cheap (I recently had to authorise £25k for one at work to get an opinion on something before we pressed our case with a supplier). I'll warrant this involved at least a similar amount of the QC's time and the QC's costs were probably material with regard to what was being claimed. I only hope that the settlement is now made on time and that Rick does not need to appeal to the courts again - that really would be unforgivable in the circumstances.

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