I don't understand this rant of yours. I didn't foresee that he would reach the level that he now has and have never said that I did. The point is that the sort of contract offer that he would definitely have accepted just over a year ago could not be made because at that time his performances had not justified it - therefore the club cannot be criticised for not making such an offer. I agreed with your original post on this. You are literally the only poster on here that has complained because I agreed with them.

There is a god.

I think the multi millions for Nyambe were mythical.

I don't know if we are in the market for 2 centre halves. We seem to be after one on loan from Liverpool. I will trust the manager to make the best decision based on what is right for the club - but I can't agree to people demanding he doesn't pick a player simply to screw the player and his advisors or Spurs.

Yet we developed a 17 year old for Liverpool. Surely we do what we think will lead to the best results on the pitch - which this season might mean promotion.

But why let him go now ? At least wait until the January window. I can't see his valuation falling and if other clubs are getting involved it might rise considerably.

That is a decision that is down to the manager, not based on some edict driven by feelings of revenge.

I think the manager picks the team he thinks will perform best in the game in front of him ; if that team includes Phillips he plays him.

If BBD goes it will be because he is considered good enough to play Premier League football ; replacing a player of that level will be very difficult for a Championship club.

Surely we do what we think gives us the best chance of promotion ?

Where is the evidence that Phillips is going in the next few days ?

Correct, which is why it is unfair to blame people at the club for not tying him down to a contract then. You don't understand. We were saying that his reputation had fallen to a degree that the new contract that those arguing with the benefit of hindsight are saying should have been offered to him before the start of last season would have been met with a huge amount of criticism.

Surely it is to our advantage if the likes of City, United and Chelsea show signs of wanting to step in thereby generating a bidding war. I can't see any reason why we would agree to any deal now.

Correct, which is why it is unfair to blame people at the club for not tying him down to a contract then.

That would be cutting off our nose to spite our face - guarantees he will want to move, we won't have him available for our team and no prospect of an increase in valuation if he plays well

Whoever told you that must think they are a clairvoyant. How can anybody now claim to know what a tribunal would do in 9 months time ?

That is correct. Go back just over a year and phrases like "waste of money" and "£7m spunked away" were all over this messageboard.

You can scroll down and see the answer from JDT, which rightly is that we go for quality rather than short term panic buys .

With respect £5k a week is an annual salary for the player of £260k, nowhere near half a million, albeit employers national insurance plus any premiums for insurance against the player getting injured do take the cost to the club higher.

I think this is a bit optimistic. If they want to, Spurs can give him a better financial package than our first team players' contracts and on top of that there is the lure of being at a Premier League club who play in the Champions League. Look at Harvey Elliot moving from Fulham to the Liverpool academy, despite having played first team football in the Premier League.

That's the point, isn't it. Spurs will have a turnover this year in the region of £450m whilst we will have a turnover of approx £17m. If Spurs decide they really want him they will be able to offer him more than we can. The best hope for holding on to the player is to keep him until the end of the season and if we get promoted to the Premier League and he has established himself as a member of the first team squad then our wage offer will be a lot closer to Spurs and he might consider that staying at the club with a more realistic chance of first team football is the right move.

How do you know he will be happy with that ? In particular, what if his representatives want him at a bigger club that will pay more ?

Football is littered with teenagers with "potential" who failed to match the hype.

Shearer had signed for a then record transfer fee. Phillips is nowhere near that; when he is then he gets paid accordingly.

The moment there is a couple of million for Phillips then Jake Batty will be looking for something similar. Just paying a significant percentage of our wage bill in the hope that it will all come good one day in the future is a form of Russian Roulette.