Bullshit Ben

If you go back to when this sorry saga began (3 windows) it never felt right as it appeared we were almost begging him to sign for us as if he was the burning martyr! It’s obvious (to me anyway) he didn’t want to come and play for us and I’ve never got that excited about it, so we move on and get the right players in who really want to be here!
I don’t disagree with that, but that should then raise a big red flag as to why our ‘recruitment team’ kept going back?

Which is my whole issue & has been for a while.

We could’ve established all this in January.
 
I don’t disagree with that, but that should then raise a big red flag as to why our ‘recruitment team’ kept going back?

Which is my whole issue & has been for a while.

We could’ve established all this in January.
Exactly AK! l find it embarrassing that we’ve been begging almost groveling to sign a L1 player who obviously lacks ambition and has been lured by money driven by the greed of his agent. That’s football but we move on and fuck to him, his loss!
 
Clearly something isn’t right, Critchley‘s sudden exit, Bishop and Brannigan both doing U turns. So what’s it? We’re a club with a great owner, we’re in the championship, we’ve just announced massive investment in infrastructure, we have fantastic fans and a new manager keen to make his mark. I’m sure Simon will want some answers.
Simms
 
I don’t disagree with that, but that should then raise a big red flag as to why our ‘recruitment team’ kept going back?

Which is my whole issue & has been for a while.

We could’ve established all this in January.
Lessons definitely need to be learned, must've wasted hours on this none deal.
We are told that they have lists of targets so move on to number two but make sure there is a very good chance he wants to come here and get the deals done quicker.
If the deal can't be done relatively quickly then either we can't afford them or they don't want to come. Doesn't seem that complex really!!
 
Lessons definitely need to be learned, must've wasted hours on this none deal.
We are told that they have lists of targets so move on to number two but make sure there is a very good chance he wants to come here and get the deals done quicker.
If the deal can't be done relatively quickly then either we can't afford them or they don't want to come. Doesn't seem that complex really!!
I’m trying to work it out but I have no knowledge of the situation bar from what I’ve read which will never be the actual truth.

I would like to ask though, why did we wait till 2 days before the season started to trigger his release clause 🤷🏻‍♂️
 
I’m trying to work it out but I have no knowledge of the situation bar from what I’ve read which will never be the actual truth.

I would like to ask though, why did we wait till 2 days before the season started to trigger his release clause 🤷🏻‍♂️
Did we ever really want to sign him ? Did the club just want to look interested to quell the fans unrest ? We don’t know anything.
 
All about wages we simply don't offer enough the players and agents aren't daft they know that many in this league are around the 10k a week and more so if Brannighan was on 4 now on 8 your going to have to offer him 12 to consider it, all this playing in a league above is crap what's in the bank account and if your happy what matters.
 
Did we ever really want to sign him ? Did the club just want to look interested to quell the fans unrest ? We don’t know anything.
It’s only my opinion, but I think they’ve decided to go in for him this week after a summer of fiddling about and on the back of missing out on Simms. This was the signing to get everyone buzzing again they thought… and it did for about 14 hours till he decided to stay where he was.

Which makes me think our transfer search is somewhat ego driven.
 
Think we have all forgot that we offered an amount to sign him twice and the offers were turned down ,this time we offered the release cluase so he chose to speak to us ,he then spoke to his club oxford who then offered him a new contract on whatever terms and he chose to stay with them not clubs fault ,and it was leaked to the press from the oxford end not ours ,at the end of the day to me it seems like he is happy living in the oxford area and settled so chose not to move and also a lack of ambition on his part,onwards and upwards.
 
If that’s the case then, our terms must be worse than Oxford and the carrot of Championship football wasn’t enough, which is a problem.

You can’t say anything other than the whole Cameron Brannagan situation has been a farce. If we knew the release clause in January we should’ve gone to it there and then, fucked off buying Owen Dale permanently and smoked out him & his agent there and then.

Mansford was an Agent wasn’t he. Can see why he’s not now 🫣
Why must our terms be worse? He has a life outside of football in Oxford that he is clearly happy and content with and seems to love being at Oxford United. Fans need to accept the fact that players sometimes choose not to move because they are happy and settled where they are and money etc does not come into it. This assumption by some in the fan base that the club fucked up because we did not sign player X - did not offer enough money in wages or fee etc - because he did not sign is utter nonsense. Players are human beings and have lives like everyone else - kids/ partners for example and sometimes their work like balance means they decide to stay where they are. As for why we did not trigger the clause earlier there could be any number of reasons - the budget was not there, we were also looking at other players who were going to cost fees etc who knows but I trust SS and the club that there would have been a good reason - fans have no divine right to be privy to every detail of a move or what goes on behind the scenes.
 
Think we have all forgot that we offered an amount to sign him twice and the offers were turned down ,this time we offered the release cluase so he chose to speak to us ,he then spoke to his club oxford who then offered him a new contract on whatever terms and he chose to stay with them not clubs fault ,and it was leaked to the press from the oxford end not ours ,at the end of the day to me it seems like he is happy living in the oxford area and settled so chose not to move and also a lack of ambition on his part,onwards and upwards.
Spot on
 
I don’t disagree with that, but that should then raise a big red flag as to why our ‘recruitment team’ kept going back?

Which is my whole issue & has been for a while.

We could’ve established all this in January.
Think Brannagan and his agent may very well have led the club on to get more money one way or another from either us or (preferably in their eyes) Oxford.

Yes, the club look like daft idiots now for going along with it, but they would have been daft not to at least try though.

The club can't read intentions so if there is a good player whose agent is saying they want a move then they go in for them, and if it turns out that the club were being used then there's really nothing they can do about it. Would rather they do their best to try and sign players they think will improve the team instead of trying to ascertain intentions.
 
Why must our terms be worse? He has a life outside of football in Oxford that he is clearly happy and content with and seems to love being at Oxford United. Fans need to accept the fact that players sometimes choose not to move because they are happy and settled where they are and money etc does not come into it. This assumption by some in the fan base that the club fucked up because we did not sign player X - did not offer enough money in wages or fee etc - because he did not sign is utter nonsense. Players are human beings and have lives like everyone else - kids/ partners for example and sometimes their work like balance means they decide to stay where they are. As for why we did not trigger the clause earlier there could be any number of reasons - the budget was not there, we were also looking at other players who were going to cost fees etc who knows but I trust SS and the club that there would have been a good reason - fans have no divine right to be privy to every detail of a move or what goes on behind the scenes.
I’m not in charge of our recruitment, but the people that are have thought that they could get CB three times. So by your logic, they should have read your opening paragraph and saved themselves lots of time, energy and face by not pursuing him- 3 times.

So why was the budget there this week? But not before 😂🤷🏻‍♂️ Cmon. I get you want to defend the Club but let’s not chat shite.

I trust SS 👍🏼

Not sure about another character who’s pulling the strings, decent steward though.
 
If a footballer is happy at a club and living in a part of the country he likes unless you offer him a relatively mind boggling amount of money then they probably don't care if its league one or a mid/bottom half of the table championship club they play for.
Let's be honest there won't be many people living in Oxfordshire who would move to Blackpool for similar money.
 
I find it strange that if a transfer breaks down the default for some is that its our boards fault and our clubs fault. This doesn't just happen to us, it happens all the time to all clubs. CB used our offer to hold Oxford up and he's got them to break their wage structure and offer him a lot more to stay.
For our part in it, nobody knows what wage we offerred but Id imagine it was a good package and was within our own wage structure and if that's not good enough for someone then that's just tough and we move on. I think it's pretty clear though that CB had no real intention of coming here and used us.
If you look at this objectively, the result isn't great for Oxford as theyre now over committed in wages with a huge weekly outlay on one player which will spiral to others whilst still in LG1, its not good for us as we look naive so there's only one winner and that's the agent and CB as they got all they wanted.
Hardly the first club a player has done it to though.
 
  • Like
Reactions: ste
I’m not in charge of our recruitment, but the people that are have thought that they could get CB three times. So by your logic, they should have read your opening paragraph and saved themselves lots of time, energy and face by not pursuing him- 3 times.

So why was the budget there this week? But not before 😂🤷🏻‍♂️ Cmon. I get you want to defend the Club but let’s not chat shite.

I trust SS 👍🏼

Not sure about another character who’s pulling the strings, decent steward though.
It’s not about talking shite it’s about fact - SS has said the playing budget is bigger this season than last ergo we have more money this year than last which is possibly (probably)why we did not/could not meet the release clause earlier. The reason we kept going for him in previous windows is simple really :-

A. He is a quality player and we as a club are all about signing the best quality player we can.
B. It seems the club were given encouragement that he wanted to come - don’t forget CB could have come out and said at any time that he did not want to come and wanted to stay at Oxford but he did not.
 
It’s not about talking shite it’s about fact - SS has said the playing budget is bigger than last ergo we have more money this year than last possible why we did not/could not meet the release clause earlier. The reason we kept going for him in previous windows is simple really /-

A. He is a quality player and we as a club are all about signing the best quality player we can.
B. It seems the club were given encouragement that he wanted to come - don’t forget CB could have come out and said at any time that he did not want to come and wanted to stay at Oxford but he did not.
It wasn’t SS who said that it was Ben Mansford.

Which, given his track record of talking bollocks I wouldn’t get too excited about. There are lots of examples of this too,

I get what you’re saying btw, i’m buzzing we’ve bid over a million for a player, tried our best to get Ellis Simms with the package etc & showing ambition. It’s great to be in the mix.

But, when all he said and done, it’s not just about showing it with offers and bids, we have to secure it.
 
There definately seems to be a massive problem with those responsible for recruiting new players. Needs sorting out as this can’t go on. Embarrassing not being able to sign league one players
Well said @michellebutterflyhotel - if it was one player then fair enough but this is too much of a regular occurrence not to be down to Mansford - probably why it made the decision for Critch to leave that bit easier.
 
It’s mad how people slag Phil off more than pepper at the Club.

Ego wise nobody will eclipse Bullshit Ben. Numerous examples of it.
I honestly haven’t seen examples of Mansford having an ego.

I understand people questioning his role and performance when we’ve missed out on targets, that’s fair enough. I think calling him ‘Bullshit Ben’, taking pops at his appearance, and questioning his integrity are a bit harsh.

As for Phil, I get the impression he can look after himself and doesn’t need you to come running to his aid every time someone calls him out. He’s deliberately abrasive and I think he revels in it.
 
So, He prefers a garden pond to a higher placed club with a larger pond called the sea on his doorstep.

Tough, one loser and it aint us.

We move on.
 
It wasn’t SS who said that it was Ben Mansford.

Which, given his track record of talking bollocks I wouldn’t get too excited about. There are lots of examples of this too,

I get what you’re saying btw, i’m buzzing we’ve bid over a million for a player, tried our best to get Ellis Simms with the package etc & showing ambition. It’s great to be in the mix.

But, when all he said and done, it’s not just about showing it with offers and bids, we have to secure it.
I agree with you all I am saying is that often there are lots of other factors that can scupper a move outside of our or any clubs control. It’s not as simple to sign a player based on wages/club ambition alone - certainely at this level
 
I honestly haven’t seen examples of Mansford having an ego.

I understand people questioning his role and performance when we’ve missed out on targets, that’s fair enough. I think calling him ‘Bullshit Ben’, taking pops at his appearance, and questioning his integrity are a bit harsh.

As for Phil, I get the impression he can look after himself and doesn’t need you to come running to his aid every time someone calls him out. He’s deliberately abrasive and I think he revels in it.
There’s a few where Ben M is concerned, but then that’s my opinion on it from stuff I’ve clocked and seen and a few I’ve been told. The stewarding at Southport was the latest but all the ‘Hecky’ and ‘Critch’ stuff was cringe but he learnt because when NC bailed he only referred to him as Neil.

Phil doesn’t need me I agree, but my point still stands on it. It’s more important for some to criticise people on a message board than think about the possibility of the problem at the Club.
 
I find it strange that if a transfer breaks down the default for some is that its our boards fault and our clubs fault. This doesn't just happen to us, it happens all the time to all clubs. CB used our offer to hold Oxford up and he's got them to break their wage structure and offer him a lot more to stay.
For our part in it, nobody knows what wage we offerred but Id imagine it was a good package and was within our own wage structure and if that's not good enough for someone then that's just tough and we move on. I think it's pretty clear though that CB had no real intention of coming here and used us.
If you look at this objectively, the result isn't great for Oxford as theyre now over committed in wages with a huge weekly outlay on one player which will spiral to others whilst still in LG1, its not good for us as we look naive so there's only one winner and that's the agent and CB as they got all they wanted.
Hardly the first club a player has done it to though.
Agree with all that but why let it drag on for 3 transfer windows!!
 
Agree with all that but why let it drag on for 3 transfer windows!!
Prev times we haven't met his release this time we did and he used us. Id question the club if we did it again with him now he has rejected us rather than Oxford. You've gotta think we were given the nod from his agent though to instigate it all.
 
From Critchley's resignation, and you'd be blind to not see there was so much more to that story - I still reckon what I was told from someone at the club that it was Critch who made the first move to Gerrard *Factamundo, to all these summer botched deals to everything else that is going on at the club, Bullshit Ben (love that @Philbfctrois) is at the centre of it all.
Sadler is a shrewd man, and no one has criticised him in all of this despite some implying it, and he would be wise to get another pair of eyes in the club to see what this bloke is up to.
 
Prev times we haven't met his release this time we did and he used us. Id question the club if we did it again with him now he has rejected us rather than Oxford. You've gotta think we were given the nod from his agent though to instigate it all.
We'll probably never know!
 
I don't know either of Mansford, or Stephenson. However, if part of their salary is organising the transfer policy then something is wrong.
 
There’s a few where Ben M is concerned, but then that’s my opinion on it from stuff I’ve clocked and seen and a few I’ve been told. The stewarding at Southport was the latest but all the ‘Hecky’ and ‘Critch’ stuff was cringe but he learnt because when NC bailed he only referred to him as Neil.

Phil doesn’t need me I agree, but my point still stands on it. It’s more important for some to criticise people on a message board than think about the possibility of the problem at the Club.
I don’t think that applies to me to be honest, I just say what I see and have no agenda against anyone.

The fact is that nobody knows feck all about the inner workings of the club and what has happened with these deals.

And to be honest mate, I don’t think Phil gives a shit what I think and I don’t really give a shit what you think so it’s all a bit pointless anyway.
 
I don’t think that applies to me to be honest, I just say what I see and have no agenda against anyone.

The fact is that nobody knows feck all about the inner workings of the club and what has happened with these deals.

And to be honest mate, I don’t think Phil gives a shit what I think and I don’t really give a shit what you think so it’s all a bit pointless anyway.
It’s only a message board, you can’t ever take it seriously on here 🤣
 
I don’t disagree with that, but that should then raise a big red flag as to why our ‘recruitment team’ kept going back?

Which is my whole issue & has been for a while.

We could’ve established all this in January.
I think this is a fair point….

Whatever the reasons he hasn’t come (and it seems most likely that he’s just settled in that area with his family)… Why have we focused on him whilst at the same time appearing to have no alternative targets?

Hopefully we have other options..
 
Oh this point which is a key one, do you think that the buying Club could have established this one prior to spending 3 transfer windows trying to get him 🙄
Now that is naive. The buying club has rules to follow, it can’t ‘ask’ the player without making a formal approach. Previously we’ve been unwilling to pay the release clause, but this time we were. At that point we find the player had no intention of joining us. He just wanted more money at Oxford. This happens widely in professional life, not just football.
 
I think this is a fair point….

Whatever the reasons he hasn’t come (and it seems most likely that he’s just settled in that area with his family)… Why have we focused on him whilst at the same time appearing to have no alternative targets?

Hopefully we have other options..
This is the key thing and something people are missing.

I’m under no illusions that players don’t agree terms, better offers etc.

I just thought after 3 windows the work on him actually signing would have been in place.

The more I think about it though, going for him this week doesn’t seem right.
 
Now that is naive. The buying club has rules to follow, it can’t ‘ask’ the player without making a formal approach. Previously we’ve been unwilling to pay the release clause, but this time we were. At that point we find the player had no intention of joining us. He just wanted more money at Oxford. This happens widely in professional life, not just football.
If you don’t think the Clubs/Agents don’t talk to players/Managers before they approach their Clubs then calling me naive is a funny one.

You remember how Critchley left don’t you? It was only 8 weeks or so ago. Just to remind you, Gerrard rang him up. Or do you think Villa just called the Club 1st and said “is it ok if Stevie sends your manager a Whats App?” 🙈
 
Last edited:
If you don’t think the Clubs/Agents don’t talk to players/Managers before they approach their Clubs then calling me naive is a funny one.

You remember how Critchley left don’t you? It was only 8 weeks or so ago. Just to remind you, Gerrard rang him up. Or do you think Villa just called the Club 1st and said “is it ok if Stevie sends your manager a What App?” 🙈

Really good points AK and you've made me reveiew my original thinking on it.
 
If players are happy where they are, or prefer other places to live, then not a lot the club can do. Players are not always going to choose us, even if we've offered the higher wage. We are biased, but I am sure lots of players prefer other locations in the country.

Then why travel all the way up to Blackpool in the first place?

He's a North West lad so he'll have been here before.
 
If you don’t think the Clubs/Agents don’t talk to players/Managers before they approach their Clubs then calling me naive is a funny one.

You remember how Critchley left don’t you? It was only 8 weeks or so ago. Just to remind you, Gerrard rang him up. Or do you think Villa just called the Club 1st and said “is it ok if Stevie sends your manager a What App?” 🙈
I do know AK, been involved in the discussions in the past.

Of course talks happen, but illegal approaches lead to additional costs / fines / reputational damage. We’ve done this the right way, and the player has just used our interest as leverage to get a better deal at Oxford. It would be more worrying had another club come in and stolen the deal, but they didn’t. Fact is the lad wants to be a big fish at Oxford and they’re paying over the odds for it. At some point they will regret that.
 
It just reminds me of the Oyston years, we put in bids of 2 million for the likes of Charlie Austin, Mame Byram Diouff and Luke McCormack, offer shit wages with no intention of signing and then say we'll we tried. The money never ended up getting spent, I wonder if we'll make a serious effort to sign Rodgers from City or will it just get forgotten.
 
This is the key thing and something people are missing.

I’m under no illusions that players don’t agree terms, better offers etc.

I just thought after 3 windows the work on him actually signing would have been in place.

The more I think about it though, going for him this week doesn’t seem right.
I think this may be where ‘doing it the right way’ sees you come unstuck.

It feels to me like this week was the first time we’ve actually spoken directly to the player. So we’ve likely had his agent chipping away in our ear and conducted the conversations through him… Then we’ve activated the clause and essentially helped him get his contract with Oxford over the line…

Had we spoken directly (or maybe sone a bit more digging), then perhaps we might have got more of a sense of where the player stood.

Obviously it’s all supposition, but it does feel like we’ve wasted a lot of time chasing this bloke up a blind alley.
 
I do know AK, been involved in the discussions in the past.

Of course talks happen, but illegal approaches lead to additional costs / fines / reputational damage. We’ve done this the right way, and the player has just used our interest as leverage to get a better deal at Oxford. It would be more worrying had another club come in and stolen the deal, but they didn’t. Fact is the lad wants to be a big fish at Oxford and they’re paying over the odds for it. At some point they will regret that.
So it’s not naive then? “Of course talks happen”… yep of course they do 👍🏼

That’s a good 360.

If you’ve been in discussions before you should know 😁 illegal approaches/fines are few and far between. It’s the way of the world.
 
These type of situations happen all the time in football, players will always try to get the best deal they can for themselves and who can blame them, as football is a very short career. I was very surprised with all the advance publicity that no other team matched Blackpool’s offer. BFC said nothing as the transfer was never completed. Anybody would think reading this Board that Cameron Brannigan was the new Blackpool MessIah and a proven player at Championship level when the truth is he is a Div 1 player with potential. Let’s move on whilst remembering that Brannigan has chosen to remain in his comfort zone at Oxford as a Div 1 player and has shown no ambition to test himself at Championship level.
 
Back
Top