Michael Brown, El-Hadji Diouf, Danny Pugh, Luke Varney. Jamie Ashdown, Adam Drury and Paul Green have all been released. Left-back Charlie Taylor – currently on loan at Fleetwood Town – and development-squad defender Afolabi Coker are set to have their contracts extended. United have taken up options to extend the contracts of goalkeeper Alex Cairns – the club’s understudy throughout this season – and centre-back Ross Killock. The six young professionals released are Simon Lenighan, twins Nathan and Lewis Turner, Richard Bryan, Smith Tiesse and Gboly Ariyibi. Lots of questions need to be asked? Do we assume that Paddy Kenny is still our no1 keeper? Does this mean we are keeping Morison? Does McDermott have plans for Norris, Tonge, White or Hunt??? Hunt stays???
I would assume Kenny is no. 1 till we buy another keeper. We won't get far if he is no. 1 for much longer imo.
He made some glaring errors last season. Surprised one of the three defenders below weren't released Zeliukas Lees Warnock
None of em out of contract otherwise they woulda been. I think the more interesting list will be transfer listed players, there must be a few on that one also
Fully agree with this so far, but lets hope for more. Although Brown has been fairly decent unlike most of the rest, I still haven't forgotten what he did when he was a Pompy player. We tried to get him and give him a good contract, but he preferred to stay down there knowing he would never play for them again (Due to trigger mechanism in his contract) as he just wanted to carry on picking up prem wages for doing nothing. They were going bust, couldn't afford him etc, yet he would watch them go bust because he was entitled to pick up big money. he came to us once his contract ran down. Mercenary, greedy twat. If we are releasing kids, it can only mean we want to improve the standard, so lets see what they do
Morning All. One step at a time, guys. This is only the players who are out of contract, plus the ones who would have been, except we've offered them contracts. No real surprises & no big debates to be had. Just because we haven't released the others yet, doesn't mean that they're not going to go too! As Josh says, the transfer list will be a more interesting read (& debate). Guess this list will rely heavily on who is saleable, and who we buy in. Fingers crossed!
Fair point WJ Surely Hunt has no future. Morison could be an interesting one? Do we still own him. He is not on the OS
Real pity that Brown has been released, but no real surprise. What will be interesting is to see who comes in as a core DM.
No letter sent to released players: Zoe Ashdown ‏@ZoeAshdown1 3 hrs Just to say though that we heard the news (which Jamie expected) the same way all the #lufc fans did, no letter. Enough of the past! Next...
If we go shouting around that players still under contract have no future then it would make it very difficult to get other teams to pay much of there wage when they loan them.Better to say nothing and get as much as possible of there wages paid by any loan teams.
Simon, it really isn't nice the way Cellino deals with people, very much a dictatorship .. I would like him to drop the tough guy act and start behaving more professionally ... he needs to understand that players will choose to sign elsewhere if he has a bad rep "For the sake of Leeds United he would break himself in two"
Well you have a point Billy its not nice but we tried the be nice last season and they walked all over us,I think Cellino will go for nasty and wants the players to fear the consequence of bad workmanship and lack of effort.
I think we need to let other teams know we are looking to sell. Doubt many of them we will belooking for transfer fees for, probably will let them go n free as long as we get the wages off the bill
Trouble is Josh most are on too much money that no one will pay,best bet is loans for most of them but we do need most of there wages paying.For example millwall only paying £5,000 a week for Morison was too low could have got bigger clubs to pay more by holding out a bit.
No surprises with those out of contract being released. Hopefully we won't be releasing a list of those transfer listed, instead just quietly try and find a buyer. Look at Pugh, he has been transfer listed two seasons running and then he ends up having to pull a shirt on, what does that say to the rest of the squad who are waiting for a chance, we prefer a transfer listed player ahead of them. No quietly seek buyers for those we don't want, if we don't find a buyer then we just wait for their contract to run down. Players can either step up to the plate on the training ground or seek a move away themselves if they find they are not featuring. I agree loans out with part wages paid is probably a realistic option.
It tells them that no matter your situation, if you work hard, act professionally and get your head down in training you might still get a chance. I don't disagree with him being released, but the way he handled his situation set a great example for the younger players IMO. And I completely agree BS, whether people agree with his actions or not, it has to be said the complete lack of respect Cellino has shown to anyone already at the club is absolutely appalling.
I am keeping an open mind on Cellino until it's clear whether I like or dislike what he is doing with our club. The only definite for me right now is I dislike his style, in a number of ways, but especially the public way he treats people with an apparent lack of respect
Nice people are usually not good businessmen. He has to wield the axe,and feeling sorry for overpaid underperforming footballers is beyond me.
It's everyone not just the first team squad And no need to feel sympathy for anyone, it's just bad management in my opinion
