Leeds release Seth Johnson

Kingp35

Leeds have released Seth Johnson fron the club. He leaves by mutual consent

http://www.leedsunited.com/article.asp?article=296636&blnFeedback=&Title=Statement:+Seth+Johnson+Released&navlid=newsroom

leedsunited.com wrote:

Seth Johnson has today reached agreement with Leeds United football Club to cancel his contract by mutual consent.

The player had 11 months to run on his existing contract which was signed in October 2001 when he joined the club from Derby County in a deal which cost the club £7.75m. The player made 59 appearances.

The player is now free to join any club of his choice and leaves with our best wishes for the future

Seth obviously didnt impress enough during pre-season to convince blackwell to keep him and have to pay the money due to Derby once Seth has made 60 appearances for the club. Its a good decision in that the club is saving money both on his fee to Derby and the ridiculous wages he is on but he would have been a decent squad player this season. Still I think it was better to get rid of him.

I have to say he is up there with some of the worst signings Leeds have made in recent years. To spend £7.75m on a player and only get 59 appearances out of him, let him go for free and have been paying him aaprox £40,000 a week is some serious bad management.

Probably better to let him go now though rather than have to pay his wages for the next 11 months plus his fee to Derby and then lose him anyway

ciaran76

I am not sure if this is true but will tell it anyhow.

I read that Seth Johnson and his agent went to Leeds and his agent said to him we will go in asking for £29k a week and hopefully they will get down to about £24-£25k.

So Johnson and his agent are sitting there with Risdale and someother person i cannot remember who and they say to Johnson agent "we are only going to offer you £40k a week and we go no higher".

Johnson's agent replies let me talk this over with my client first and leave the room , 10 mins they arrive back and tell Risdale they have decided to take the offer and sign !!!

smiaras

This post has been deleted.

Kingp35

smiaras wrote:

This post has been deleted.

This is totally untrue. It was only £20 a month for the fish so the grand total was £240 a year. Slightly less than €70,000 me thinks.

Here is an extract of an interview with Ken Bates that was in the observer last week. They printed some information about Leeds finances through those bad times and what they spent money on.

The Observer wrote:

£20 Monthly rent on Peter Ridsdale's office goldfish. The sum was among the figures revealed by new chairman Prof John McKenzie in April 2003 - figures that included details of private jets and company cars. 'If Leeds had been more prudent in the past,' said McKenzie, 'we could have carried on living the dream.'

To view the whole interview click here

The Seth Johnson story is true though im sad to say.

Jivin Turkey

To be fair to the lad he has plenty of time to get his career back on track. He is only 26. He was highly thought of before moving to Leeds, sure Derby even payed something like £3M for him themselves.

The Leeds thing wasnt going to work out, this was common knowledge two years ago. A fresh start with a reasonable contract :rolleyes: could see him doing well.

On a free transfer he is worth a gamble. Sam?

rovingrover

My understanding of the Seth Johnson story is as follows

On 12K at Derby and wanted 15K but didn't want to jeopordise the transfer.

Ridsdale breezed in and offered 30K per week to the agent whose stunned silence was taken as a refusal. 38K per week take it or leave my final offer was Ridsadale's response.

Kingp35

rovingrover wrote:

My understanding of the Seth Johnson story is as follows

On 12K at Derby and wanted 15K but didn't want to jeopordise the transfer.

Ridsdale breezed in and offered 30K per week to the agent whose stunned silence was taken as a refusal. 38K per week take it or leave my final offer was Ridsadale's response.

No the original post about it in this thread is the correct one. No chairman is that stupid to offer €30,000 and then a couple of seconds later offer €38,000. Seth took what he was offered straight out. I don't blame him anybody would have done the same.

Jivin Turkey wrote:

To be fair to the lad he has plenty of time to get his career back on track. He is only 26. He was highly thought of before moving to Leeds, sure Derby even payed something like £3M for him themselves.

The Leeds thing wasnt going to work out, this was common knowledge two years ago. A fresh start with a reasonable contract could see him doing well.

On a free transfer he is worth a gamble. Sam?

This is true that he does have planty of time to get back on track but he has been destroyed by injuries in the past two years and when he has played he has been very very poor. In Our relegation season Johnson played quite a few games near the end and he made very little difference. Also last season.
He has been playing at a very poor standard and that has really been the case for his entire Leeds career. If someone does come in and snap him up it will be a big gamble. Obviously his wage demands will be alot lower. He has the potential as everybody knows but can anyone get that potential out of him again, especially after the injuries he has suffered? Im not so sure

Keano_sli

Now if they can only get rid of Gary Kelly that will be the last of the big earners of the books, hes still getting £35,000 a week apparently, fair play to that man!

Villain

The reason was let go was because if he played one more game Leeds had to play Derby £250,000

Jivin Turkey

Kingp35 wrote:

This is true that he does have planty of time to get back on track but he has been destroyed by injuries in the past two years and when he has played he has been very very poor. In Our relegation season Johnson played quite a few games near the end and he made very little difference. Also last season.
He has been playing at a very poor standard and that has really been the case for his entire Leeds career. If someone does come in and snap him up it will be a big gamble. Obviously his wage demands will be alot lower. He has the potential as everybody knows but can anyone get that potential out of him again, especially after the injuries he has suffered? Im not so sure

Obviously it is a gamble, but I really feel the standard of his performances was down to the story of the transfer breaking and what had exactly happened. I mean its hardly motivating stuff for a player for fans to be laughing their asses off at how the transfer was handled even though it went in his favour.

He is a good player, and if he can prove his fitness is definitely worth a gamble. Big Sam or Harry Redknapp.

Kingp35

Jivin Turkey wrote:

He is a good player, and if he can prove his fitness is definitely worth a gamble. Big Sam or Harry Redknapp.

Harry Redknapp imo. I dont think he will cut it in the PL just yet as he has hardly played a game in two years. Needs to play and prove himself before going back to the PL

Zaph

Keano_sli wrote:

Now if they can only get rid of Gary Kelly that will be the last of the big earners of the books, hes still getting £35,000 a week apparently, fair play to that man!

Eirik Bakke is still there too, although there was arumour that Everton were interested in him. At least Kelly and Bakke put in sdome decent performances and tried to help the team, but Seth will always be one of the great transfer disaster stories. I have no idea what was going through O'Leary's mind when he first told Ridsdale he wanted to buy him, or Ridsdale's when he agreed to splash out that much on the transfer fee and salary. Blackwell has done well buying in players over the summer, but hopefully the savings on Seth will mean that there's another few bob in the kitty for a fee and wages if he needs to by a player during the season.

20 Times 20 Times

releasing seth has been waiting to happen for well over a year now thye offered him to every team for a fee at some stage with no one taking it up , he can get his career back on track now if he puts his head down ,
Eirik Bakke great player and leeds will do well to hold on to him for as long as they can

Kingp35

Sarge wrote:

releasing seth has been waiting to happen for well over a year now thye offered him to every team for a fee at some stage with no one taking it up , he can get his career back on track now if he puts his head down ,
Eirik Bakke great player and leeds will do well to hold on to him for as long as they can

I agree. Bakke has been top drawer during pre-season and he is a certainty to start against Millwall on Sunday. If he can re-claim the form he had two years ago he will be one of the best midfielders in the league. Im glad Leeds kept him because despite his high wages he has been very loyal to Leeds and has always said he wants to stay and play for the club. He is very dedicated and loves the club and thats what we need. He is also a very good player.

The same with Kelly. He is an above average right back in the championship and he is Leeds through and through. Im glad they kept him too. Its looking good for leeds next season especially since they have made some very good signings. I cant wait for Sunday to come.

Also Zaph is right. getting Seth off the wage bill will free up funds to buy another player if needed.

evilhomer

Kingp35 wrote:

No chairman is that stupid to offer €30,000 and then a couple of seconds later offer €38,000. Seth took what he was offered straight out. I don't blame him anybody would have done the same.

firstly Seth Johnson was on £35,000 a week. Source

And to say that Risdale isn't stupid enough to offer more money straight away is a joke. this is the chairman who got loans from banks based on future participation in the champions league!!!
He gambled with Leeds future and lost.

Kingp35

evilhomer wrote:

firstly Seth Johnson was on £35,000 a week. Source

And to say that Risdale isn't stupid enough to offer more money straight away is a joke. this is the chairman who got loans from banks based on future participation in the champions league!!!
He gambled with Leeds future and lost.

There is always going to be ridiculous rumours going around because of what happened to Leeds. Sure look at the one above in this thread that they spend €70,000 a year on gold fish!! It was only £240 a year. the average Joe would earn more than that in a week. Hardly breaking the bank.

Im just saying there are stupid rimours going around about what Leeds did, Fact is they offered Seth a deal and he took it straight off. There was no sudden increase because he sat there in shock or any other rubbish thats going around. Simply Ridsdale offered him a huge wage straight off and he accepted it.

Thats what happened and the otehr rumours are false

impr0v

Kelly and Bakke played well in the win against Millwall at the weekend. The quality of Kelly's final ball was poor but he was positive and aggressive in his runs forward, and Bakke won the penalty for Healy's second, also contributing a lot defensively at set pieces. Leeds had a few bright periods but were unconvincing overall, though it would obviously be unfair to judge them on the first match of the season. New signing Robbie Blake was very quiet up front, but Healy was more than willing to put in the work and looks well up for the new season.