The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Handling of clause saga defended by director
John Nelms has defended Dundee’s handling of the Kane Hemmings buy-out clause saga, writes Ian Roache.
While the existence of the £250,000 sale trigger was widely reported, the indications from behind the scenes at Dens were that no clause existed.
Of course, it now turns out that the speculation was indeed fact.
Nelms, though, stressed that at no time did he or anyone else at the club publicly discuss the contents of Hemmings’ contract.
That, he argued, would have gone against the best interests of Dundee.
“I want to set the record straight,” said the Dens managing director. Now that it’s happened I can talk about it.
“I don’t talk about – and I don’t like anyone else in the office talking about – what’s in contracts.
“That could put the club at a disadvantage, if we talk about clauses. So Kane did have a clause in his contract, OK?”
Nelms claimed it was a case of needs-must as regards what the club could have confirmed, denied or even ignored as regards the clause speculation.
“Guys, this is always going to evolve like this,” said the American, who was joined at Dens by club chief Tim Keyes.
“It is not ever going to be 100% straightforward information. We can’t work like that. It has to be quiet and done professionally.
“At the end of the day, we have the best interest of the club in our hands.”
Nelms also stressed that they
Dundee fans don’t have to look very far to see how losing two star players can help ruin a team. Indeed, they only have to glance down the road to Tannadice.
The double departure of Gary Mackay-Steven and Stuart Armstrong to Celtic in February of last year had a deep and lasting impact on the Tangerines that went beyond what the duo could actually contribute on the pitch.
It was a psychological blow that United only now appear to be recovering from.
With Kane Hemmings having left the Dark Blues for unfashionable Oxford United, the great fear now is that Greg were left with no choice but to include the clause when signing the player last summer after he left Barnsley.
“In order to get the services of Kane we had to put this clause in,” he said. “We were happy about it at the time as Kane was struggling as a player and we thought we could develop him better at Dundee.
“I think we have done that and Paul (Hartley) has done a fantastic job with him and the other players.
“When that happens, people start talking about a player maybe moving on and clubs wanting his services.
“That means Paul is doing his job and the team and club are doing what they are supposed to be doing.
“Kane has personal reasons about why he wants to be down there. It may have been financial, may have been personal – may have been all kinds of things.
“Oxford United met the requirements that were within his clause and they were a pleasure to work with.
“We wish Kane all the best.” Stewart is about to follow him out the door.
Should that happen then there will be some seriously concerned Dundee fans out there.
It will also pile enormous pressure on manager Paul Hartley to replace Hemmings and Stewart with players of similar standard in a short space of time. Hartley has already been unequivocal in his warning as regards a possible sale of Stewart.
He said: “There is no way we want to sell because we just know he is irreplaceable. There is no danger we can replace him.”
Those are words that can’t be dismissed by those who will be asked to consider any bids for the player in the days and weeks ahead.