That thread has taken a new twist, apparently City are guilty of tapping up the player, offering him a financial package to enter in to an exclusivity agreement and the Snake deliberately left it 'till the last minute to sign.
https://www.inbrief.co.uk/football-law/football-player-under-contract-approach-clubs/
All of which, if true, would have come out after they went crying to the FA.
Reality is, his release clause was common knowledge, we couldn't have spoken to the player or agent until we had agreed a deal with Rovers and if any other clubs had come in for him, his agent would have been delighted as he would have been able to negotiate a better package. Reality is, no other clubs bid for him.
As for the timing... if Rovers knew they could lose their best player for 300k and didn't have a contingency in place the fewers need to ask questions of the club.
Idiots.