Zana BadawiUke Jason Roberts has cost us no more money than was originally budgeted for when we signed his contract.
In fact he will have cost less as there would be no bonus payments for wins, goals or appearances.
Both sides have honoured their contracts.
That is all
As for the other side of the argument, I believe the club should have considered suing him.
If the injury is real, which lets face it, it isn't - then it is his responsibility as a professional athlete to recover from that injury. The evidence against him is Jem Karacan who has recovered from a leg break in the meantime (only for it to happen again). Jason Roberts has access to the sort of medical treatment and physiotherapy that we don't, so he really should be recovering. If he can't recover then it is also his responsibilty to ensure that he is in at least part insured against his contract. We should have sued him for that part of his insurance, and paid him off the rest - saving us money in the long run. I say 'should have' as it all seems a bit late in the day now.
Quite why we haven't taken JR to task and forced the issue is the mystery. No-one believed the 'he'll be back in six weeks' news we would sporadically get, and now the OS has stopped issuing the updates altogether. We know this is a busted flush, have known for quite some time, and the club have done nothing to protect themselves from what is happening. To defend JR when he is being paid simultaneously by another employer is defending the indefensible.
And surely there must be some disquiet amongst the other players who do actually earn their wages - especially those earning less than him. We have to prioritise their motivation. I see absolutely no benefit in keeping JR at the club.
What utter drivel.
