Dale Stephens - January

[Mackenzie]

He'll stay until the end of the season then reassess I'd have thought. One way or another he'll be in the PL next season. As a free agent he can virtually ask for anything such is the power of (in demand) players.

 

[spring hall convert]

EDIT: Wrong thread.

 

[spring hall convert]

Both him and Beram are good enough to play in the PL. There's not many players who, knowing that they are good enough, would stick around in the tier below when they could be where all the money and prestige is at, unless they are on equivalent deals.

We should count ourselves lucky we retained them both, with one even signing a new contract. That is testament to the resolve of the club. To go through what we did in August to keep Dale and then offload him for pittance in January would be madness.

You talk about bringing in someone better than him, who is that? He is one of the best, if not the best midfielder in the league in the particular role he plays and anybody that comes close would be completely unrealistic to obtain. Even someone like Hourihane would be very difficult to prise away.

Yes, I think there's an element of luck. I also wouldn't discount either Chris Hughton and the team spirit from this equation.

 

[NooBHA]

I honestly thought he would change his mind until I saw that facebook or twitter post he made when he didn't get the move in the summer.

However after that I don't think his mind will have altered. That said neither should the clubs position. He is important to the team. Even more so with touching distance of the Premier League being well within our capabilities in these coming months.

The rewards for going up are just too high to take the gamble of letting him go. I don't think his mind has changed from the summer because that facebook post was very clear; however, thats not to say his stance won't alter if we are 10 to 12 points clear of third spot by the time January comes round and even if it doesn't the way I see it is for all you gamblers out there. You are getting at least 12/1 your money if you gamble any potential transfer fee you would get for him if he helps us go up. So for me the answer is easy. He stays whether he likes it or not. But deep down I would love him to want to stay willingly

He strolled through that Leeds Game and I don't think we could get as good a replacement in without paying almost as much as we would get for him. Yes Norwood could step in but who steps in for Norwood as cover for him ?

 

[SeagullinExile]

Is the sensible option, I think Tony is laying his cards on the table this season and will spend to improve our chances considering our current position and teams like Villa and Norwich behind us...

Time to go all in.

100% this

 

[Hugh Jorgan]

Tony has publically said he's not for sale in January.

So he's staying.

I don't think he did say that.... didn't he say we won't sell anyone in January that we don't want to.

That is the difference, if we have a replacement lined up they may feel that they should cash in on Stephens if the fee is right.

 

[Seagulltonian]

Keep him in January. We go up. Tell him to find another club when the season ends

All the time the situation was going on in the first transfer window it definitely rocked the boat, and we had an iffy run then.
As it's now been shown, a happy team with no prima donna's and committed to the cause get's great results and everybody plays for everybody!

 

[Blue Valkyrie]

I don't think he did say that.... didn't he say we won't sell anyone in January that we don't want to.

That is the difference, if we have a replacement lined up they may feel that they should cash in on Stephens if the fee is right.

That is just semantically trying to misinterpret Tony.

You need to look at the way it was said, and the expression on his face.


It was was not a sneaky political answer.

 

[pasty]

I feel he's been told to stay put for the remainder of his contract and if we fail to go up, he can leave. If we go up, the promise of a much more improved contract.

I have no problem with that if that is the case, but for one thing. I admit, I don't know much about the ins and outs of player contracts, but why not offer him a 1 year contract for next season as well, but with say a £5M buy out, or a clause that says he can go to a Premier club? At least that way we could some £ for him rather than f-all. He's happy because we allow him to leave. Club happy (ish) to get a fee.

 

[Marshy]

If we have a suitable replacement lined up I can still see him leaving in Jan.

If we dont he stays its simple.

 

[Insel affe]

If we have a suitable replacement lined up I can still see him leaving in Jan.

If we dont he stays its simple.

Please god not Fat Frank

 

[Machiavelli]

If Bloom was going to sell he would have done it in the summer.

I thought then that Bloom's bullish stance on transfers was correct and our present league position proves him right. I'm sure there is some sort of gentleman's agreement in place that either he'll be offered a new deal with us in the Prem, or be allowed a move to the Prem if we're not up.

I get the feeling that this season is sh1t or bust for us. We were so close to promotion last season that Bloom managed to convince all the key players to stay whilst bringing in a quality striker like Glenn Murray but I don't think he'll have quite the same option open to him if we miss out this time. If you let Stephens go you've got to let Dunk go, and if Bruno retires and Murray returns to Bournemouth then you've got a major rebuilding job on your hands on the back of huge losses in 2015/16 and 2016/17.

Agree with all this, but think more emphasis needs to be placed on cutting back next season if we don't make it. You just have to look at what we lost last season, how much more we're spending this season, and how much we can spend over that new three year FFP period that came into effect this season. Bloom said as much at the Bristol Fans Forum.

 

[Icy Gull]

Need to keep everyone and sign a Baldock replacement. If we don't go up this season we will be back almost to Square One and will lose pretty well all our best players.

Enjoy the season, next year could be fantastic or a complete disaster (as far as a promotion push goes) depending which division we are in.

 

[Yoda]

I have no problem with that if that is the case, but for one thing. I admit, I don't know much about the ins and outs of player contracts, but why not offer him a 1 year contract for next season as well, but with say a £5M buy out, or a clause that says he can go to a Premier club? At least that way we could some £ for him rather than f-all. He's happy because we allow him to leave. Club happy (ish) to get a fee.

Maybe they are trying to work out that kind of contract with both Dale & his agent. Remember the club are very secretive when it comes to contract negotiations nowadays.

 

[sydney]

100% this

that.....we need a quality striker and i mean quality....if we can jag a 20 goaler from somewhere then i can't see us not getting promoted.....our defence is rock solid with goldson , rosenior & bong as back up ....our midfield is solid with sidwell , march , kaz & kayal to come back ....if they are not going to let Hambo loose then we need to off load elvis and get a proper goalscorer in ....and by that i mean charlie austin or better......this is it boys ...it's ours to throw away.....i ****in love this club....XXXXX

 

[Munchkin]

Maybe they are trying to work out that kind of contract with both Dale & his agent. Remember the club are very secretive when it comes to contract negotiations nowadays.

I think any contract offered by the club has to have the CLUBS interests as a priority rather than the players IMO.

 

[Kalimantan Gull]

Everyone keeps saying he would be silly to sign a new contract, but consider this, what if he got injured in say Feb/Mar with an injury that took him well into the next season. Let's not forget it wasn't that long ago he was out for a few months. An injury like that could lead to no clubs signing him in the summer. If I was him I would sign a new contract that had a release clause of next to nothing if we don't get promoted. He then has all bases covered. If he doesn't sign a contract then there is a risk that we could get promoted and still be without arguably our best player for life in the premiership. He will get a nice sign on bonus from potential suitors if he is a free agent in the summer so it is surely in our interest to get him signed up to a new contract too.

I have no problem with that if that is the case, but for one thing. I admit, I don't know much about the ins and outs of player contracts, but why not offer him a 1 year contract for next season as well, but with say a £5M buy out, or a clause that says he can go to a Premier club? At least that way we could some £ for him rather than f-all. He's happy because we allow him to leave. Club happy (ish) to get a fee.

Maybe they are trying to work out that kind of contract with both Dale & his agent. Remember the club are very secretive when it comes to contract negotiations nowadays.

I would imagine that his agent is definitely asking for such a contract, with a big signing fee, I'm not so sure that we are happy to give it though, we have to be pretty confident of going up and that will certainly be impacting on our expectations and requirements for next season. Having a key midfielder with a small release clause is not something that will help us next summer

 

[WATFORD zero]

I don't want to see him go but i have my suspicions that a deal had already been done and am hoping that a replacement deal has also been done

 

[Nixonator]

I don't want to see him go but i have my suspicions that a deal had already been done and am hoping that a replacement deal has also been done

Almost zero chance of this.

If even a scraping of this were true we would have been phasing him out and not be asking him to do our latest press conference.

 

[severnside gull]

No real financial benefit from letting him go. His wages are nothing in the greater scheme of things and the Burnley bids were all "bugger all up front with installments and conditions that might never be triggered"
Keep him now then go up and the keep him.