This piece originally appeared on one of the
Luton Town websites. Unfortunately, I don’t know which. It subsequently turned up on
the Burnley E-mail group. It provides another perspective on the Steve Davis transfer.
David Kohler on the Steve Davis transfer
Interview from Luton Town FC. Clubcall: 0891 121 123
The Chairman on the day of the sale and his
instant reaction:
Unfortunately the sale of Steve Davis today in my book,
you know, puts a bad feeling on it. I’m sure the fans are not happy and neither am I
but we were faced with a set of circumstances that were difficult for us to deal with.
A case then where it wasn’t selling to make the
money, it was a reluctant sale?
No - we needed the money, I’m not saying we
didn’t need the money. Reluctant certainly - he was the last person we would like to
have sold or even considered selling but the fact of the matter is that Steve himself
wanted to go for his own reasons to Burnley. If you remember there was press speculation
at the end of the last season and throughout the summer and at the beginning of this
season about it. I’m not going to accuse Burnley of tapping him up but certain
conversations were had and Steve made it plain to us for a number of weeks that he wishes
to go to Burnley. We did discuss with another club that had expressed an interest, you
know, would he like to stay until the summer but he was always adamant that Burnley was
where he wanted to go on as soon as that could be done.
Well, Stan Ternent [Burnley manager] admitted he had been
after him for a long time. I remember the time that you were not best pleased with the
reports coming out ‘cause they hadn’t made a bid then, had they?
Correct and I’m sorry that they made a bid now to be
honest. But, you know, you have to look at the facts and sometimes, as the Chairman of a
football club, you end up making difficult decisions that you don’t want to with your
heart. But the business side of it is that, you’ve got a footballer that cost the
club £750000, that somebody’s prepared to give you more than that back. He’s
now over 30 and when his contract is finished at this club, he’s a free transfer. So
you’ve got to weigh all those factors plus the fact that he actually wants to go. And
in fairness to Steve every time he’s played for us gave 200% and was an outstanding
player. You know, his heart was somewhere else.
Do you think he was unsettled then by the talk of coming
from Burnley then?
Off the pitch I think he was upset and unsettled because
I know he’s had a number of conversations with the manager. On the pitch I think his
performances were impeccable. So you know I don’t think anyone could deny him that
and I think he was a model professional. However, you know, he was desperately unhappy and
wanted to go back to Burnley.
Are you at liberty to tell us why because they’re
below us in the league aren’t they?
Well personal reasons I’m not at liberty to tell you
because I think that would not be fair and I think that would be breaching confidences.
But suffice to say that it’s a former club of his and, for his own personal reasons,
that is where he wanted to go and was adamant (because other clubs, as I said, had
expressed an interest) that was the only club he was going to go.
So I should think yourself and Lennie, you know, had a
long hard think about it?
Well, me, Lennie and the Board. I mean, you know, Lennie
didn’t want him to go but Lennie’s a professional manager, he’s been around
long enough, he’s seen this set of circumstances before - and what you’ve got to
do is deal with it, get the best price you can and I think, you know, for a 30 year old. I
know the fans will always say you’ve under-sold him because that’s what they
always do . But, you know, I don’t know of any 2nd Division club selling a player to
another 2nd Division club at 30 years old for that sort of money.
Lennie said the other day it’s a diminishing market
at this level...
Well there’s no money - we’re all going skint,
You know, the minute the game and the fans realise that the economics of football just
means you lose a lot of money, the sooner for everybody. You know Steve Davis is a player
I wouldn’t like to go but the money is desperately needed for us.
But you’re not too happy about Burnley’s
approach as it were?
No, not too happy but at the end of the day we’re in
the real world - these things happen. Of course I’m not happy but they happen and to
say they don’t happen would be not telling the truth but when they do happen you have
to deal with it throughout life.
What about the timing of it David - was it just a case
where you thought it’s getting too close for comfort with the Bosman at 18 months
away?
It’s never the right time for these sort of things
but Steve was getting increasingly frustrated that he couldn’t be where he wanted to
be. Unfortunately I wouldn’t say player-power or whatever but he made it quite clear
he wanted to go so at some time you’ve got to react to that.
So the fans have to understand that you haven’t
pushed him out the door...
Absolutely, I wouldn’t want to. We’re now
talking at ten-to-five on Wednesday afternoon - he actually hasn’t signed yet because
we haven’t signed the papers to allow him to go and if he rings me up and says
‘I’ve made a bit mistake, can I come back?’ we’d welcome him with open
arms.
What were his words to you about leaving?
I haven’t actually spoken to him direct. I will do
and wish him well ‘cause that’s the sort of person I am. But I know he’s
spoken to Lennie on a number of occasions and his heart wasn’t here. As a
professional he played great for us but, at the end of the day, he didn’t want to be
here.
Yeah, he’s a northern lad isn’t he and I suppose
that’s…
There is a life for a footballer off the pitch as well as
on it and I suppose, from his point of view, he could deliver the goods on the pitch. But
if his quality of life isn’t what he wants off the pitch then he is going to do
something about it, as anybody would.
What will happen with the money then, I mean obviously
there are debts to be paid?
We’ve got loans that need to be repaid, not getting
planning permission is a huge blow, and financially it means we’ve crystallised a
number of situations, so I’ve been adding a loop to that I’ve been living with
this for a long time. But we do lose money, we’ve managed to keep the boat steady,
but now there always comes a time when you’ve got to pay back what you owe.
Obvious question though - can any of that money be used to
replace Steve?
Of course we’re looking to get players in. What I
can assure you that we won’t be spending £750000 on a replacement but we’ll
have to see what we can get.
But he’ll be hard to replace obviously won’t
he...
I know but let’s not try and look for another Steve
Davis. You know we might need another centre-back and Steve Davis’s - there
aren’t many around. But he is 30 years old and maybe he’s not reached his peak,
maybe he has reached his peak I don’t know, time will tell. You may look back and say
well that was a good sale ‘cause you sold him at the right time.
In the circumstance of a reluctant sale, the money
isn’t a bad fee for him?
It had to be somewhere in that order to make me
reluctantly agree to let him go, and what I wasn’t prepared to do was for the club
lose out on what they originally paid for him three-and-a -half years ago which was over
the odds at the time, (as you remember it went to a tribunal and my own perception was
because of the way Burnley acted they got more that they had wanted) but again that’s
water under the bridge, that’s the real world, I learnt a sharp lesson there, and I
won’t need to learn that one again. But you learn it. But then you look at a player
who you have £750000 invested in and you think "hang on", do you allow this to
go to nothing when actually the player is saying he doesn’t want to be here.
So there was no questioning his commitment on the field
was there?
No, I wouldn’t question that. He was a model
professional and you know his performances have all been excellent.
So presumably Lennie’s working hard to gear all the
players up for the weekend?
Yeah, well that’s the managers job. He has to get
on. As I say, this is the real world, Lennie’s been there before, as have the other
coaches, as indeed have most of the players. They’re all professionals here and we
have a business to run and a professional football club to run and we will get on and deal
with it. I know some of the fans are not going to be happy with it there going to say,
‘here we go again’, but other fans will understand the difficulties that we have
trying to run a football club in the climate of Bosman, in the climate of not generating
enough money to even get anywhere near break-even let alone make that darstedly word
called ‘profit’.
Can you say what sort of money would be available to
replace him?
Let’s not give any secrets away ‘cause other
football clubs listen to your clubcall. We are looking to replace him, we won’t be
spending £750000, we would like to strengthen the squad in as many areas as possible.
Well presumably this takes a little pressure off selling
one of the youngsters, does it?
We don’t want to sell anybody and, you know,
I’m not going to comment on the youngsters. I’d like the youngsters to start
performing like they did at the beginning of the season. We’ve had a dip in
performances and I think we need to apply ourselves. Maybe this will crystalise some of
the other players thinking ‘we’ve got to roll our selves up and we’ve all
got to give 200%’.
Yeah, it’s about how the other players respond now
isn’t it?
Absolutely, they’re professionals, they get paid,
let’s go and see what they’re made of.
December-January
1998-99
Steve Davis tribute
