[Football] Stockdale to Sarfend .. (how the mighty fall)..

[dazzer6666]

For me it's about sheer greed over ambition.

He must have been on at least £20k a week, for the past few years. That's £1m a year, before deductions. If we had several million in our bank account, how many of us would turn down PL football? He chose to play at the bottom of the Championship, to amass more money.

I don't believe we would have signed Ryan had Stockdale stayed, but even if we did, DS should have rolled up his sleeves and taken on the challenge.

In another 5 years' time, his career will be over, and he'll probably look back on his time and wish he'd given it a real go at the top level.

Not sure I agree totally - I think we were going to sign Maty, and as a result DS was told he’d probably be no 2 (and only get a 1 year contract) so, with his agent, worked out that he’d get more money, a longer contract and potentially more game time elsewhere so he jumped.

Agree he might look back and regret it though. Club got it right to be fair, Maty is a better keeper.

 

[Pavilionaire]

I like Stockdale, he was a key player in a wonderful Albion side, good luck to him.

 

[Stat Brother]

I like Stockdale, he was a key player in a wonderful Albion side, good luck to him.

For posters to say anything else makes them look very small indeed.

 

[Bozza]

Not revelling in it at all myself. I find it just a little bit sad - for us and him. He’s clearly not fully committed (a top pro would not have the fitness issues he obviously has) and it feels a bit like a waste of a talent. He did some brilliant stuff for us and was a top clubman when he was here.

I didn't say you were, but some certainly have previously and there are touches of it on here.

I'm led to believe that Hughton didn't really rate him and wasn't particularly impressed at Stockdale's always-out-there, heart-on-his-sleeve kind of ways.

Despite an incredible season in our promotion campaign, I'm sure Stockdale knew that he was not going to be first choice the following year and I'm sure his contract offer reflected that, and almost certainly represented a pay cut on what he had been on.

He took a contract that was, I'm sure, better than we'd offered, was for longer, all but guaranteed first team football and helped get his family back closer to his true home. It's a lot easier to visit friends and family in the Leeds area from Birmingham than it is from Brighton.

As much as I'm sure he felt a real connection to the Albion, I can imagine almost everything about the move made sense for him and his family. The snide "should have stayed for Premier League football" comments have very little merit as far as I'm concerned.

 

[dazzer6666]

I didn't say you were, but some certainly have previously and there are touches of it on here.

I'm led to believe that Hughton didn't really rate him and wasn't particularly impressed at Stockdale's always-out-there, heart-on-his-sleeve kind of ways.

Despite an incredible season in our promotion campaign, I'm sure Stockdale knew that he was not going to be first choice the following year and I'm sure his contract offer reflected that, and almost certainly represented a pay cut on what he had been on.

He took a contract that was, I'm sure, better than we'd offered, was for longer, almost guaranteed first team football and helped get his family back closer to his true home. It's a lot easier to visit friends and family in the Leeds area from Birmingham than it is from Brighton.

As much as I'm sure he felt a real connection to the Albion, I can imagine almost everything about the move made sense for him and his family. The snide "should have stayed for Premier League football" comments have very little merit as far as I'm concerned.

I know you didn’t......and agree with all of that.

I think he took security over potential......... most of us would do the same, but he might consider it an opportunity missed one day.

 

[Wozza]

He must have been on at least £20k a week, for the past few years. That's £1m a year, before deductions. If we had several million in our bank account...

An estimated £1m a year gross does not mean you'd have "millions in the bank", you wozzak.

...how many of us would turn down PL football?

He'd already played Premier League football, with Fulham.

More to the point, as stated elsewhere, it's thought that he'd been told that he would be No2. So he actually turned down sitting on the bench in the Premier League.

He chose to play at the bottom of the Championship...

He obviously (??) didn't know Birmingham would struggle. They were ambitious.

... to amass more money.

He has a family. He was quite open that he went for job security. A longer contract and on more dosh (and first-team football). Fair play.

I don't believe we would have signed Ryan had Stockdale stayed

Again, it's widely believed he'd been told that he'd be no.2 and was offered just one year. He wasn't in CH's plans.

but even if we did, DS should have rolled up his sleeves and taken on the challenge.

In another 5 years' time, his career will be over, and he'll probably look back on his time and wish he'd given it a real go at the top level.

Then again if he'd signed a one-year extension, he could be out-of-contract right now, or paying for peanuts.

But he's got a roof over his head, and has probably set-up his family for life.

It's his call. Not sure why others are so judgmental, especially as the Albion have made some great decisions in the GK dept.

 

[BNthree]

Not sure I agree totally - I think we were going to sign Maty, and as a result DS was told he’d probably be no 2 (and only get a 1 year contract) so, with his agent, worked out that he’d get more money, a longer contract and potentially more game time elsewhere so he jumped.

Yeah he left because we were signing Maty and Stockdale didn't want to be 2nd keeper on a 1 year contract. Which is understandable really.

 

[Weststander]

I know you didn’t......and agree with all of that.

I think he took security over potential......... most of us would do the same, but he might consider it an opportunity missed one day.

[MENTION=6886]Bozza[/MENTION] is correct, I’m also led to believe that CH didn’t rate DS as our first choice moving forward and that the club were unimpressed with his ‘fitness’ issues each close season.

 

[GT49er]

An estimated £1m a year gross does not mean you'd have "millions in the bank", you wozzak.



He'd already played Premier League football, with Fulham.

More to the point, as stated elsewhere, it's thought that he'd been told that he would be No2. So he actually turned down sitting on the bench in the Premier League.



He obviously (??) didn't know Birmingham would struggle. They were ambitious.



He has a family. He was quite open that he went for job security. A longer contract and on more dosh (and first-team football). Fair play.



Again, it's widely believed he'd been told that he'd be no.2 and was offered just one year. He wasn't in CH's plans.



Then again if he'd signed a one-year extension, he could be out-of-contract right now, or paying for peanuts.

But he's got a roof over his head, and has probably set-up his family for life.

It's his call. Not sure why others are so judgmental, especially as the Albion have made some great decisions in the GK dept.

Agree - except for 'An estimated £1m a year gross does not mean you'd have "millions in the bank", you wozzak'. Leaving aside 'you wozzak' as personal abuse, if I earned a million in a year, it wold feel as if I had got millions in the bank.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

Leaving aside 'you wozzak' as personal abuse.

Snowflake.

 

[nicko31]

Feel sad about Stockdale, yes he got a big payday but things really have gone bad for him and he could give as much more. Dirty Leeds?

https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/sp...eds-united-birmingham-city-transfers-15438467

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

I like Stockdale, he was a key player in a wonderful Albion side, good luck to him.

He also seemed a decent enough bloke. I hope it works out for him.

I’ll overlook all the “fear is a liar” mumbo jumbo.

 

[TWOCHOICEStom]

This never ends does it.

We don't know the details. There are so many possibilities and in the end, he chose to go to the championship to get a decent wage instead of whatever lay around the corner with us. We don't know what his contract terms would have been, if he'd have been number 1, we don't even know what he knew. We just know he didn't stick around.

The fact is that he was a central part of probably the best Albion memories any of us have and we can't understand how he would ever walk away from this.

But that's just a romantic load of nonsense. He has a family and a bank account and his career will be over before he's 40. That's football. He's never said a bad word about us and his saves got us into the Premier League.

 

[Brovion]

I think it's quite fair to say he has fallen from grace. He could have been a Prem keeper now, instead he's at Southend, and all this in just about two seasons.

Only perhaps if Birmingham had got promoted, as he certainly wouldn't have been a Prem player with us. As ThunderBolt and others have pointed out he was a vital part of the Championship promotion team, but the club rightly identified that goalkeeper was one of the positions where we needed to strengthen for the PL. He was a good Championship player (in the right team), a great servant for us, and he certainly doesn't deserve the abuse he gets (unlike Bridcutt for example). But he isn't/wasn't PL quality - as his subsequent career has proved.

 

[BBassic]

He was a BIG part in getting us promoted but he did also lose us the Championship with pretty well the last kick of the season.

I enjoyed his time here and some of the saves were stunning.

Utter twaddle.

We had three games to win the title and fluffed our lines in all three of them. Seem to recall we had two excellent chances to put the ball into the net before Grealish's equaliser in that game.

Stockdale didn't lose us the title. Piss poor performances over three games lost it.

 

[dazzer6666]

Utter twaddle.

We had three games to win the title and fluffed our lines in all three of them. Seem to recall we had two excellent chances to put the ball into the net before Grealish's equaliser in that game.

Stockdale didn't lose us the title. Piss poor performances over three games lost it.

That. There was more than one mistake by one player in those three games.

 

[Icy Gull]

Utter twaddle.

We had three games to win the title and fluffed our lines in all three of them. Seem to recall we had two excellent chances to put the ball into the net before Grealish's equaliser in that game.

Stockdale didn't lose us the title. Piss poor performances over three games lost it.

This is true, maybe I was being a little harsh ignoring the failure by the whole team over those last three games but if he had saved that shot we would have been Champions.

 

[Taybha]

You know what happened next , excellent keeper who never let us down .

 

[dazzer6666]

You know what happened next , excellent keeper who never let us down .



View attachment 102288

Still my favourite Amex game........

 

[Insel affe]

Feel sad about Stockdale, yes he got a big payday but things really have gone bad for him and he could give as much more. Dirty Leeds?

https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/sp...eds-united-birmingham-city-transfers-15438467

Bad really despite what we think of Leeds, he is a massive Leeds fan though i think, so would probably take the offer even if slightly lower than he wants.

So actually a dream move for him.