Steven Davis signs new three-year deal until 2019

Agreed, steady and major. Each place and point is huge improvement when you consider that every season competing squads are getting stronger. Next season doesn't necessarily have to be a place or points improvement with the Europa League also in the mix.

 

Peace, guys.

I'm not at all unhappy with the club's progress. And I quite like Davis, for real.

He's one of the better midfielders in the league. That's quite good. He would not be easy to replace, nor am I trying to boot him off the team or anything.

His only sin is he is not VVD or Forster, who were the two guys I felt we needed to extend if possible. Maybe Mane.

The vast majority of the team is pretty darn good, which is why we finished sixth. But the table does not lie. If we want to improve, we will have to replace some players, despite the fact that they are quite good. And at. Davis's age it is unlikely he will be a major part if the team three years from now.

I agree that we will have to expand payroll. And it does present a problem if guys like Davis who have been here and proven themselves don't get the cash, but some unproven starlet does. So that is a decent BUSINESS related reason to extend him.

But anyone who thinks we need to "reward loyalty" or some other nonsense isn't paying any attention to how we got Davis so cheap in the first place.

 

VVD and Forster, who have been given extended deals!

 

Massive backtrack there ISIRTP. Massive. You've taken Davis now to "he's one of the better midfielders in the league".. That's some change from he's ok. If you really think that then the whole conversation has been a bit pointless.

 

We have improved season by season, but we must be careful not to view a points drop as sign of imminent disaster. At 6th, we only have 5 places to go! As you say, the competition is getting stronger and we have the Europa next season. There will be seasons when we finish lower and (hopefully) some when we finish higher...the main thing is that we continue to be a good side who are in there competing.

 

I don't think it's that much of a backtrack. I take "one of the better" to mean a little better than the average.

For me Shane and Davis are in a similar bracket. They are some of the "better than average" players in the Prem. What we will need to replace with eventually is not "one of the better" it is "one of the best" and at the minute we can't afford "one of the best."

 

Fair enough. I take "one of the better" to mean "one of the better" rather than "one of the above average ones".

 

It's not even down to just the money....at the moment the top players wouldn't come here...unless they were old or paid truly stupid money. Our market is amongst the talented and still hungry young players who see us as a chance to play in a good side on a regular basis. That is who we are.

 

I think the Premier League is full of average players and there aren't that many "one of the best" so "one of the better would put a player into the top 20%.

 

Which takes me back to my post to SIRTP then. I stand by it. If Davis is top 20%, he's better than "ok"

 

Davis is certainly top 20%. For his role, and the roles he's capable of playing, I'd make him top 10%.

 

I think this is good news, which could only be made better by us bringing in, or someone within our squad, stepping up to genuinely challenge Davis as our main attacking midfielder.

 

Yes he is OK for where we are at the moment. And one of (if not the top of the list of) my favourite players.

 

This (and your other posts above) is pretty much how I feel about Davis.

 

I like him

 

He is, like Fonte, a player who has been consistently good for where we have been at any of the moments since he joined. He has impressed, and exceeded expectations year-on-year, exactly as Saints have done. This is what makes him better than just 'OK', in any way you want to talk about the word.
I have felt for a number of years that his time was nearly up, and that he couldn't possibly keep up with our new-improved team - but he has proved me wrong every year.
He is now one of our most consistent, and loyal players, and exactly the type of player we need to be showing appreciation of.
I think this is great news, and with all the uncertainty facing us (again) this summer we should be grateful to have the likes of him 100% in our squad.

 

I would give Jose Fonte an extension before I'd give one to Davis... but I wouldn't give Fonte an extension either.

 

.

 

We've had a not606 board meeting and we've decided not to renew your contract

 

This man has gone too far