I agree with all of that apart from this bit because I don't think we could, depending upon your definition of 11th hour. There was the the Memorandum of Understanding, was there not, that basically **** us. If the word is true it would have cost us 5m to break the deal. I suppose the argument could go is that we should have done that and taken circa 20m for Milner.
Hindsight is a wonderful thing in this regard, I suppose. If we had accepted £20m for Milner, having held out for £25m+ all summer, fans would have been in uproar. Especially if we had done this the week after MON resigned.
It would have given the impression that MON left because we were prepared to let Milner go for £5m less than the price MON had demanded for him.
Was the price ever confirmed beforehand or was it just press prices? My understanding is we got 18m plus Ireland but that was, if true, the MOU deal. As you say hindsight is a wonderful thing but with the benefit of it I think many of us would have taken the 20m for Milner and not had the Ireland problem. Big earner on a long contract who hasn't fitted in. This is from someone who actually wanted him, BTW!