Posted by Miss Sayaka on 30 May 2000 at 13:14 GMT
Posted from 194.168.67.8 (p08-kingfisher-gui.tch.virgin.net)
In reply to Re: Message for Joeri (off topic) posted by johnd on 29 May 2000 at 21:30 GMT:
No probs. You may not have heard about the problems he had before signing for you, but they were a nightmare for me as I was hearing he was meant to be playing in Ayr and Italy!
I'm not sure why the Italians are so eager to keep him in Italy, good advert for hockey there I'd have thought. The rumour was that although his last team was Vipiteno, he was actually on loan to them and was still on contract to Val Venosta for 99/00 (heard this from a guy in Italy). The Italian fed. wouldn't let him play for Ayr last season, but Ayr cleared it with the IIHF and he played for you. This final part is certainly true (heard this from Patric).
Rumour on the Ayr site following the season being Jim might not want him back (they obviously didn't get along, look at the ice time the poor guy got). Spoke to him (Lochi) last Sunday and he said that a) he wasn't on contract to Val Venosta, but had been, and it sounds like they think they have some sort of claim on him and b) he seems pretty sure that he will play in Ayr next season if it's OK with the Italian federation.
Hope to see him back in Britain, bags of talent there if he was just given the chance.