I can't remember the exact wording but something along the lines of "When are you signing a new contract?" "When I get offered one" I don't know whether Ismael was honest or straight to the point. How do you know? It's your opinion. Yes club employees will be told a version of events by Venky stooge in charge. Give it time and he will learn the hard way that what Venky stooges say and the reality are often some way apart.

Fundamentally this comes down to whether you believe the club has made a serious effort to keep any of these players. I don't. The reason for my original post was concern that people are starting to fall for a narrative that they have been made appropriate offers but have declined them. I don't believe for one second that they have and the club is 100% to blame for this situation in my opinion, not any of the players. I get angry and concerned when I see people suggesting that the players are somehow the issue in this situation. How many times must it happen for people to realise the club is the problem?

I don't understand either of your questions but think I've said enough on the subject. If you want to believe the narrative being spread by club employees despite plenty of reasons to believe otherwise then go ahead, there's no evidence either way but we all know how this ends.

Who has evidence of anything? Ismael says one thing. Travis, Brittain and Tronstad said another. They refused to even entertain the prospect of new contracts in February, to the point of forcing Eustace out rather than keep him, yet by May/June have done it? Nah I think it is foolish to assume the bloke new to the club and being given his information by Pasha/Gestede is the correct version.

Doesn't really matter - either way not a serious attempt to keep him and end result is the same

There were people who posted on here that they had heard him say it / asked him about it outside the ground You're doing exactly what the owners and their stooges want - believing every word that they instruct/give Ismael to spread. This is part of the problem - fans blindly trusting everything that gets said without sitting back for a few minutes and thinking about the implausibility of it. That doesn't make Ismael a liar, just that he will be getting told a version of events by people he is working for.

So you seriously believe that between March and early July, most of which time the club was effectively in lockdown and all the players and staff were off on holiday, and the Venky stooge was in India getting his instructions, that he's initiated contract talks and then actually made a serious offer? Have you been following events at the club recently? Ismael will be getting strung along like the rest of us - told a tale by those above him to keep him quiet/happy/blaming the previous regime. He's new to all this and probably thinks he's working for a genuine honest group of people. He will learn by January.

Their actions over the last 4-5 years. Haven't you noticed a pattern yet?

Quotes from people who spoke to him outside the ground before/after the Accy Stanley match Chances of the club suddenly offering him a deal during the dormant summer months whilst the player is away on holiday? Slim I'd wager.

Not according to the player he hasn't. Which would tally with the woeful record we have had on all renewals, and also what Brittain and Tronstad also said recently. Why would the club make him an offer if they want his wages off the books and a cheaper alternative in?

And Travis has said on more than one occasion he hasn't. Who to believe?

He hasn't been offered a new contract.

Ah so just a bid to try and flog a few more season tickets (at the higher price) by using Shearer/PL glory references again. Yawn.

JDT is a clever bloke and he quickly worked out the unorthodox and bonkers way this club actually works behind the scenes is a far cry from the 'normality' that you might expect when arriving or looking at it from the outside. From the outside looking in - billionaire owners delegating responsibility to a board of directors, '£20 million a year' going in, huge losses over the last 15 years, talk a good game about wanting success. This is pretty much all that many fans, media and third parties see. It's only those with experience of it or us fans who spend our time looking into things in more detail who see the reality of it. It quickly becomes apparent that the club is just a total joke, Initially JDT was happy to put the pressure on Broughton as he probably misunderstood the situation and thought that the Director of Football was actually in control of the football side of the club. After a while he realised that Broughton was the latest in a long line of people led up the garden path and so he first turned the focus onto Waggott, which you would as he was the highest ranking individual at the Club, and then eventually the spotlight was turned onto the Venky stooge. He was gone within days of doing that.

I did a google search and that was all that came up I'm assuming he's somebody else!