Hairy Canary 628 Posted July 3, 2018 The only thing that endears me to him are some of his well publicised off field activities. Sadly, for us, on the field he has been a disaster and I include his supposed leadership qualities in that.The contract he''s on is not his fault but a little bit of an acceptance of his actual worth would probably help. Berating other players, looking for fouls, pointing to where passes should have gone is all well and good if you''re a top player but when your playing like a bit of a tit and on the highest salary on the payroll it can hardly be a surprise that a bit of flack comes your way. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mr Apples 1,314 Posted July 4, 2018 From the Edinburgh Evening NewsSteven Naismith watched the match (at Arbroath) dressed in a Hearts tracksuit having travelled with the squad for their first pre-season friendly. He is about to sign another loan deal to return to Tynecastle from Norwich City, with Levein admitting: “It’s not a very well-kept secret, is it?”Apples Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Webbo118 0 Posted July 4, 2018 [quote user="Indy_Bones"][quote user="JF"]He could have agreed a deal for a permanent move back to Scotland and played for Hearts next season earning about 75% less than we’re paying him. Or he could play in Scotland next season for Hearts and continue to earn the salary we agreed to pay him. Either way he will play in Scotland for Hearts next season. If you’re the player that’s a bit of a no brainier really isn’t it?[/quote]You''re still missing the point JF, if he simply wants the money, then why not be honest about it and say: "I would love to move to Hearts permamently, but Norwich are paying me daft money and it''s better for me to rip them off for another year AND play for Hearts, than actually live up to my ''I just want to play football'' claim and take a paycut to leave now and prove it"...[/quote]In which other industry would you get paid by your employer and work for someone else? He should remain at NCFC, playing or not, and if he doesn''t like it, he knows the answer. Why are we bending over backwards to facilitate him? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Grando 255 Posted July 5, 2018 Because he''s a waste of space and even if we save £2.75 a week it''s better than having him anywhere near the first team.(I agree though that I hope we haven''t been completely shafted by the deal we''re giving Hearts, as in that case I''d have been tempted to say feck him and let him train with the Youth team - though I guess as a punishment that''s about effective as being sent to your room as a kid - when that room has a PS4 and wifi inside...) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jim Smith 2,290 Posted July 5, 2018 I completely accept we signed a contract and this he is entitled to see it out and be paid for its duration.However I also can’t help but find it a little galling he will still be on our payroll and getting paid a substantial sum for yet another year whilst making himself out to be some kind of saint who will “play for free” in order to move back to Scotland. What he actually means is he will play at little or no cost to his loan club so long as we keep paying him but that doesn’t get quite the same PR. He also will be well aware of our new financial constraints.I also take on board the comments that “nobody else on here would not see out that contract if we were in the same position” but professional football is a bit different to most other careers and also I doubt many (or any) on here will have earth the amount he has over the last decade. He will have had clubs willing to sign him on a free in sure and as such it seems to me he could very easily have cut a deal with us to terminate his contract early to enable a move to happen and walked away. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
writeronthestorm 4 Posted July 5, 2018 I''ve got nothing against the guy personally - He''d probably admit himself that his signing for us has pretty much been a disaster. Massively over inflated price to start with and premiership wages and then played in a struggling team with a manager quickly running out of ideas and out of his depth.All clubs have signings that don''t work out and this is just one of ours - it rankles a bit more due to the money involved, but it''s part and parcel of the game. It also rankles that he is a decent player, but we just haven''t seen the best of him.Wildschutt is in a similar bracket IMHO.The current regime seems to be targeting signings that fir into a particular style of play that we are aiming for whereas previously we seemed to sign good players that just don''t fit in, like Naismith & Wildschutt and even going back to RVW.Watkins is probably the most recent case and, thankfully, SW & DF recognized this and were able to move him on while his reputation is intact and so a more palatable signing. I''d imagine paying sensible wages for a Championship club also smoothed his move. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites