Jez Posted January 18, 2011 Share Posted January 18, 2011 Revealed: The real reason Sunderland are prepared to let top-scorer Darren Bent leave for Villa By Simon Bird in Published 23:00 17/01/11 Niall Quinn has kept a letter he discovered in a drawer at the Stadium of Light the day he took over as chairman, which partly explains why he will reluctantly sanction a huge gamble.... and sell Darren Bent. It is an official bid lodged for former star Kevin Phillips, stating, coincidentally, Aston Villa would pay £16 million for the then England striker. His predecessor Bob Murray resisted the cash. A year later, amid the financial wreckage of relegation, Phillips was flogged for just £1 million. Newly installed Quinn left to contemplate the potential cash windfall lost. The lessons learned? Sell at peak value. Sell at a time of relative strength, especially if he wants to go and his form has slightly waned. Then move on swiftly, and rebuild. Bruce and chairman Niall Quinn now face a defining moment. It is reminiscent of the day Kevin Keegan stunned football by selling top scorer Andy Cole to Manchester United. Famously Keegan stood on the St James' Park steps and justified the decision to angry fans. There were no angry fans at the Stadium of Light last night, but plenty are bemused, confused and at a loss why Bent is on his way. There is a discrepancy between Bent and Sunderland over who triggered the sensational surprise deal. Who to blame? Bent for disloyalty, amid claims he has wanted to leave for months? Sunderland for lacking ambition? Villa for such an inflated bid? What came first, the transfer request, or the Villa bidding that is too much to turn down? It does not alter the fact that if the club didn't want to sell, they could have strongly rebuffed the Villa bid or turned down a transfer request (as they did four times with Phillips). Quinn and Bruce have chosen to take the cash. They are still haggling to push up the £18 million initial bid nearer to a straight £24 million. It is the duo's biggest gamble yet. How the cash is now reinvested will define Bruce's reign. Targets like Stewart Downing and loanee Danny Welbeck are out of reach, the club believe, and Bruce has again insisted a cut-price Michael Owen is still not an option. So what has caused Bent's exit from a club chasing Europe and a record high Premier League finish to one fighting relegation? Especially after he immersed himself so passionately in North East life, and engaged closely with the Wearside fans? And how do you replace a proven marksman who scored 36 in 62 games? He was courted in the summer by Turkish giants Fenerbahce. Discovering that Sunderland would have sold him then, if a big enough bid had come in, must have been unsettling for a striker who, more than anything, wants to be wanted and loved. News of Fenerbahce's offer could have been enough to trigger a new contract offer, but no talks happened. Bent, 26, was prolific in his first season at Sunderland, netting 25 times. His tally of 81 goals in the league since August 2005 has only been bettered by Didier Drogba and Wayner Rooney both on 82. Villa are buying - and Sunderland losing - proven class. But despite scoring an impressive 11 this term, he hasn't been on top ruthless form. Bruce has expressed growing frustration on the touchline at missed chances, of which there have been many in the last month. His partnership with new record signing Asamoah Gyan hasn't gelled. Generally he's been a little off key, by his own very high standards, and looked distracted, with two goals in his last nine games, including a penalty. Earlier this month he expressed his dismay at criticism dished out by "so-called Sunderland fans" on one of the more extreme internet message boards. In December his car was attacked with bottles thrown in Newcastle city centre on a shopping trip with friends, an unsavoury spilling over of local rivalries that Sunderland players living on Tyneside have to wary of. It hardly adds up to one big fall out, but they are small issued that could put doubt in a players mind over his future. Bent can leave with his head held high over a job well done at Sunderland even if he will suffer abuse for walking away to a rival. Of course in football there is one word that dominated any dissection of hows and whys of a transfer. A pile of cash has tempted Sunderland. And the pay-rise and long contract Bent is likely to earn from his switch has opened up his eyes to a new challenge. Loyalty and stability come a wayward second to money in the mad, desperate, inflated January transfer market. Clicky Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fran_villa Posted January 18, 2011 Share Posted January 18, 2011 Could this mean that we have no summer budget, or do people think that its what we should and could hve spent last summer??. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dudevillaisnice Posted January 18, 2011 Author Share Posted January 18, 2011 Anyone else amazed at how the media are reporting this?! You'd have thought that it was West Brom signing him, all the shock and questions about why he would join Villa. Kevin Phillips is now in on the act. I know there's a debate on here about how far away we are from Spurs in terms of size of club, but please don't tell me there's any doubt that we're bigger than Sunderland?! We've had a bad half season, but we'll be back, and Bent knows that. Simple as. Yes, the london bias news reporters are well cheesed off with this deal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theunderstudy Posted January 18, 2011 Share Posted January 18, 2011 I'll donate a bit as well Shillzz. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stringy Posted January 18, 2011 Share Posted January 18, 2011 Bent will be a massive shirt seller. You'd put "Bent" on the back of your shirt, would you? Everyone does realise that having the name of a footballer that just happens to be "Bent" on the back of the football team's shirt that he happens to play for doesn't actually mean that you're gay right? Just checking... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jat_r Posted January 18, 2011 Share Posted January 18, 2011 Hopefully. I reckon Makoun's Jumper should be a mandatory item for our new signings. I think Makoun's jumper should become our 3rd kit to be fair. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fran_villa Posted January 18, 2011 Share Posted January 18, 2011 Apologies if this has already been picked up on, but the General's son on H&V last night said that everything was in place and signed, and that they just needed to register the paper work with the Premier League this morning. Would that make him free and available for the Man City game? Im guessing it would.I think once the pape wok is in by friday mid day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dudevillaisnice Posted January 18, 2011 Author Share Posted January 18, 2011 Bent can leave with his head held high over a job well done at Sunderland even if he will suffer abuse for walking away to a rival. I agree with this.. I hate this racial abuse stuff he gets though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jat_r Posted January 18, 2011 Share Posted January 18, 2011 Bent can leave with his head held high over a job well done at Sunderland even if he will suffer abuse for walking away to a rival. I agree with this.. I hate this racial abuse stuff he gets though. To be fair if some people racially abused my mother and then smashed my car up I would want to leave there too! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seat68 Posted January 18, 2011 Share Posted January 18, 2011 What is riling me over this deal is supporters, not just Sunderland supporters, but supporters of all teams have this tiny frame of memory and think that the glitch, the blip we are in that see’s us 4th from bottom makes us a small, shitty arse team. Regardless of the position we have finished at consistently over the last few seasons, they are happy to forget that and think that our current position is indicative of the club we are. I see it as sour grapes, we are going to land Darren Bent and you aren’t. We aren’t Wolves, West Ham or Wigan, we are **** Aston Villa and don’t you forget it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oaks Posted January 18, 2011 Share Posted January 18, 2011 I don't believe for 1 min that we bid £16 million for Kevin Phillips. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maradona10 Posted January 18, 2011 Share Posted January 18, 2011 What's Kevin Phillips banging on about now? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lmarsha_926 Posted January 18, 2011 Share Posted January 18, 2011 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Genie Posted January 18, 2011 Share Posted January 18, 2011 Anyone else amazed at how the media are reporting this?! You'd have thought that it was West Brom signing him, all the shock and questions about why he would join Villa. Kevin Phillips is now in on the act. I know there's a debate on here about how far away we are from Spurs in terms of size of club, but please don't tell me there's any doubt that we're bigger than Sunderland?! We've had a bad half season, but we'll be back, and Bent knows that. Simple as. Yeah, I'm quite shocked at just the level of the questioning. Are Sunderland a top six club? no. Are Villa a bottom 6 club? No. Anyone who knows anything about football will realise that. The table will settle down and although not a great season we'll finish in the top half I'm sure. I also expect Sunderland to finish closer to the middle of the table (which would still represent a good year for them). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lexicon Posted January 18, 2011 Share Posted January 18, 2011 Could this mean that we have no summer budget, or do people think that its what we should and could hve spent last summer??. If we finish up with Makoun, Bent and a LB then we shouldn't really need to spend a great deal next summer unless there is some sort of fan and shit combination. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Genie Posted January 18, 2011 Share Posted January 18, 2011 What's Kevin Phillips banging on about now? Only moved for the money nothing else blah blah blah... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maradona10 Posted January 18, 2011 Share Posted January 18, 2011 Simon Bird's column is actually very fair on Bent, its another article below this. We did bid for Phillips, knowing full well they'd reject. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fran_villa Posted January 18, 2011 Share Posted January 18, 2011 Oh **** other supporters and rocket polisher Jurnos, let them think what they want. D Bent knows how big this club is and unlike these tw@ts he's remembers the last 3 seasons. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wiggyrichard Posted January 18, 2011 Share Posted January 18, 2011 What's Kevin Phillips banging on about now? Only moved for the money nothing else blah blah blah... He's best muckas with Niall Quinn. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theunderstudy Posted January 18, 2011 Share Posted January 18, 2011 Broken link is broken. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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