Gorkss ordered to return to Blackpool as QPR compromise stalls
Wednesday, 9th Jul 2008 21:50

Latvian centre half Kaspars Gorkss’ proposed move to QPR appears no closer to completion tonight as attempts by the R’s to calm the troubled waters with a couple of deal makeweights has hit the rocks.

All this fuss over the £250,000 transfer of a Latvian centre half. Would you believe it? For those that have been on the moon or in a cave or holidaying in Lyme Regis allow me to recap.

Kaspars Gorkss is a Latvian international centre half who has been playing for Blackpool for the past 18 months with a great deal of success – last season the fans voted him as their Player of the Year and he scored ten goals for club and country despite playing at the heart of the defence, including one at Loftus Road in Pool’s 3-2 defeat at our hands in March.

Gorkss, like Wes Hoolahan who recently joined Norwich City, has a stupidly low release clause in his contract allowing him to join another club should they make an offer of £250,000 to Blackpool for his services.

QPR have tried to take advantage of this however it seems, or at least it is alleged by Blackpool, that Rangers spoke to the player about potential personal terms first, before approaching the Tangerines with the formality of the offer.

Blackpool are not very happy about this and in June they reported QPR to the Football League for making an illegal approach. The saga seemed to be drawing to a close last week when QPR announced on their official website that Blackpool had given them permission to discuss terms with the player and a deal should be completed shortly.

This, as followers of this madness might have expected, was immediately disputed by Blackpool’s eccentric chairman Karl Oyston who said he hadn’t given permission at all and he was again disappointed with QPR’s actions.

Oyston, despite the clause in his players’ contract that he agreed to, has also said he’ll be doing everything in his power to stop Gorkss moving to Loftus Road this summer.

The latest twist revolves around Daniel Nardiello and Adam Bolder. Neither player is expected to feature much in the QPR team this season and somebody somewhere has hit upon the idea that one or both of these players could head to Bloomfield Road this summer. That way Blackpool can say they got players in exchange for Gorkss despite the clause in his contract and QPR get Gorkss and get rid of some fringe players from an ever expanding squad.

Of course such a compromise could also make the Football League’s investigation go away as neither club would have the need or appetite to follow through with it.

The Ealing Gazzette is today claiming that these new plans have stalled and Gorkss, who has been at Loftus Road and Harlington with what he believes to be his future team mates this week, has been ordered to return north and start training with Blackpool for the first time this summer.

According to the paper Nardiello is looking for a pay off from Rangers with one year of his contract still to run and Bolder is in no hurry to move on either.

Bolder, who spent the end of last season on loan at Sheff Wed but had a permanent move to Hillsborough scuppered by their move for James O’Connor from Burnley, told reporter Dave McIntyre: “"At the moment I’m a QPR player until I hear any different. I’m just going to keep my head down and get fit and see what happens. Whatever happens, it's in both my interests and the club’s for me to be fit.

"The manager Iain Dowie spoke to me and said he had no problem with me staying. You’d like to think that if I work hard and do well I’ll get a place in the team, but this is football and you never know what's around the corner. I know there’s a few clubs that are interested in me but at the moment I’m just focused on my training and then playing – whether it’s at QPR or wherever."

Not for the first and almost certainly not for the last time I’m forced to ask – how on earth has the transfer of one player to one club descended into such farce when the player wants to come, the selling club has to sell under the terms of his contract and the buying club is happy to met the demands of both the player and his club? This continues to reflect very badly on all concerned.

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