Mac says no to ‘wrong’ offers
YEP 7/8/13
by Phil Hay
Brian McDermott was standing firm over the future of Ross McCormack last night after Middlesbrough joined Blackpool in bidding for the Leeds United striker.
McCormack is the subject of strong interest from two Championship clubs but McDermott attempted to ward off further offers by saying he was “not interested” in any of the bids submitted to Elland Road so far.
Blackpool are understood to have made a joint approach for McCormack and Leeds winger Aidan White last week, proposing a fee in excess of £1million for both players. Leeds dismissed the enquiry out of hand ahead of Saturday’s game against Brighton.
Middlesbrough, meanwhile, made their move for McCormack after the opening round of Championship matches and are believed to be willing to pay more than £1million for the Scotland international.
Sources in the north east say Boro manager Tony Mowbray has been an admirer of McCormack’s since the 26-year-old’s spell at Cardiff City but the Teesside club might struggle to raise their initial offer further with a number of other transfer deals on-going, one of them poised to take winger Albert Adomah to The Riverside from Bristol City.
McDermott did not discuss McCormack specifically but said all bids for his players had been rejected by Leeds and claimed the offers were “wrong for us” and “wrong for the players”.
“We’ve had a couple of bids for players which we’ve rejected,” McDermott said. Asked if any of the offers had come from Blackpool, McDermott said: “Yes but I’m not interested. It would be wrong for us in my opinion. Wrong for the players too.”
McDermott’s attempts to bring new faces to Elland Road before the end of the summer transfer window will be dictated by outgoing moves from Leeds, with the United boss under pressure to make cuts to his wage bill before completing further signings.
His protracted pursuit of a proposed fourth recruit has been on-going for more than a month and McDermott admitted that he would be forced to abandon the move in the near future if he failed to make progress.
McDermott, who has been heavily linked with Bolton Wanderers centre-back Matt Mills, said: “The player I was trying to sign is becoming very difficult. It’s getting to the point where I’ll have to leave it behind. It can’t go on forever.”
The Leeds manager, however, paid tribute to club owner GFH Capital after Elland Road saw its biggest league crowd for more than three years at Saturday’s 1-0 win over Brighton.
Speaking ahead of tonight’s Capital One Cup first-round tie against Chesterfield, McDermott said: “They (United’s board) have done a lot of good things, especially in the last month – and especially in trying to bring the fans back.
“But someone said to me the other night ‘the thing I like about you is that you’re honest in what you say’ and if you’re honest, the fans will accept that.
“Tell the fans the truth and they’ll deal with the truth.
“They can’t deal with things that aren’t true or half-truths or innuendos. Say it how it is.
“Sometimes it won’t be what the supporters want to hear but they’ll deal with what they know is the truth and they’ll back you because of it.”
by Phil Hay
Brian McDermott was standing firm over the future of Ross McCormack last night after Middlesbrough joined Blackpool in bidding for the Leeds United striker.
McCormack is the subject of strong interest from two Championship clubs but McDermott attempted to ward off further offers by saying he was “not interested” in any of the bids submitted to Elland Road so far.
Blackpool are understood to have made a joint approach for McCormack and Leeds winger Aidan White last week, proposing a fee in excess of £1million for both players. Leeds dismissed the enquiry out of hand ahead of Saturday’s game against Brighton.
Middlesbrough, meanwhile, made their move for McCormack after the opening round of Championship matches and are believed to be willing to pay more than £1million for the Scotland international.
Sources in the north east say Boro manager Tony Mowbray has been an admirer of McCormack’s since the 26-year-old’s spell at Cardiff City but the Teesside club might struggle to raise their initial offer further with a number of other transfer deals on-going, one of them poised to take winger Albert Adomah to The Riverside from Bristol City.
McDermott did not discuss McCormack specifically but said all bids for his players had been rejected by Leeds and claimed the offers were “wrong for us” and “wrong for the players”.
“We’ve had a couple of bids for players which we’ve rejected,” McDermott said. Asked if any of the offers had come from Blackpool, McDermott said: “Yes but I’m not interested. It would be wrong for us in my opinion. Wrong for the players too.”
McDermott’s attempts to bring new faces to Elland Road before the end of the summer transfer window will be dictated by outgoing moves from Leeds, with the United boss under pressure to make cuts to his wage bill before completing further signings.
His protracted pursuit of a proposed fourth recruit has been on-going for more than a month and McDermott admitted that he would be forced to abandon the move in the near future if he failed to make progress.
McDermott, who has been heavily linked with Bolton Wanderers centre-back Matt Mills, said: “The player I was trying to sign is becoming very difficult. It’s getting to the point where I’ll have to leave it behind. It can’t go on forever.”
The Leeds manager, however, paid tribute to club owner GFH Capital after Elland Road saw its biggest league crowd for more than three years at Saturday’s 1-0 win over Brighton.
Speaking ahead of tonight’s Capital One Cup first-round tie against Chesterfield, McDermott said: “They (United’s board) have done a lot of good things, especially in the last month – and especially in trying to bring the fans back.
“But someone said to me the other night ‘the thing I like about you is that you’re honest in what you say’ and if you’re honest, the fans will accept that.
“Tell the fans the truth and they’ll deal with the truth.
“They can’t deal with things that aren’t true or half-truths or innuendos. Say it how it is.
“Sometimes it won’t be what the supporters want to hear but they’ll deal with what they know is the truth and they’ll back you because of it.”