Oatway,job for life

[algie]

Charlie Oatway has been promised a job for life with Albion - even if he never plays for the club again.

Chairman Dick Knight has told the injury-plagued ex-skipper he can finish his playing career elsewhere if manager Dean Wilkins does not want him and then return to a role behind the scenes.

Oatway has not played for the Seagulls since breaking an ankle against Queens Park Rangers at Withdean on Boxing Day 2005.

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The 33-year-old midfielder has been given July and August to prove his fitness and give Wilkins a chance to assess whether he will be part of his plans.

Knight said: "I have given Charlie a two-month contract. We are very confident he is on the road to recovery and will be back but you have to remember Charlie has been out of football for what will be getting on for two years.

"Even if he is physically fit will Dean have a place for him in the first team squad? The last thing Charlie wants is to be sitting on the bench. He is desperate to play again but it is only fair that Dean might not want him in the first team.

"So we are going to discuss things with Charlie in the latter part of August. If Dean doesn't want Charlie but he is physically fit then we will let Charlie go to another club and I have already made him an offer for when he finishes playing.

"He will come back and he will have a job with the club afterwards. He has got a job here for life all the time I am chairman."

Oatway will be following a similar path to another former Albion captain, Paul Rogers. He has been the club's sales manager since hanging up his boots.

Knight said: "It's like Paul, I saw something in him. I thought he would make a good coach but he didn't want to go into that so I employed him in another role.

"It is the same with Charlie, he is such a great personality and leader by example. He is inspirational and I think he would be fantastic with young people, for example."

 

[Barrel of Fun]

Good move.

He is a great character and hugely popular with the players and club staff. I, for one, would be very happy to have him involved with the club, when his playing days have finished.

 

[algie]

Michel Kuipers has been handed the opportunity to stay with Albion for an extra year.

The long-serving Dutch goalkeeper's new one-year contract includes a further 12-month option, providing he makes enough appearances.

Chairman Dick Knight revealed: "The option with Michel is the sort of contract I have given to other players in the past. If he plays a certain number of games then he will be offered the option of signing for another year, which is what I did with Gary Hart and Kerry Mayo."

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Knight has risked further controversy by sanctioning the appearance-related option clause for Kuipers, who will be 33 later this month and has so far been second choice under Dean Wilkins.

The manager is thought not to be a fan of the arrangement, which caused widespread debate last season over Hart's future.

The popular utility player was left out of the team for a couple of months when just short of the appearance criteria before returning to the side towards the end of the season to guarantee a new one-year deal and with it a testimonial.

Option Adam Hinshelwood, Albion's injury-plagued defender, also has a one-year contract with a one-year option but the option in his case is with the club.

Hinshelwood is currently recovering from a second cruciate knee ligament operation. He will be 24 in January and entitled then to a free transfer.

Knight explained: "I offered him a one-year contract with an option which the club will exercise if he has played a certain number of games, so we have him for another season or longer.

"His agent was reluctant to accept that at first but Adam sees it as a very sensible way to deal with the situation.

"Otherwise he could walk out of the club at the end of the season and the club wouldn't get anything at all. When I explained all that to Adam he was only too happy to agree the terms."

Albion are waiting to hear whether French midfielder Alexis Bertin, signed from Le Havre in January, will accept a two-year deal.

Knight said: "Alexis is still mulling over the proposal I have put to him. I have offered him a two-year contract.

"We want to keep him but we have to stay within our budget. The fact that he hasn't snapped my arm off, though I made a very generous offer to him in the context of our wage structure, means that he is looking at other options but he may well stay with us."

Paul Reid will discuss his future with Knight and Wilkins today after returning from his native Australia.

The versatile 27-year-old suffered cruciate knee ligament damage at Carlisle last September.

Reid has been offered a one-year deal but is understood to be looking for two years.

Should Michel Kuipers start the season in goal for Albion ?

 

[algie]

Give Reid a 2 year deal then Knight.If we lose him we are in deep shit.He is the only player in his prime

 

[sir danny cullip]

Give Reid a 2 year deal then Knight.If we lose him we are in deep shit.He is the only player in his prime

And hopefully he will be played in his best position next year along with Hammond/Bertin.

 

[Arthur]

Great! So they'll just create a job for him like they did with Rogers.

Haven't got a pot to piss in but hey at least we're doing the noble thing!!

 

[Yorkie]

Great news that Charlie is staying on in another capacity in the long run.

 

[Withdean Wanderer]

He's said before that Oatway has a job for life - good move i think, even if it's not as a player. The amount of people who've signed for us and say 'Charlie Oatway is the funniest bloke i've ever met' within their first week of signing is riduculous!

 

[John Boy]

I wonder if it will be a Paul Rogers style office role, or a coaching role?

 

[Yorkie]

He's said before that Oatway has a job for life - good move i think, even if it's not as a player. The amount of people who've signed for us and say 'Charlie Oatway is the funniest bloke i've ever met' within their first week of signing is riduculous!

Paul McShane gave an interview when he won Player of the Season at West Brom. When asked who was the funniest footballer he had known, it was Charlie Oatway at Brighton.

 

[algie]

I wonder if it will be a Paul Rogers style office role, or a coaching role?

Since we are famous for playing players out of posistion,perhaps Oatway has been offered the goal keeping coach job

 

[sir danny cullip]

Since we are famous for playing players out of posistion,perhaps Oatway has been offered the goal keeping coach job

Still no on replaced Keeley....Seriously though I can see Charlie as a great number 2, not quite sure he's got the tactical nouse (sp?) to be a manager himself but would be great in a Bob Booker type role.

 

[clapham_gull]

I think its wrong to assume that Oatway wouldn't get a job anywhere else and also it's wrong to think that its a case of the club doing him a favour.

All the managers who has played under have said the same thing and he would be asset in many dressing rooms.

EVERY single player we've met at Seagulls Over London has spoken of his importance, particularly the younger players. They don't really mention his jokes, more the encouragement and advice he gives them.

Basically he's considered to be "management material".

 

[Zebedee]

I think its wrong to assume that Oatway wouldn't get a job anywhere else and also it's wrong to think that its a case of the club doing him a favour.

All the managers who has played under have said the same thing and he would be asset in many dressing rooms.

EVERY single player we've met at Seagulls Over London has spoken of his importance, particularly the younger players. They don't really mention his jokes, more the encouragement and advice he gives them.

Basically he's considered to be "management material".

Much like Kerry and Harty as well I assume? Oh my gawd.


:thud:

 

[Horsham Gull]

Bring back Charlie!

 

[surrey jim]

Oatway was a great leader within the team, i still think it was his injory that sent us down, hopefully the youngsters can benifit from his knowledge

 

[Zebedee]

Oatway was a great leader within the team, i still think it was his injory that sent us down, hopefully the youngsters can benifit from his knowledge

Just a shame about his positional sense on the pitch and his man marking! That said, I'm still a Charlie fan.

 

[BUTTERBALL]

Great news about Charlie. Good player and a great bloke to have around the club.

 

[clapham_gull]

Much like Kerry and Harty as well I assume? Oh my gawd.


:thud:

Not connected.

Anyway - look no-one is pretending that he's the best player in the world, just passing on what EVERY SINGLE PLAYER / COACH who has come to speak at the meetings has said.

No cooincidence either that none of the managers has ever tried to ship him out. He has been viewed as instrumental in bringing the younger players through as well.

Might be bollocks, but for the life of me can't see why they would all go out of their way to mention him and rarely mention other players in the same way.

The meetings are FAR from a love in either as anyone who has been can testify.

 

[Horsham Gull]

a nice role in the youth team coaching beckons?