RevidgeBlue

That'll be why the bribe to the FA of £100m has been included.

Hypothetically at his age If he didn't think he warranted a pay cut or deserved a two year deal then he would have been being seriously deluded imo. We offered him a deal, he didn't want to take it thinking he could do better elsewhere, but presumably had a rude awakening in the wake of the Covid Crisis. That was his prerogative entirely and I dont think anyone is labelling him any more of a mercenary than the next player but equally its time for us to move on imo.

Not just because you've posted it but I couldn't disagree more. ? Be a total waste of a wage. He wouldn't or shouldn't get into the current midfield, especially once Travis is fit again and it wouldn't be that far removed from paying Smallwood to do nothing because he's a good old boy about the place. Albeit Downing would get slightly more game time.

Just hope we don't go back to Downing as a last resort. We need a dedicated left back not a 36 winger cum midfielder who can fill in there. I'd rather stick with Bell until January. Downing had a good spell with us but looked to be on the wane in the second half of last season. He didn't like our original offer and would be coming back with his tail between his legs after failing to secure anything else. Best to leave it at that with decent memories of last season.

One of the major points about this which people seem to be overlooking is the proposal that Clubs can broadcast their own games on their own digital media platforms. The "big" Clubs have been after some form of this forever and to date it has been resisted by the PL to try and maintain an element of competition. I know a lot of people don't like the PL anyway but I think the beauty of it such as it is and the reason it is so popular across the world is that in the past revenue has been distributed on a collective basis. This has meant that whilst in the past the cream will rise to the top over any given season, on any given matchday, a Palace or a Southampton has every chance of giving a Chelsea, Arsenal Spurs or United a good game and even turning them over. This simply doesn't happen across most of the major European Leagues and thumpings of 4 to 7 nil are relatively commonplace. If the collective approach is allowed to fall by the wayside then the PL will become like a slightly bigger version of the top flight in Scotland whereby instead of Rangers and Celtic massacring everyone every week it'll be four or five sides massacring nearly everyone and only getting a competitive game between themselves or a couple of sides just outside the top bracket. That's no doubt what the top Clubs want to keep them fresher for Europe but it should be resisted for as long as possible.

Yes. Absolutely agree. The notion that the big six Clubs could veto the takeover of another Club is particularly abhorrent. Don't want anyone upsetting the applecart even though its virtually impossible now to anyway thanks to FFP. Not sure why anyone apart from the PL Clubs in question would be in favour of ANY of the proposals.

The amount we receive would be largely irrelevant as regards the rest of this season. If we could guarantee Dack was fully fit and back to normal by next week say, then yes that would make all the difference in the world but we don't even know for sure at this stage if he'll come back the same.

Have to disagree, it would turn a half decent window into a near disaster.

I'd put a new deal for Bennett as being about as sensible as the one for Mulgrew!

Indeed. In summary we gave a load of unnecessary long term contracts to average ageing players who were never going to take us forward and we've stagnated for two seasons as a result. Compare that with King Kenny. Speedie did far more for the Club than the players that have been mentioned have ever done and no doubt deserved a crack in the Premiership with us on the back of his efforts in the promotion season but was dispassionately sacrificed to bring an even better player in.

I think you've nailed it there with the key word being "wrongly"!

I think strikers are a special case as ones that can find the back of the net regularly always command a hefty premium but if their contractual situations were all identical I wouldn't say Nyambe was any more or less valuable than either Lenihan or Travis.

That might be your (and the manager's) assessment of Nyambe. I'd say (as with Raya) you're both flat out wrong but football is a game of opinions I guess.

Don't disagree with the 4 above, but silly to claim Nyambe isn't a key player imo. Dack hasn't got "at least" 2 years left either even if he signs an extension, it's a year and a part of a season at best.

Fair point on JRC but we shouldn't be in this position with Dack and Nyambe.

Couldn't disagree more. We have Nyambe, Dack and JRC in the last year of their contracts and really no key player should be allowed to get within less than 2 years of the end of their deal.

I was complaining about all of those at the time. Also Graham.

At the time yes, but If things subsequently changed and the player wanted to leave all he would have to do is allege that the original deal was made on the basis of certain assurances which haven't been met and that we haven't kept to our side of the bargain etc etc. You'd have to be quite hard nosed to take that stance but like Lucash certain players might feel their loyalties lay more towards their next Club than their current one.

I'm not convinced as a matter of law you can compel someone to sign an extension against their will. It's tantamount to slavery. However if it's used as a tool in football to ensure the parent Club gets a decent fee in the event of a sale then fair enough. Doesn't change much IF he wants to go and there's interest though. He'll be offend we just get a better fee.

If Dack wants to move this summer even, and there is interest he probably will do. I'm not convinced he can be compelled to sign a 12 month contract extension against his will but even if he can the only benefit from our point of view would be we'd get a better fee for him if he was set on leaving.

Let's see if he signs a new deal then eh?

Damn.

Quality. This line of discussion is approaching Ray Wilkins spotted at the Wilpshire Hotel cult status now. We only need to reignite the speculation as to whether a bid for Marcus Maddison by an unnamed Club might be us now!

But sadly not with us. Not even a hint of a play off push. And he's been here seven (?) years.

That's my impression as well, that he's not ruthless enough where they're concerned. I was merely responding to the suggestion that Whiteman and the manager didn't hit it off at interview. Maybe he got the "you'll only be coming in as a squad member" spiel. Mulgrew HAS been rotting since August 2019 hasn't he?