Jenkins On Attack

Swansea chairman Huw Jenkins has launched an attack on his opposition numbers over the rejected bids for striker Grant Holt and midfielder Andy Burgess.

Jenkins was out with both barrels as he questioned whether either club was really in a position to reject the bids made by the Swans and Rushden fared worse as the trust run site failed to even acknowledge the bid for Burgess.

The Swans have had a bid for Holt rejected this week to the tune of £130,000 but are expected to come back in with a higher bid whilst an increased bid for Burgess of £80,000 has been met with a stony silence at Rushden.

Speaking to the South Wales Evening Post, Jenkins ranted: “We’ve made a fresh offer to Rushden for Andy Burgess, but we’re stuck in the farcical situation where there is no-one available at the club to discuss the possible transfer of a player in the last year of his contract,” Jenkins said. “As for Grant Holt, we may have to look elsewhere because Rochdale’s valuation is unrealistic. “I’ve had one conversation with one of their directors who said unless they got £200,000, they would be keeping hold of him. “With football finances the way they are, it’s hard to see how these clubs cannot cash in. If you need money and you are offered it, you would normally do something about it.”

Jenkins is convinced that both players would like to play at a higher level and whispers around suggest that certainly in the case of Holt, Swansea is his preferred destination.

“Our understanding is that Grant Holt has indicated to Rochdale that he wants to move on,” he went on. “We’ve made them an offer which is certainly fair when you look at other transfers at this level in recent times, so it’s a shame they are denying the player the chance to play for a bigger club in a higher division. “We will be very disappointed if we start the new season without Grant Holt, but it may be that we have to do that. There’s a little bit of room for manoeuvre as far as our offer goes, but not much.”

Burgess has also put a transfer request into Rushden and whilst Northampton are also believed to be interested in the midfielder, the chairman is convinced that the supporters trust which are in control at Nene Park are not doing their jobs properly “Andy has asked for a transfer and stated his desire to play at a higher level,” Jenkins went on. “But Rushden’s Supporters’ Trust have more or less taken over the club and we’ve had no feedback whatsoever from them. “It’s no wonder some clubs struggle financially if this is how they are run.”

Jenkins believes that both valuations on the players are unrealistic for players who are in the last year of the contract and both clubs face the possibility to being powerless to prevent transfers next summer if the contracts are run down.

“They must realise that with any player in the last year of his contract, as is the case with Andy and Grant, transfer value decreases with each week that passes.”

Somehow I cannot see that we have seen the last of either of these transfer sagas and if Swansea fans want any straws to clutch then they must think back two years when the Lee Trundle transfer seemed to drag on for most of the summer. And until the Swans have publicly backed away from both moves then we can expect to hear more in the press in the coming days.

Until then it is very possibly that little dolls resembling Huw Jenkins have been formed in both Rochdale and Rushden as we speak.

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