Cardiff City's miserable summer just seems to have no light at the end of the tunnel and has another low.
Lengthy talks between Peter Ridsdale, Dave Jones, Jimmy Floyd-Hasslebaink and the PFA broke down yesterday with the player quoted as saying, "It’s not resolved yet, We have to wait until we can resolve it. I would have loved to have played another year of football with Cardiff. I had a great year with the club last year but it is not to be. It looks like it could go to court.”
Hasselbaink - yes, I've got them!!
The background to this latest mess is that while Peter Ridsdale always delared in public that the option to trigger a second year on the contract was always up to Cardiff City, it transpired that only Hasselbaink played 23 matches, that clauses automatically triggerred.
However Ridsdale and Jones are adamant that they realsied last Christmas that Hasselabaink wasn't "fast or fit enough" or roght for the club to have a second year which reached a dilemma in February when JFH has played 22 games.
Ridsdale claims that player and himself reached a verbal agreement at that time over the second year being waived but nothing to that effect was ever signed. Ridders, a man of vast business and football experience who dosn't seem to be showing he's learned lessons, states he confirmed the converstaion in writing but that JFH told him he was 'a man of my word' so that was as far as it went at that time.
While Ridsdale obviously believes agreement was reached, it contradicts Hasselbaink stating many times in the second half of the season that he hoped to be with City for this season. He supposedly arrived for pre-season training but was turned away.
With Jimmy's contract being worth £15k a week, this could not only be a £3/4M gaffe by City, it must also be affecting the budget for replacements. What a mess and you can certainly argue about the incompetence of Ridsdale. Even if City win the day, how did they allow themselves to be put in this situation? This has to be City's worst summer for years.
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