Was Archie Gray pushing to leave Leeds United?

Transcript

00:00I don't think Gray was looking to go either.

00:03I also don't think that Gray was pushing to go at all this summer.

00:06I don't think that he said to the club,

00:09I want to leave and go to the Premier League now.

00:11I don't think that's what's happened.

00:14I think that the release clause, that yes, was put in a contract because

00:20that's what players' representatives do in order to protect the player and

00:23give him career options in case things don't pan out at club level.

00:29I think that release clause probably became quite handy for

00:33Leeds in the event that they lost the playoff final,

00:36because it gave them an option as well.

00:38And with P&S being what it is, Parag Murati was very,

00:42very clear that he couldn't rule out the sale of Archie Gray.

00:45And that was two days after the playoff final.

00:47There were no vows, we're going to keep Archie.

00:50And there was also no vows that they're going to keep all the star players,

00:54because everyone knows they had to sell at least one star player,

00:58at least one 30, 35, 40 million pound player,

01:03in order to stay on the right side of P&S.

01:06And yes, that is good stewardship of a club,

01:09because risk in points deductions and transfer embargoes

01:14is the kind of thing that you associate with very poor club owners

01:18and clubs that are in disarray.

01:19It's not what you would associate with,

01:21an ownership that really wants to be seen as the adults in the room,

01:25very sensible, very steady, only speak when there's something to say.

01:28No hysterics and very experienced and well-versed in sports business.

01:34It's a bit sad, really, that a 18-year-old

01:39will ever become to be known as pure profit.

01:42It's just, it's a grim term for a teenage boy.

01:47And it's sad that we all have to become bookkeeping experts

01:52in order to follow the fortunes of our teams.

01:54You know, that's not why we got into it.

01:56It's not why we enjoy football.

01:58But increasingly, the conversation in the game

02:00is about how clubs match up to the regulations

02:07that are supposed to keep a level playing field.

02:09When actually, the level playing field is a myth.