UNless I missed it no-one came in for Sharp before the deadline. Have to say I'm surprised! Does that mean that MP thinks he could perhaps do a job for us from the bench? Personally I'd like to see him geta chance. He's a natural goalscorer and lets face it we need goals! What do we all think?
Mauricio has already said that some players including Billy are not in his plans. Cannot see that turning round now...he will surely go out on loan. His wages are probably too high to get him a permanent move.
No. We don't want to let him leave on loan unless someone pays 100% of his wages, and he doesn't want to take a wage cut in order to play.
SSN said last night that four or five clubs were in for him on loan, offering 75% of wages but Saints said 100%. I presume that the club stance is that he must take a pay cut rather than the club paycut.
I think that the club is being mean...they are trying to make him desperate to move him on. If we don't want him (which was harsh without giving him a chance) then we should compromise. This leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
I'm a little torn myself Fran. On one hand, I partially agree with you; 75% of wages is a big chunk and let him go. On the other, I can't imagine NC would be happy having to pay something for someone not there ... Although the alternative could be paying everything for nothing.
If sharp wants to play he will take a pay cut. In no way are we being mean. We gave barnard, butterfield, recently guly and perhaps a few others contract extensions when they were squad players which was very generous of the club. In many ways we have been too loyal and too generous to the players.
It does strike me as a "cut your nose off to spite your face" Syndrome with Billy........I have to agree I am somewhat bemused that no one has actually come in and bought him. So what is it that managers can see that we can't with him?....His career will stall if he is not careful.........I understand the thing about his wages but surely 75% is better than nowt. On the other hand Billy sticking out for high wages is also (if this is true) not in his long term interests either. A bit of a mystery for me.........
Agree that it's not as if Southampton are not paying him. I'm pretty confident that when the loan window re-opens one of those clubs will look at their squad and wage bill and come up with the 100% required. As previously said if Billy was desperate to play he would of compromised on his wages.. Perhaps he is at a stage in his life where he can't walk away from the money we're paying him and you can't blame him. He has done very well for 6 months work and the club don't owe him a career
He's on really high wages for a Championship standard player. Keep in mind we gave him top end Championship wages, then with promotion that ended up giving him even more. He's not good enough to justify a Championship team paying him so much. Maybe if he was good last season, it'd be easier, but as it is, nobody thinks he's worth the money.
We do seem to be inconsistent with players...if they are in need (like letting Punch go for family reasons) or injured (Seaborne remarked how kind Nicola was to him) we are good to them, but then play hardball in other cases such as Billy and Nigel. I have noticed that some men become harsher when they think they are in the wrong, but can be pussy cats when they have the chance to be magnanimous and look good. Some statements from Mauricio (which I think were just repeated straight from Nicola) suggested that certain players were unwanted and it was up to them to find a solution and move on. Surely, if a player has a contract and it is our decision to move them on, a compromise would be better.
Its not a lack of kindness that is preventing these players leaving it is their own greed. A comprimise would be better for the club short term but i suppose coryese has more to gain by sticking to his principles. His the one who has been entrusted with the money and as such its a good sign that he feels the club can lose a a few 100k for the sake of a principle. Good on him, we shouldnt be paying a player money when they are playing for another club.
Championship sides will re evaluate their squads now the window has shut. There will be sides that missed out and are still in need of a striker who will score goals at that level. With the permanent window closed they will look to use transfer money to subsidise wages for a loan signing to get that required goal scorer. Advantage Nicola.....
This is pretty standard negotiating. Lots of other clubs want him so why should we compromise and let clubs offer less than the going rate? He will go on loan to a club that is willing to pay his wages.
He is Championship standard (sadly, not given chance to prove otherwise)...how many of those clubs will pay PL wages (mmm...come on QPR, you know you want him). Still think that Saints should pay part of his wages or even better give him a sweetener to move on. Often in life, it is better to clear things out and start afresh.
Clubs did come in for him, just not prepared to pay 100% of his wages. I expect him to go out on loan when the loan window opens next week.
It's hardly like Billy is going to need to get food stamps if he goes on to 75% wages (as rumoured that would be 15k a week rather than 20k). Sorry, but my sympathy valve gets switched off when we're talking those figures.
Hopefully it won't be too long before someone in the Championship realises all of their current strikers are crap. Not surprisingly no one is willing to spend quite a lot of money on a late impulse. That's basically what we did when we bought him in January, so I suppose this situation is the consequence.
