All this talk of who has the power. Player or club? Neither, according to snap it's me. I've got the power...
(I'm on the same side as you beef) Or be patient for 5-10 years, do what we're currently doing and increase our stature gradually while maintaining this business model until: a) we're regularly in Europe and have started breaking into Champions League, b) our commercial revenues have caught up with our on field successes, and c) we're showing that we're a reasonably good option for winning trophies also. A lot of people (not you beef) are undervaluing the extensions we've made this summer IMHO. We're only 2-3 players away from a side that would be superior to last year's.
But the thing is, if we are actually powerless to keep players who want to go... why give extensions at all? If the players don't work out, you are stuck with a long term deal. If they are good, they leave when they want anyway.
Long term deals on players you value are worthwhile...you either keep them or get more money when you sell if they have longer left on their contracts. There is a chance you get stuck with a player, but that's a chance you take. Every team has had their fingers burnt somewhere....risk you take. Overall it's a good thing....hopefully you get some stability.
I haven't said powerless. I also don't agree that if they're good that they leave when they want. Contract extensions give the club a little more control of the 'when' and the 'how much for' part of the conundrum should a player decide they do want to leave. In general terms the value of the assets doesn't change much until there is less than 2 seasons left on the contract. If I was estimating I'd say the selling price of the asset in football based on contract length remaining, it would be something like 5 years: 100%, 4 years 95%, 3 years 90%, 2 years 80%, 18 months 60%, 1 year 40%, 6 months, 20%. So, by extending contracts of these players we're extending their loyalty for an extra season or two safe in the knowledge that we'll most likely sell at a point that maximises our return on that investment (usually 2 years to go) before we rinse and repeat with a slightly better prospect. The key point here is we need to have the player long enough for their value to have increased, but still have long enough left on their contract for us to not be mugged off by the buyers.
No, we wouldn't. If Player X refuses to ever play for Saints ever again, then we lose more money if we have to pay him for only 1 year than if we have to pay them for another 4 years. So the more they are owed, the more badly we need to sell. Furthermore, if Player X is on a long term deal at high wages he is worth LESS to other clubs because he will not agree to terms unless the contract is an improvement on his current one. All other things being equal, would you rather have the player who is currently on 25k a week, or the player who is on 60k a week? You have a lot more leverage in the first instance so you would be more willing to pay a higher transfer fee and make up the difference by paying the player less. The only reason why a long term contract would be worth more than a short term contract is if you have some ability to actually enforce it. We can charge Man U money because there is a threat that we could potentially get Fonte in line and he will play another good year for us. Otherwise, we should just transfer him for free, because at least then we aren't paying him 50k a week to not play. So people need to stop saying we are helpless to stop players who want to go. It's not the case. We have some limited ability to keep them here. And then it's just a question of whether it is worth it. But the contract isn't totally worthless. It's not worth a whole lot, but it's not worthless. Speaking of just handing out rolling year to year contracts-- when you are redoing contracts for a player after every season, that's pretty much what you're doing.
If a player refuses to train or play, I suspect you fine them so you don't pay their full wages. I doubt you can refuse to play on full wages. Never come to that apart from with a complete nut job. Most would reset their sights to the January window and would therefore play to keep fit. Everybody would have to be completely intransigent to arrive at that scenario.
Apologies. Am abroad and have read 35 pages and am none the wiser. Is Fonte staying or going? (We should have a banner at he top of each thread which summarises what is happenning: e.g.: no incoming transfers, fan meltdown, Fonte probably leaving, no-one has a clue, etc)
This thread is not going away is it. Hope Friday can help sort it one way or the other. I hope we go there and really piss JM off, like we did at Stamford.
Actually no. I don't have a problem with new contract extensions. Some are good, some are bad. Which I've said about 5,000 times. I think it's funny that everyone defends every contract extension... and then when players leave they lament that it's all players are greedy and contracts are useless. If players are under no obligation to live up to their end of the deal, then for crap's sake stop giving them more money. If by giving players more money, you actually can get them to stay longer... then stop complaining the the board has no control. You can't have it both ways.
ok then, you mention contract extensions being bad time and time again. No wonder I think that. Despite several people countering it, you always seem to have been moaning about them. Over this issue, I haven't said contracts are useless, your are sweeping everyone under the same broom. That's not right really when having a discussion. I actually hope the club will make Fonte stick to his contract.
Puel has said that Fonte is a professional. I have no doubt that he will settle down if nothing comes of these shenanigans. He may let us down by leaving, but he won't let us down by being sulky if he stays.
In the team for me. He has more to lose than us on Friday. Friends, reputation, massive transfer bonus fee. Stick him in.
Had to wade through eight minutes of nothingness to get that snip-bit, so yes, we did need him to tell us that!
