Odemwingie's deal as it happened-direct from his agent
Wed Sep 04, 2013 12:56 pm
Rob Segal
Rob Segal returns for his second Footballers' Football Coulmn to deliver a unique insight into transfer deadline day. The agent was the man on the inside of Peter Odemwingie's move to Cardiff City for £2.5million. The Nigeria striker shot to fame during the January transfer window when he was sitting outside QPR's Loftus Road ground looking to complete a switch from West Brom only for the transfer not to materialise. This time, however, his move to Wales was successful...
My deadline day started at 6.30am when I drove from London towards Cardiff to conclude the Peter Odemwingie move from West Brom. I arrived at about 8.45am. I headed straight to the training ground to look through paper work that was all verbally agreed, but it's good to double check.
The player went for a medical while I was doing this. It consists of scanning head-to-toe, blood tests, heart-rate monitoring, everything. It's 10 times more intense than a medical you or I would get at BUPA. It can take three to four hours.
In between that time, I email out to both clubs structures of the transfer, payment dates and amounts. Nine times out of 10 when you hear a transfer costs 'X' amount it's not one lump sum where someone writes a cheque, it's not done like that. Gareth Bale was done in one hit, I gather, but that's not the norm.
There are always issues. Particularly when there is a little bit of history. It made this one all the more tricky, exciting, full of emotion. You know there will be press all over it; cameras outside the training ground. But you don't want to tempt fate, a deal isn't done until it's all signed.
There were one or two glitches with the Odemwingie deal. It didn't get completed until later in the afternoon.
I left Cardiff about 6pm to head back to London. While I'm in the car I was on my hands free on the phone checking on other deals with other agents at my company Impact Sports Management.
While I'm waiting at a ground when a player gets a medical I check on other deals. It's not one agent one deal, it's one agent with five or six deals.
Some happen, some don't. It could be because we run out of time.
I had one other transfer that was finished on deadline day and acknowledged by the Premier League with 30 seconds to go until the window shut. Your heart is in your mouth. It's not just about the transfer, its about the emotion of the family involved too.
No-one knows what's going on. Waiting to hear back from the Premier League sometimes feels like an eternity. You can see where heart attacks come from. I've had deals that have run out of time.
I had that in January. For some reason or another the club didn't get their act together, the papers were not lodged, it didn't happen. When the club phoned me to say they hadn't done it, it took 15 minutes for them to convince me it hadn't happened and to stop laughing. I couldn't see how it didn't go through. That sometimes happens.
When you talk about transfers, you talk about players and agents. You should be talking about people at the clubs getting it done. It's so important to have a first-class chief executive. Most Premier League clubs do. But the unsung heroes are the club secretaries who support them.
They know all the ins and out - all the minute details - of the paperwork. You can be waiting for confirmation, or a fax or an email with a signature, or many signatures. There can be so many signatures needed on one form. All of this has to be submitted.
There are reams of paperwork. Five copies of everything for everybody. Ten pages of each document. It doesn't take long to build up into a whole book.
Deals can go wrong for other reasons. Sometimes clubs maybe have two players lined up for each position, when one deal happens it means the other one doesn't. It can be that a player has many options.
Odemwingie had four or five clubs seriously interested. A club might think they're getting a player but he prefers another one. It works both ways. It can be clubs getting let down by players or players letting down clubs.
You can have a player in the car on the way to doing a deal saying: 'I don't think I fancy this.' You can get there and it just doesn't feel right for them. If he's making noises that he's not sure, I'll pull the plug. It's not worth it. He won't perform; he won't be happy, the club won't be happy, I won't be happy.
If they're not mentally attuned to what's coming, there's not point. A manager might try and speak to the player, see what's going on and try to avert any doubts, but if a manager can't, or I know he won't be able to, I'll pull it.
Sometimes if it's so glaringly obvious it's a good deal and the player can't see it I will push hard. But ultimately if they're not happy it won't work.
People have this idea of agents driving all over the country on transfer deadline day but it's not really like that. In this day and age with the technology available, that's a thing of the past.
What you have realise is there's a steady flow of transfers from when the window opens. On deadline day supporters think there are millions of pounds spent on millions of transfers. There are a few big deals, a lot of small ones, but a lot of agents will be sitting around doing nothing.
There are the best part of 250 FA-approved agents, if even 10 per cent were really busy I'd be surprised. I'd say there are a dozen agents that are actually at football clubs doing transfers. The reality is it's a job, and you're getting your job done.
An agent used to turn up with an accountant and a solicitor. Now there's no need. In all honesty, fewer people there on the day makes it move quicker and smoother. The paperwork is so standardised you don't need that. There's just tons of it.
I don't enjoy the transfer window, I don't like it and I don't know anyone in football who does. It's terrible. I preferred before when there wasn't one and I'd prefer to go back to how it was. Definitely. I don't think anyone would argue with that.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/footba ... z2dvbGUsrU
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Rob Segal returns for his second Footballers' Football Coulmn to deliver a unique insight into transfer deadline day. The agent was the man on the inside of Peter Odemwingie's move to Cardiff City for £2.5million. The Nigeria striker shot to fame during the January transfer window when he was sitting outside QPR's Loftus Road ground looking to complete a switch from West Brom only for the transfer not to materialise. This time, however, his move to Wales was successful...
My deadline day started at 6.30am when I drove from London towards Cardiff to conclude the Peter Odemwingie move from West Brom. I arrived at about 8.45am. I headed straight to the training ground to look through paper work that was all verbally agreed, but it's good to double check.
The player went for a medical while I was doing this. It consists of scanning head-to-toe, blood tests, heart-rate monitoring, everything. It's 10 times more intense than a medical you or I would get at BUPA. It can take three to four hours.
In between that time, I email out to both clubs structures of the transfer, payment dates and amounts. Nine times out of 10 when you hear a transfer costs 'X' amount it's not one lump sum where someone writes a cheque, it's not done like that. Gareth Bale was done in one hit, I gather, but that's not the norm.
There are always issues. Particularly when there is a little bit of history. It made this one all the more tricky, exciting, full of emotion. You know there will be press all over it; cameras outside the training ground. But you don't want to tempt fate, a deal isn't done until it's all signed.
There were one or two glitches with the Odemwingie deal. It didn't get completed until later in the afternoon.
I left Cardiff about 6pm to head back to London. While I'm in the car I was on my hands free on the phone checking on other deals with other agents at my company Impact Sports Management.
While I'm waiting at a ground when a player gets a medical I check on other deals. It's not one agent one deal, it's one agent with five or six deals.
Some happen, some don't. It could be because we run out of time.
I had one other transfer that was finished on deadline day and acknowledged by the Premier League with 30 seconds to go until the window shut. Your heart is in your mouth. It's not just about the transfer, its about the emotion of the family involved too.
No-one knows what's going on. Waiting to hear back from the Premier League sometimes feels like an eternity. You can see where heart attacks come from. I've had deals that have run out of time.
I had that in January. For some reason or another the club didn't get their act together, the papers were not lodged, it didn't happen. When the club phoned me to say they hadn't done it, it took 15 minutes for them to convince me it hadn't happened and to stop laughing. I couldn't see how it didn't go through. That sometimes happens.
When you talk about transfers, you talk about players and agents. You should be talking about people at the clubs getting it done. It's so important to have a first-class chief executive. Most Premier League clubs do. But the unsung heroes are the club secretaries who support them.
They know all the ins and out - all the minute details - of the paperwork. You can be waiting for confirmation, or a fax or an email with a signature, or many signatures. There can be so many signatures needed on one form. All of this has to be submitted.
There are reams of paperwork. Five copies of everything for everybody. Ten pages of each document. It doesn't take long to build up into a whole book.
Deals can go wrong for other reasons. Sometimes clubs maybe have two players lined up for each position, when one deal happens it means the other one doesn't. It can be that a player has many options.
Odemwingie had four or five clubs seriously interested. A club might think they're getting a player but he prefers another one. It works both ways. It can be clubs getting let down by players or players letting down clubs.
You can have a player in the car on the way to doing a deal saying: 'I don't think I fancy this.' You can get there and it just doesn't feel right for them. If he's making noises that he's not sure, I'll pull the plug. It's not worth it. He won't perform; he won't be happy, the club won't be happy, I won't be happy.
If they're not mentally attuned to what's coming, there's not point. A manager might try and speak to the player, see what's going on and try to avert any doubts, but if a manager can't, or I know he won't be able to, I'll pull it.
Sometimes if it's so glaringly obvious it's a good deal and the player can't see it I will push hard. But ultimately if they're not happy it won't work.
People have this idea of agents driving all over the country on transfer deadline day but it's not really like that. In this day and age with the technology available, that's a thing of the past.
What you have realise is there's a steady flow of transfers from when the window opens. On deadline day supporters think there are millions of pounds spent on millions of transfers. There are a few big deals, a lot of small ones, but a lot of agents will be sitting around doing nothing.
There are the best part of 250 FA-approved agents, if even 10 per cent were really busy I'd be surprised. I'd say there are a dozen agents that are actually at football clubs doing transfers. The reality is it's a job, and you're getting your job done.
An agent used to turn up with an accountant and a solicitor. Now there's no need. In all honesty, fewer people there on the day makes it move quicker and smoother. The paperwork is so standardised you don't need that. There's just tons of it.
I don't enjoy the transfer window, I don't like it and I don't know anyone in football who does. It's terrible. I preferred before when there wasn't one and I'd prefer to go back to how it was. Definitely. I don't think anyone would argue with that.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/footba ... z2dvbGUsrU
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Re: Odemwingie's deal as it happened-direct from his agent
Wed Sep 04, 2013 1:56 pm
Pretty intresting.
I'm sure this is the fella I saw being interview on SSN on Monday afternoon when I got in from work saying the deal had been done.
Glad Peter is a Cardiff player, looking forward to seeing him play for us.
I'm sure this is the fella I saw being interview on SSN on Monday afternoon when I got in from work saying the deal had been done.
Glad Peter is a Cardiff player, looking forward to seeing him play for us.
Re: Odemwingie's deal as it happened-direct from his agent
Thu Sep 05, 2013 10:30 am
Quote: " It works both ways. It can be clubs getting let down by players or players letting down clubs."
So both ways it's a player letting down a club? I am totally
So both ways it's a player letting down a club? I am totally
Re: Odemwingie's deal as it happened-direct from his agent
Thu Sep 05, 2013 11:37 am
McNaughtyButNice wrote:Quote: " It works both ways. It can be clubs getting let down by players or players letting down clubs."
So both ways it's a player letting down a club? I am totally
I think in fairness he meant players being let down by clubs although I'm not ITK but that's my opinion