crabfootballer
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Statement of Intent
"There is what i can only describe as media carnage here in Portland as the national media gathers at the unveiling of the Timbers new DP, we have been promised a superstar is coming to the MLS and will walk out of those doors behind me in just under an hour, the Timbers management team has managed to keep this deal well under wraps from the public and apparently the mystery player will come out and sign the contract here today infront of this very large media circus and will then be unveiled to fans outside JELD-WEN field this afternoon, there is already large groups of Timbers fans gathering outside JELD-WEN where the unveiling will be screened on a large monitor to see the breaking news on their new hero, the rumour mill has been going crazy over the past 2 days with people throwing various names around on who this player is, one thing is for sure though, soccer is certainly sweeping this city and indeed the nation....i'm Dwayne Hollings, ESPN news"
Managing Director Ken Puckett takes to the mic to make the announcement
"Welcome to Portland people, now we all know there has been alot of speculation over the last week since we freed up one of our DP slots. Mr Paulson, Head Coach Robbie Thompson and myself have worked very hard to secure the signing of the man we are here to see today, we promised a big name and we are very certain that they don't come much bigger than him in the world of soccer. The honours that this man has won speak for themself, a 3 time UEFA Champions League winner, a 5 time La Liga winner and capped at the highest level for his country... so without further adue.. ladies and gentleman i am delighted to announce the newest addition to the Portland Timbers family....GUTI !!"
We had nailed it! Guti arrives in Portland
We had captured the ex Real captain
Guti on signing for the Portland Timbers
Managing Director Ken Puckett takes to the mic to make the announcement
"Welcome to Portland people, now we all know there has been alot of speculation over the last week since we freed up one of our DP slots. Mr Paulson, Head Coach Robbie Thompson and myself have worked very hard to secure the signing of the man we are here to see today, we promised a big name and we are very certain that they don't come much bigger than him in the world of soccer. The honours that this man has won speak for themself, a 3 time UEFA Champions League winner, a 5 time La Liga winner and capped at the highest level for his country... so without further adue.. ladies and gentleman i am delighted to announce the newest addition to the Portland Timbers family....GUTI !!"
We had nailed it! Guti arrives in Portland
The room erupted in applause and cheers after those words from Ken, we had done it, we had signed Guti and i was like a kid at Christmas, this was like a bizarre dream for me, 2 years ago i was being made redundant by Portsmouth and now i was here in America as a Head Coach unveiling Guti as my new signing! things were certainly on the up.
After that phonecall from his agent Bruno Rocha, myself and Ken Puckett flew down to LA to speak with him and when we finally found out of the identity of what was the mystery man we knew we had to pull all the stops out and bring Guti to Portland. Rocha was the man left in charge of negotiations by Guti's main representative Marco Kirdemir who had other business and could not make it to LA that afternoon and he seemed like a man that got straight to the point, we met with him at the reception of his hotel which was also the place we were finally introduced to Guti. We sat and spoke for a couple of hours and things were looking very rosy, Guti told us about his release from Besiktas and some of the problems he had in Istanbul and he was keen on a new start and especially interested in having a piece of the American lifestyle. He got the point across to myself and Ken that he was 34 and he felt he had 3 good years left in him but he also made it crystal clear that he wouldn't come cheap. This was to be expected, afterall the guy had spent nearly all of his career playing for Real Madrid on mega money. Guti also name dropped David Beckham his old team mate saying he had spoken to David about the money that could be earned in the states and he wanted a piece. I could see Ken squirm a little when the money talk was flowing, Ken didn't know how much money Guti was talking but by the look on his face i think he thought Rocha and Guti were going to ask for $1 million a week, i didn't know exactly how much to be fair but i had a rough idea.
We eventually got down to the real business, Timber's owner Merrit Paulson couldn't be there with us on that day but he did say "When you get to LA and find out who the player is call me, we'll make a decision, but we don't exceed $50,000 a week on the DP slot okay guys?" So after we informed Meritt of the player's identity we got talking salaries. After a further hour of negotiations the deal was struck with various terms and conditions as always, Guti agreed to weekly wage of $47,500 with various bonuses which we haggled, Rocha's original figure he put out there was $55,000 per week so we did well i thought, however the player and Rocha were adamant that Guti was going to settle and live in LA so we had to agree to have him flown up to Portland via private jet for training. Training once the season is underway is four and a half days a week, Guti would join us for three of those sessions and train by himself in LA the rest of the time. I could understand why he wanted to live in LA rather than Portland, more so than Ken Puckett anyway but afterall Guti was used to the limelight, he had been a football superstar all his life practically and he wanted to live somewhere that went hand in hand with his lifestyle. I wasn't concerned i just wanted him playing for my team. Come night time hand shakes were made and the deal was struck, for Rocha's part in bringing Guti to Portland he received a hefty sum of $350,000..not bad for one call and a day of talking is it?
After that phonecall from his agent Bruno Rocha, myself and Ken Puckett flew down to LA to speak with him and when we finally found out of the identity of what was the mystery man we knew we had to pull all the stops out and bring Guti to Portland. Rocha was the man left in charge of negotiations by Guti's main representative Marco Kirdemir who had other business and could not make it to LA that afternoon and he seemed like a man that got straight to the point, we met with him at the reception of his hotel which was also the place we were finally introduced to Guti. We sat and spoke for a couple of hours and things were looking very rosy, Guti told us about his release from Besiktas and some of the problems he had in Istanbul and he was keen on a new start and especially interested in having a piece of the American lifestyle. He got the point across to myself and Ken that he was 34 and he felt he had 3 good years left in him but he also made it crystal clear that he wouldn't come cheap. This was to be expected, afterall the guy had spent nearly all of his career playing for Real Madrid on mega money. Guti also name dropped David Beckham his old team mate saying he had spoken to David about the money that could be earned in the states and he wanted a piece. I could see Ken squirm a little when the money talk was flowing, Ken didn't know how much money Guti was talking but by the look on his face i think he thought Rocha and Guti were going to ask for $1 million a week, i didn't know exactly how much to be fair but i had a rough idea.
We eventually got down to the real business, Timber's owner Merrit Paulson couldn't be there with us on that day but he did say "When you get to LA and find out who the player is call me, we'll make a decision, but we don't exceed $50,000 a week on the DP slot okay guys?" So after we informed Meritt of the player's identity we got talking salaries. After a further hour of negotiations the deal was struck with various terms and conditions as always, Guti agreed to weekly wage of $47,500 with various bonuses which we haggled, Rocha's original figure he put out there was $55,000 per week so we did well i thought, however the player and Rocha were adamant that Guti was going to settle and live in LA so we had to agree to have him flown up to Portland via private jet for training. Training once the season is underway is four and a half days a week, Guti would join us for three of those sessions and train by himself in LA the rest of the time. I could understand why he wanted to live in LA rather than Portland, more so than Ken Puckett anyway but afterall Guti was used to the limelight, he had been a football superstar all his life practically and he wanted to live somewhere that went hand in hand with his lifestyle. I wasn't concerned i just wanted him playing for my team. Come night time hand shakes were made and the deal was struck, for Rocha's part in bringing Guti to Portland he received a hefty sum of $350,000..not bad for one call and a day of talking is it?
We had captured the ex Real captain
Guti on signing for the Portland Timbers
