Any regrets about our chase at Fev from any of us OER folk?
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Fev's form leaves red faces
Jake Niall
The Age
August 17, 2006
Only one club, Richmond, seriously entertained and pursued Fevola.
The Tigers, with the best man from Fevola's wedding, Chris Newman, reassuring them that Brendan was capable of cleaning up his erratic act, grasped that Fevola represented a rare chance to purloin a key forward at relatively low cost.
If Terry Wallace and Greg Miller went to second base by sitting down with Fevola and crunching some numbers, financial constraints soon intruded. Fevola was keen on Richmond, the Tigers were similarly besotted, but that hefty contract [$450,000-a-year] that had been the subject of such scorn and disbelief proved insurmountable.
Richmond's obstacle was budgetary — the club was trying to climb out of debt and fiscal responsibility was paramount — rather than the salary cap, even though Fev was willing to consider a reduced contract. Carlton was in far worse financial shape than Richmond and was still sorting out the futures of uncontracted players Lance Whitnall, Matthew Lappin and Scott Camporeale.
The Tigers said they could not deal unless a crippled Carlton came to the party and paid part of Fevola's contract. This was never going to happen. When Camporeale sought asylum at Windy Hill, some of the financial pressure on the Blues eased.
Full article at:
http://www.realfooty.theage.com.au/realfooty/articles/2006/08/16/1155407885858.html