Darrell Clarke is determined to retain the services of Michael Smith and John-Joe O'Toole after both players were named in the PFA League Two team of the year. Right-back Smith has been one of Rovers' most consistent performers this season, while O'Toole has scored a number of vital goals after striking 13 times from midfield. Both players are contracted to stay at the Memorial Stadium beyond the summer. Clarke said: "Michael is contracted to the club and is enjoying his time here and the situation is the same with John-Joe. We want to keep people like Michael Smith and John-Joe at the club. Everybody has a value, but we want to be keeping our best players. Michael Smith is probably the best right-back in League Two and possibly even the league above. He epitomises everything I want to build at the football club in terms of the way he plays and the way he conducts himself. He has really impressed me in the way he goes about his business. John-Joe has also scored a number of vital goals from midfield for us and that is a great achievement in itself. He works hard in training and is another good professional." Taken from the Post.
We should also be looking to get a decent fee for both of them. Smith in particular should attract decent League 1 - lower Championship interest. I'm not too bothered about JJOT. We'll probably keep Gow and he'll chip in with goals from the midfield and will link up play better. Smith I'd love to keep, but we have to be realistic. We can't stand in the way of a good young player - let's face it, we've been total horseshit for 4 years and there's no guarantee we'll be any good next year, so he's very likely to move away, whatever DC's hopes are.
Smith deserves to play at a higher level and has earned the right to do so not sure about JJOT I think the 2nd Division is his level
like lambert i wouldnt be upset of smith goes to better himself. gutted of course but i be pleased for him. jjot though, i think the way he comes across in interviews, what he said about wanting to play higher divisions and waited for ages to accept us, i get the impression he thinks he is better/bigger than the club. his performances has been poor. i said before he signed that i wasnt keen on him. his last few games last season before he returned to colchester wasnt impressive and i thought his wages would be high and he came across like he didnt want to be here. think he has got a lot of stick because of all this. but he has basically kept us up. he is our top scorer by miles. i wouldnt be gutted or upset if he goes. i think we should be able to get at least £100k for him. still under contract and was in team of the year and 4th top scorer in the league and all from midfield. that money plus the amount we will free up from the wage budget would help us a lot.
That's the frustrating thing about John-Joe - he just seems so disinterested and is either not aggressive enough and consequently ineffective, or over aggressive and gets sent off or booked. But there's no denying that he knows where the goal is - the way he ghosts into position to score at close range is the sign of a good player, but most of the rest of his play isn't up to the same standard, largely.
JJOT took out a couple of players to create the space for the cross for the winning goal on Saturday. I don't know why you guys have such a downer on him.
i dont mean to knock him, im not the sort to knock our managers or players. but JJOT winds me up like no one else. for starters he has been banned for 6 games this season due to stupidity. 5 yellow cards = 1 match ban. then 10 yellow cards = 2 match ban. was given a straight red for violent conduct = 3 match ban. 6 games altogether. most of not all of his yellows were needless like back chatting the ref or getting involved in pushing people etc like what happened when he got a straight red. that is not acceptable. he is out of the game for than he is in it. reminds me of lines in his last season with us only turning up for 20 mins of the game. JJOT dont even manage that. last season he did great with us but the last few games last season was poor. he messed us about in the summer and has admitted before he came to us that he dont want to be playing in league 2. he believes he is better than the club and listen to all his interviews this season, he doesnt want to be here and have shown no fight or passion when the going gets tough. yes he has scored most of our goals but thats because he is in the right place at the right time and thank goodness he has that about him otherwise we would be relegated by now. we could do a lot better. his performances this season hasnt been good at all. i bet he is well paid by us which could be used to get 2 or 3 players who wants to be playing for rovers and would do a great job. but that aint his fault though. thats wards and higgs fault.
