But it wasn't a hidden clause at the time.

The chronology is wrong for that.

Nobody can honestly believe that the club agreed to a clause that said '125k if he plays for England, but we'll knock a hundred grand off if we ever want one of your coaches as a manager before it's paid'

In addition, I can quite easily see a scenario where West Ham wanted, say, 150k for Grant, however negotiated it to 100k, as the Ashton playing for England wasn't ever a certainty.

Posted By: Arganth, Oct 6, 11:56:53