Hamman - why we sold pair

  • by Matthew O'Greel
  • Tuesday, 5th July 2005

Cardiff Chairman Sam Hamman has revealed the reasons behind the sale of inflential pair Danny Gabbidon and James Collins.

West Ham - who announced the capture of the Welsh internationals this morning - are thought to have paid approximately £3m for the pair with further fees to follow should the Hammers avoid relegation at the end of the 05/06 season.

Meanwhile Hamman has gone on record to appease Bluebirds fans angry at the sale of their best two players; speaking on Cardiff's club website today, the former Wimbledon impressario revealed:

"The tough choice that we had to make was whether we waited to sell at a higher price or get a lower price now. If we waited it would have had to be probably till the end of August when the buying clubs would have run out of options and had to pay the asking price.

"We opted to accept what we consider to be a lower price in order to give our manager a fighting chance in getting some of the players he wants now albeit with less money.

"There was massive interest in Ginge [Collins]; six Premiership clubs wanted him. We could have got more money for him than we did, but the dilemma we faced was that we only had one firm bid for Gabbs on the table - and West Ham insisted in both players or none.

"We cannot announce the size of the fee due to a confidentiality agreement with West Ham - however there is the possibility of further payments linked to West Ham's future in the Premiership."

The pair - along with fellow summer signings Roy Carroll and Paul Konchesky - are set to join the rest of the squad in Sweden next week for the pre-season tour.

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