Just going back a page...
Was that the behind the scenes details regarding Raul- Promised a rise, didnt get one and Kenny was happy to cash in so he had the funds for Downing?
As far as I know, the story is that he was promised a pay rise if he performed last season. He did, wanted the pay rise, but it was denied.
If so, I believe it was a mistake. Going by that story, I think we broke our word and then we forced him to put in a transfer request so we could pretend to play hardball and run the "we only want players who want to be here" stuff. For whatever reason. That is, we put the blame on him, when the club broke its promise. We should/could have looked to solve the situation and keep a good player who had performed for us. Don't like it that we have tried that route a few times recently. No doubt people will talk about how it was G&H's promise so the club is without fault, but that's my view. Could of course be that there's a different story than the pay rise thing.