Lockyer and Lines
- Thread starter Captain Jack Sparrow
- Start date
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Ok I know this is going to sound like gloating and to some extent it probably is however I am curious to get a Rovers fan perspective on the fact that we managed to sell basically our second choice left back with barely a league season under his belt for something in the region of £13m to £17m yet Rovers let their 24 year old Captain, a full international (albeit Wales) with over 250 league games to his name to leave on a free. Surely someone dropped a clanger over there? I’m not saying you would have got that sort of money for him but to get nothing at all is ridiculous isn’t it?
Media coverage of your young'un and basically the enormous gap that exists in the financial standing of the clubs within the second and third tiers of the EFL { With the exception of maybe one or two from each division }
You are correct though and it is gauling to watch this happen but that is the butter that get's spread for all of us over here at Rovers, it is not the first time and won't be the last that one of our better players departs for nothing or next to nothing........ oh for a sugar daddy eh ?
You are correct though and it is gauling to watch this happen but that is the butter that get's spread for all of us over here at Rovers, it is not the first time and won't be the last that one of our better players departs for nothing or next to nothing........ oh for a sugar daddy eh ?
Lockyer was out of contract. He ran his contract down as wanted to leave. New contract offers were made during the season but Lockyer thought after 8 years that its time to move on. Fair enough.
As for you selling your back up full back for that much, then happy days. Money in the Prem has been stupid for the last few seasons and thats spread down to the championship now. Prices for English players in the top 2 leagues are ridiculous. Fair shout for getting so much.
But isn't a bit of a bit cock up to let a saleable asset like Lockyer to run his contract down? It smacks of no forward planning. Most clubs would never let that happen if they don't sign a new contract the season before its due to run out then they sale. We've done it with Bryan, Reid and probably do it again with O'Dowda this summer.
Course it is a cock up. DC didn't like offering long contracts and as a result we messed up on a few players. But Lockyer was a player who was given a longer contract than most. Lockyer said he should have left 2 seasons ago but was under contract. He said he did his best to get Rovers to the next level where Lockyer wants to play to further his own and international career but instead of pushing for glory, we were pushing for survival. DC at the start of the season would have tried to negotiate a new contract with Lockyer otherwise DC would have let him go for some money. Like he did for Bodin and Harrison. Then DC went and a new manager came in. Lockyer then felt enough is enough and decided it was time to leave. New manager has said he wants Lockyer to stay but we cant force him to sign a new contract. New manager could have sold him in Jan for hardly anything but then as we were in a crucial relegation battle, how would that have gone down with the fans selling our best defender for peanuts to make a quick buck and then have no money to replace him and would have been certain for relegation. Weigh it up, we probably got more money in surviving in L1 than what we would have got for selling Lockyer and losing money due to relegation. Plus if we put him up for sale in Jan, Lockyer would have been limited to the teams who were interested in him and may have decided to take his chances to find better alternatives in the summer.
I thought Pompey all along but I reckon he's better than them and besides they could have just an ordinary season next year, who knows ? it didn't go to plan for Browner this year did it !
Going back a few years now and I expect OT remembers him but we had a Welsh player in our team by the name of Gareth Taylor and I am pretty much sure that when there was a sniff that Palace were about to come calling he signed a new one year deal with the Rovers in order for the club to command a reasonable fee for him, which from memory was an initial 750K topping out at 1.25 M.
Mind you, that was when we had a different set of people running the club.
Going back a few years now and I expect OT remembers him but we had a Welsh player in our team by the name of Gareth Taylor and I am pretty much sure that when there was a sniff that Palace were about to come calling he signed a new one year deal with the Rovers in order for the club to command a reasonable fee for him, which from memory was an initial 750K topping out at 1.25 M.
Mind you, that was when we had a different set of people running the club.
Personally, i think Locks is over rated. He was ok, but not on the same level as some of our other CB's of recent years such as Steve Elliott or Byron Anthony - the same Byron Anthony who would regularly mess up but for the most part was a better overall player than locks in my eyes.
I do remember Gareth Taylor, a young striker 1990 - 1995 16 goals in 47 appearances spent most of 1991 on loan before joining Palace and among others Man City. Pity we couldn't find another Gareth Taylor but we don't seem to get many Welsh youngsters any more
If he goes to Pompey then he has gone with Marcus Stewart's advice. Lockyer said he's been contacted by top L1 clubs and lower half championship clubs. Stewart advised him to go for promotion to the championship with a team that is likely to be there or thereabouts, rather than join a championship club and struggle all season and could be relegated.
Oh well, what will be will be I suppose but if it is going to be Pompey then how the heck is he going to put up with that tattooed bloke and his bells { Chimes } all season ?
Locks should hold out for a Championship club that's in with a shout of the playoffs. Can't see the point in going somewhere like Pompey.