Kacper Lopata

[OldBlueLady]

We have lost a good player

No-one is disputing that, but no player is bigger than the Club, and as many have said, he's not been as good as he was when on loan.

 

[Callum]

No-one is disputing that, but no player is bigger than the Club, and as many have said, he's not been as good as he was when on loan.

Yeah I know I respect that as they say you don’t wanna stay that’s fine

 

[Green Wizard]

Nobody leaves employment without another job lined up and risking having no money coming in. At least here it might be late but it did arrive. Wrexham, Notts County and Chesterfield must be in the frame if it can't be the EFL. I am more worried now than I have been for the past couple of months as I was sure Ron Martin would get the money from somewhere to settle HMRC. The season is over for us with very little chance of promotion and I can't see things changing until Ron Martin moves on, hopefully before the new stadium is finished. Can the club control the movement of players in and out of the club, along with the management I feel it will be difficult.

 

[Blue Yonder]

Good riddance. Strange agent. Strange bloke.

Ron not paying up, or not being able to pay up has led to an infuriating loss of an asset as a player and someone we may have been able to cash in on. On the other hand of all the words of conjecture on here this six word post from someone normally reliably in the know plus the two words from our manager telling him to F off are very telling.

 

[BALDY]

Green Wizard "Nobody leaves employment without another job lined up and risking having no money coming in."

I have and I bet many others have........But that was years ago.

 

[LBBlue]

Dare I say he is over rated. Well I think he over rates his own ability. He is 22 in August and so far his CV has 38 National League appearances and 2 EFL cup ties and walked out on two clubs. And he wants to be playing for Poland in the next World Cup.

Just think Pat Scully and Spencer Prior playing in level 2 at Lopata‘s age.

The grass isn’t always greener - just ask Elvis Bwomono ..

I‘m sure Blondy won’t miss him!

 

[Tampa Blue]

We have lost our best player and most valuable asset

Agree with your post but added my thoughts

 

[shrimperjon]

People saying KL left as hadn’t been paid for two months. In reality isn’t it only one month as Jan was late but Feb was paid on time.

 

[Andy_S]

People saying KL left as hadn’t been paid for two months. In reality isn’t it only one month as Jan was late but Feb was paid on time.

I was actually thinking this too. It doesn’t make it right at all, but still.

 

[wiggy]

Dare I say he is over rated. Well I think he over rates his own ability. He is 22 in August and so far his CV has 38 National League appearances and 2 EFL cup ties and walked out on two clubs. And he wants to be playing for Poland in the next World Cup.

Just think Pat Scully and Spencer Prior playing in level 2 at Lopata‘s age.

The grass isn’t always greener - just ask Elvis Bwomono ..

I‘m sure Blondy won’t miss him!

Why get so bitter...he was our best player with the most potential. Ron has sh it on one too many but this bloke is the only one to make a stand because he knows that he is better than this!

 

[1966 and all that]

I’m less worried about Lopata leaving now. The hope is the rest of the lads will get behind Kev and buckle down ..

We move on .. we don’t know exactly what happened but what we do know is Martin gave him and his agent an opening and they took it. Funny thing is, wasn’t it Ron who was instrumental in him coming back and unveiled him as a ‘wow’ signing? They never work and he never learns!

I thought everyone was pretty chuffed when Ron signed him. Hindsight eh?

 

[euroshrimper]

So after a night and morning of reflection and being told by my other half that there's more to life than SUFC........this is where I am at right now............
Yes last night's result was disappointing but I can handle that as its football and like many supporters we have to deal with the highs and lows and generally we are good at moving on to the next game !
What's getting to me at the moment after a very worrying four to five weeks is just when we think we can settle down to some real football and can we make the play off's etc there are still things going on behind the scenes which we have no knowledge of which undoubtedly are having an effect on the future of SUFC.
Ok I have given up on Ron telling us actually how it is (the truth and nothing but the truth) but in terms of Tom and Stan who I have the upmost respect for and I know are excellent communicators you really need to come out and tell us truthfully what is going on with so many things ie. finance, payments, embargo etc.
I dont know how Kev & Co are holding it together at the moment but they and the squad have my total admiration and more but sooner or later something is going to give big time........
We know Tom and Stan read Shrimperzone so they must be feeling as down as we all do at the moment so can you please start communicating with our fanbase please to keep us in the loop or tell us why you cannot?

 

[Liam AAS]

He is by miles our best and most consistent player. We will miss him but Maher & co have a structure at the club that allow us to compensate for a single individual talent. Summer recruitment was not conducted with Lopata in mind, his signing was a windfall. Kensdale has improved enormously and Hobson was POTY not that long ago. We will be OK even though this is a big blow. Even Gubbins and Clark found their form at the end of last season.

Don't forget the bigger picture here, this is all down to one man.

Ron, it's down to Ron Martin.

 

[Texas Eslan]

Out of interest…does this open up the club to any issues with regards to Sheffield United? Did we owe them any money or have a sell on clause or any add ons and how does us breaching the players contract impact on things like that?

 

[fbm]

What I can't get my head around is why not just pay Lopata his wages. I understand it could cause unrest with the other players but it would stop this potential action.

Isn't that what happened in the Molesey era which Stevie Humphreys alluded to recently? We also had the number of home games in succession so what happened to that money? And why haven't the office staff received all their back pay?

We deserve answers

How better to say to the rest of the squad, "This bloke is more important than the rest of you"? That's a recipe for disaster.

But in any event, you just can't pay some debts and not others, and in the position we were in that could be creating a preference and the Directors could get into trouble.

It is just not that simple.

 

[Justleavingwork]

Am I the only one who is absolutely stunned with this?

The same player who worked so hard to force a move to his ‘beloved’ Southend United in September, now doing his best to force a move away some 6 months later.
Before anyone comes at me though, I’m not naive to the severity of the situation - don’t get me wrong - Ron’s management of our financial position is a complete disgrace and has left us open to being pillaged by other clubs. It is not right to not pay people, and Ron has put us at risk of losing a carefully assembled squad that KM and his team have worked with meticulously to make the club competitive, It just appears Lopata is the first, and hopefully the only one, to take the bait.

However, at least from what we’ve been told, the players have now received wages for January and February have they not?

This to me smacks at an agent and a misled young player taking advantage of a situation here. It’s the timing that doesn’t add up.

If you were unhappy/couldn’t live without your wages, why not leave a month ago if you were genuinely leaving over the pay issue? At that point he would have gone 28 days unpaid and could have triggered his notice. He could have left 15 days later, in Mid-Feb, so why not then? All that leads me to believe he has had his head turned in the last few days, as he certainly didn’t look like a man who wasn’t invested in the celebrations at Torquay a week ago.

I sense one of the top NL clubs (probably Wrexham or Notts County if I had to guess) have tapped him up and he has used the financial situation as the reason, when in reality he fancies the move and wants to get out of his contract easily without the move being scuppered by the buying club having to pay a fee. Obviously if the buying club don’t have to pay a fee, it of course gives the agent more wiggle room to negotiate a better fee for himself and Kasper will no doubt get a package too.

The sad thing about this is that if Kasper really loved the club, he could have continued playing well for us, earned himself a well deserved move to a bigger club in the summer, whilst simultaneously netting the club a much needed transfer fee that could have boosted our short to medium term financial picture.

In doing so, Kaspar could have left a legacy by helping ensure his team mates/colleagues are less likely to face the same pay issues as previously experienced, left with dignity, retained his hero status with the fans, not called his attitude/reputation into question from those within the game by forcing a second move in 6 months.

Don’t for a second get to thinking I’m pro-Ron here though - that donkey has a lot to answer for as well. Because of his financial mismanagement of his businesses/inability to take the correct decision for the well-being of the club by accepting outside investment, he has left us susceptible to this situation, and moreover cost the club and potentially himself a substantial transfer fee from the buying club.

As @davewebbsbrain has said, it speaks volumes that the rest of the squad have chosen to stay loyal to each other and the fans who have supported them unwaveringly up and down the country, whereas Kasper has chosen the first decent opportunity to get out to do just that.

And to add insult to injury, he thinks it’s appropriate to grab his boots and offer a few goodbyes on the eve of a match? At least if you want to go have the courtesy to let the remaining players and staff focus on the job at hand without the unwelcome distraction of negative news. If he really wanted what was best for the club and group, he wouldn’t have done that.

To be honest, I’ve lost a lot of respect for Lopata. He’s handled the whole situation with a lack of dignity, character and left us in the lurch as we go into a critical stage of the season.

Good luck to him, I’m sure he will have an excellent career as he is a talented lad, but but he certainly won’t be getting a pat on the back from me when he inevitably returns to the Hall in the future.

I hear eight more would have done the same if they didn’t get paid when they did. Ron has a lot to answer for

 

[LeedsSUFC]

Out of interest…does this open up the club to any issues with regards to Sheffield United? Did we owe them any money or have a sell on clause or any add ons and how does us breaching the players contract impact on things like that?

Sheff Utd in a legal battle with a club east of London… It’s like deja vu!

 

[Mad Cyril]

Anyone having a pop at Kasper here needs to give their head a wobble.

If my employer treated me like Ron treats his employees, I’d be off too if I had other potentially even more lucrative offers elsewhere.

Kasper handled it poorly, yes. But don’t let that distract you from the common denominator in all this sorry state of affairs.

My employer doesn't let me turn up to work in a tracksuit.

If they did I would probably cut them a bit of slack.

 

[GBJ]

Lopata leaving was always going to happen sooner or later.

It was a great career move getting away from Sheff U and coming to play regular football in front of a fanbase where he’d already earned lots of credit. He was always too good for this league, and knew he would be snapped up sooner rather than later.

I think the reason it hurts more than your typical transfer is because A) we won’t be receiving that nice 6-figure payday. And B) it wasn’t supposed to happen yet.

Ron’s failure to run this club properly, gave Lopata (his agent) the perfect opportunity to take that next step in his career earlier than planned, and at a loss to us.

Maybe had Ron been honourable and paid what he’d agreed to pay, (not talking about wages), then there would have been a better feeling between Lopata/his agent and Martin, and that may have curried some favour.

Just another day in the life of Soap Opera United F.C.

 

[glenmaster]

Another example of how Ron is destroying the club. What players / agents are going to want to do business with us now? Given the shambolic way the club has been run. It's plausible that Lopata's departure may cost us a place in the play offs and that once again will be thanks to Ron. I fear for us next season, because if decent players don't want to come here we will be staring National League South full in the face.