It is interesting though because Anastasia seemed to be on the clubs side (as I would expect as the club went through them last night with their offer) but even he questioned the shopping him around and the effect that may have had on the relationship… the other journos were all placing blame with the club…
Chez has not come out of this smelling like roses but from my conversations with people today it is clear that most impartials (certainly all the ones I talk to anyways) feel the club screwed this up…
It's fairly easy to blame the Club and my posts last night weren't defending the Club nor were they "attacking" DCE, both parties, are in my considered opinion, at fault.
What grinds my gears is the carefully constructed narrative being perpetuated across the media mainly by those pro-DCE that the Club didn't respect him by offering him an offer, or that the Club insulted him by making him a "low-ball" offer.
The Club was told of a certain position by DCE and his agency and as late as pre-Christmas 2024 BOTH parties accepted that position.
In late January 2025 his agency and the football manager began discussions about the "possibility" of DCE continuing on however, and DCE had said this himself, he didn't wish to entertain staying at Manly as at the end of December 2024, he had made his mind up.
The Club was foolish enough and silly enough to believe that and are now paying the price for thinking that no-one else would come to the table.
Then again, perhaps the Club believed what they were told earlier in the negotiations about "where DCE was at in terms of playing on".
A question that has been running through my mind [is], why would the Club shop him around for the remaining year of his contract (2025) well before 1 November 2024 if the Club knew they weren't going to re-sign him before that date yet both parties have confirmed that "discussions" commenced at the end of the 2024 season?
If this was the case, we'd have heard about DCE being shopped around OR perhaps he was shopped around last year (as Braith Anasta leads us to believe) and at that time, there weren't too many suitors.
This entire saga has all the hallmarks for an episode of the Twilight zone.