Unpublicised extensions to contracts revealed by the Argus

[JBizzle]

Is this not the same mistake we made when being promoted to the Championship last time? Dick & Co daftly (although with best of intentions) handed out 3 year, from memory, extentions to some players who never really cut it in the higher league.

Not really. Three year extensions is very different to one year. It gives us the option to keep if they have a good season like Barnes/El Abd etc and then allows us a transfer fee for those that don't (Poke/Dicker). The fee isn't then restrictively high because there is only one year left.

All of the players on that list seem sensible and will likely be renewed or not again because they either lived up to expectations or failed to meet the required standard.

Gonna be an exciting summer!!

 

[Mellotron]

Gus has said he expected SIX new players in. No question we are moving a fair few on.

 

[mejonaNO12 aka riskit]

How are people getting a NEGATIVE story from this exactly?

Yes we need a new goalkeeper and i'm pretty certain Gus will get one.

Brez and Ankergren are hardly TERRIBLE are they? Yes there has been a couple of f*** ups but it's not like they can't actually catch a ball.

Best case scenario : we receive a bid for them of some financial standing. We sell and get a transfer fee.
Medium case scenario: We invite bids of £0 and sell them for free. Therefore not cancelling their contract and not paying up a years wages.
Worst case scenario: We have two very capable back-up keepers on not much money.

Hardly AWFUL is it?

 

[El Presidente]

And this. I will seriously question Gus if he does not urgently address our most pressing need!

A greater variety of pies in the Amex? Shirley even Gus' talents cannot extend that far?

 

[El Presidente]

How are people getting a NEGATIVE story from this exactly?

Yes we need a new goalkeeper and i'm pretty certain Gus will get one.

Brez and Ankergren are hardly TERRIBLE are they? Yes there has been a couple of f*** ups but it's not like they can't actually catch a ball.

Best case scenario : we receive a bid for them of some financial standing. We sell and get a transfer fee.
Medium case scenario: We invite bids of £0 and sell them for free. Therefore not cancelling their contract and not paying up a years wages.
Worst case scenario: We have two very capable back-up keepers on not much money.

Hardly AWFUL is it?

True.

This season we have had FIFTEEN clean sheets, which is pretty good, only five teams have done better.

However we have failed to score in FOURTEEN matches, none of the top six have had more than 8, and we are equal thirteenth in this stat table.

 

[Surrey_Albion]

I though t El Abd signed an extension back last year keping him at the club longer than 2013,I may be wrong but I am sure I read it last year

 

[Forster's Armband]

What is wrong with people on here? The situation is clear. Gus has said he is speaking to players who have no future and telling them to find other clubs. So lets say its Poke, Sparrow, Painter and Harley for example. They will then get on to their agents and say find me another club. We invite bids. We may be get some money for them we may be just let them go. Point is Gus will end up with the squad he wants. This is not the old days when we had Kevin McLoud and David Livermore and know one else wanted them. As someone else said we have quality Lge 1 players that have won the league and teams like Coventry, Donnie and Pompey mat want. Weird that people are getting worried.

 

[theonesmith]

True.

This season we have had FIFTEEN clean sheets, which is pretty good, only five teams have done better.

However we have failed to score in FOURTEEN matches, none of the top six have had more than 8, and we are equal thirteenth in this stat table.

It all comes down to the budget Gus has to work with, no? If we stay roughly 14th in the league in terms of budget (very possible) I would expect us to bring in one or two quality players (a forward and a midfielder) and then play the same (somewhat negative, as demonstrated by your stats) gameplan as this season. As Gus has often said, they way we have punched above our weight is by being difficult to score and play against, and then winning the game on an individual action. It could continue to be a successful gameplan for us next season... We just need a couple more individuals who can take more advantage of individual actions in the final third!!

I really don't expect much in the way of signings, especially with these new "financial fair play" rules kicking in. In fact I'm hoping that the football leagues, as a whole, cool down a bit this summer. It's completely unsustainable.


As a side-question, reckon we will see many of the development squad supplement the first team next season?

 

[Kalimantan Gull]

Could be worse, barring a few (Bridcutt, Barnes, Dunk) the majority of top players have at least two seasons left. The only upsetting thing is, barring offers, we could be stuck with Painter (and Dicker) for another year...*weeps*

'Stuck' with Dicker? WTF? One of best players at the start of the year when we were topping the table. He may not get back to a first choice starting position depending on Gus' signings, but 'stuck' with him is away off the mark.

 

[HawkTheSeagull]

This isnt bad at all, yes it may be a bit harder for players to move on (unless they mutually get the contracts cancelled), but it means the club can now get some money in from a clean-out, which can be used to get players.

 

[Gullflyinghigh]

'Stuck' with Dicker? WTF? One of best players at the start of the year when we were topping the table. He may not get back to a first choice starting position depending on Gus' signings, but 'stuck' with him is away off the mark.

Oh he started strongly but then so did most of the squad (the widely disliked Harley also started well...), before the injury he was (in my opinion of course) losing his way already. He'll do as a squad player but if we were to get an offer for him I'd be surprised if it was turned down. Can we at least agree that Painter is in the 'stuck with' category?

 

[Meade's Ball]

I don't really understand why anyone would want a clear-out when the majority of these players were heroes of ours not so long ago. That doesn't mean they remain first-team regulars, but if they are happy to remain in the squad and look to prove themselves as decent enough to play, like Navarro has in disproving most of the doubtful minds of his talent, including mine, then great. There'll be some who simply have no place any more and the squad will need trimming to get more big fish in, but to look to delete 12 players, for instance, from our records, and gamble with their replacements, is ludicrous and idiotic. Painter, sadly, and Dicker, heartbreakingly, haven't quite been able to take the step up, but i don't believe they should be thrown away for one bad season, and certainly don't believe they are unable to progress. We'll obviously lessen ourselves of a couple of keepers. Harley we'll be mostly glad to see the back of if he tries hard enough to leave. Sparrow may want first-team football elsewhere. Other than those named there then i don't see any player who could be classed as calamitous by anyone but the most simpleminded.
Completely overhauling a squad who exceeded almost everyone's expectations robs us of progression, which should always be gradual, and never revolutionary. We'll have a team where almost everyone has Championship experience for a side who finished in the upper side of midtable. They sound pretty good to me and i'll be clapping each and every one of their names whomsoever is announced as starter for the first game next year. Long may or strides upwards continue, even if they shorten slightly.

 

[hans kraay fan club]

I don't really understand why anyone would want a clear-out when the majority of these players were heroes of ours not so long ago. That doesn't mean they remain first-team regulars, but if they are happy to remain in the squad and look to prove themselves as decent enough to play, like Navarro has in disproving most of the doubtful minds of his talent, including mine, then great. There'll be some who simply have no place any more and the squad will need trimming to get more big fish in, but to look to delete 12 players, for instance, from our records, and gamble with their replacements, is ludicrous and idiotic. Painter, sadly, and Dicker, heartbreakingly, haven't quite been able to take the step up, but i don't believe they should be thrown away for one bad season, and certainly don't believe they are unable to progress. We'll obviously lessen ourselves of a couple of keepers. Harley we'll be mostly glad to see the back of if he tries hard enough to leave. Sparrow may want first-team football elsewhere. Other than those named there then i don't see any player who could be classed as calamitous by anyone but the most simpleminded.
Completely overhauling a squad who exceeded almost everyone's expectations robs us of progression, which should always be gradual, and never revolutionary. We'll have a team where almost everyone has Championship experience for a side who finished in the upper side of midtable. They sound pretty good to me and i'll be clapping each and every one of their names whomsoever is announced as starter for the first game next year. Long may or strides upwards continue, even if they shorten slightly.

Absolutely BANG on.

 

[Simster]

How are people getting a NEGATIVE story from this exactly?

Yes we need a new goalkeeper and i'm pretty certain Gus will get one.

Brez and Ankergren are hardly TERRIBLE are they? Yes there has been a couple of f*** ups but it's not like they can't actually catch a ball.

Best case scenario : we receive a bid for them of some financial standing. We sell and get a transfer fee.
Medium case scenario: We invite bids of £0 and sell them for free. Therefore not cancelling their contract and not paying up a years wages.
Worst case scenario: We have two very capable back-up keepers on not much money.

Hardly AWFUL is it?

Very much this.

I actually can't believe we're sitting quite as prettily as we are. The only cause for concern is getting Vicente to sign for another season. Meanwhile, if we get decent goalkeeper and a decent striker then we'll challenge for the play offs again next season, minimum. Meanwhile Gus is free to find players who would improve the squad, and I'm fairly sure that some of the fringe players would be let go to lower league clubs in situations where a deal could be reached to suit all parties.

 

[backson]

Some of the comments are harsh on Painter and Dicker, both out for half the season and both not been able to evolve with the rest of the squad. Yes you could argue their form was tailing off before injuries, but at that time a lot of the players weren't playing so well, it wasn't a good few weeks for us. Also harsh to judge anyone in a small number of games after coming back from long term injury.

 

[HawkTheSeagull]

I don't really understand why anyone would want a clear-out when the majority of these players were heroes of ours not so long ago. That doesn't mean they remain first-team regulars, but if they are happy to remain in the squad and look to prove themselves as decent enough to play, like Navarro has in disproving most of the doubtful minds of his talent, including mine, then great. There'll be some who simply have no place any more and the squad will need trimming to get more big fish in, but to look to delete 12 players, for instance, from our records, and gamble with their replacements, is ludicrous and idiotic. Painter, sadly, and Dicker, heartbreakingly, haven't quite been able to take the step up, but i don't believe they should be thrown away for one bad season, and certainly don't believe they are unable to progress. We'll obviously lessen ourselves of a couple of keepers. Harley we'll be mostly glad to see the back of if he tries hard enough to leave. Sparrow may want first-team football elsewhere. Other than those named there then i don't see any player who could be classed as calamitous by anyone but the most simpleminded.
Completely overhauling a squad who exceeded almost everyone's expectations robs us of progression, which should always be gradual, and never revolutionary. We'll have a team where almost everyone has Championship experience for a side who finished in the upper side of midtable. They sound pretty good to me and i'll be clapping each and every one of their names whomsoever is announced as starter for the first game next year. Long may or strides upwards continue, even if they shorten slightly.

I dont want an entire clear-out, but as with every club - some players leave during the summer and if they did, it allows the club to bring in better players and keep pushing towards the promised land. Some of the players who will leave, we wont want them to of course as they have done well for the club, but to allow the club to progress, we need to improve. At most 6 players will leave, but i would have thought they will be replaced.

 

[Mellotron]

I dont want an entire clear-out, but as with every club - some players leave during the summer and if they did, it allows the club to bring in better players and keep pushing towards the promised land. Some of the players who will leave, we wont want them to of course as they have done well for the club, but to allow the club to progress, we need to improve. At most 6 players will leave, but i would have thought they will be replaced.

Gus has said he wants to buy 6 players. Our squad is MASSIVE currently. I see more than 6 players being sold/released.

 

[Forster's Armband]

Some of the comments are harsh on Painter and Dicker, both out for half the season and both not been able to evolve with the rest of the squad. Yes you could argue their form was tailing off before injuries, but at that time a lot of the players weren't playing so well, it wasn't a good few weeks for us. Also harsh to judge anyone in a small number of games after coming back from long term injury.

Possibly a tad harsh and you make a good point about them being out but......and bare in mind I support whoever Gus picks.......Dicker is FAR to slow on the ball and needs 2 sitting midfielders for him to be in the team and Painter lacks the pace to be good enough at this level. He is solid defenisvely but can't attack like he did in league 1 or like Mattock did for us this season. I would say keep Vincelot for LB and let Painter go and get 1st team football elsewhere.

 

[saafend_seagull]

Ankergen, Painter, Dicker, Harley even though in contract I am sure if we put them up for sale, at a cost of only a payment if that team is promoted a top 10 League 1 club will snap any of them up!

 

[leigull]

Ankergren, Dicker and Painter are the only ones I really don't think are good enough to be in or around the squad so they would be 3 I'd definitely move on. I would be happy for anyone else to stay should we not be able to source better replacements, and that includes Harley.

The other thing, is why weren't some the contract extensions announced publicly?

Was suggested to me that it was to do with Stephenson but that doesn't really explain much?!