But does this show the ambition Snoddy's looking for? What state is the squad going to be in when we "regrettably" sell McCormack because the offer was "too good to turn down"? Clayton was, from what we can gather, asking for £9k/w, are we really going to find a player who's better on less than that, especially since we would probably have to make a loss on transfer fees to sign him? Warnock also wants to send Thompson out on loan, what if Brown doesn't then sign his "reduced" contract and we're left with only Danny Pugh (who is on the same wages Clayton apparently isn't worth) at CM? It's early days but it's worrying.
Who says the CM to replace Clayton HAS to be on 9k p/w? We might pay him 15k p/w, if he's worth it! The point Warnock and other people on here are making is Clayton isn't worth the wage he's asking for, in relation to the squad position Warnock obviously has in mind for him. We have a wage budget for the entire squad, not each player. If Warnock finds a CM who would run the show, every game, he'll pay him what he's worth, and it'll be good business. What wouldn't be good business is paying a back up player the money that would otherwise go towards the wages of a better player.
The thing I don't understand and we do it time and time again with players is this... We can give Clayton his 9k a week and we could have given Howson a bigger contract (at an earlier stage) and we could have given Johnson a better contract and we could have given Gradel a better contract. Then when push comes to the shove we could have commanded maybe £2 million for Johnson but instead he walks on a free. We could have commanded £4 million for Gradel he leaves for a quarter of that and same with Howson. It will be the same with Clayton - No club is going to be bidding £1 million plus for a player with 12 months left and transfer listed by his club. Give him his 9k and if he under performs send word out that he might be available for £2-3 million I certainly believe he is worth 9k what do you think he is worth Kiwi out of interest?
I agree re Johnson/Howson/Gradel, but if Clayton under performs, even with 3 years on his contract, on the back of a half decent season and a bad start to the new one, we'd still be lucky to get anything near £1m for him. Nobody in the right mind would pay £2-3m for a young CM with one decent season behind him, regardless of how many years he has on his contract. If, hypothetically speaking, he did stay, and had a bad start to next season, I'd say he'd be worth even less than he is now, and definitely wouldn't have many clubs going in for him. Better to sell now if he won't take the terms Warnock feels he's worth.
He's easily worth £9k, you're not going to find many better CM's in the league and if we actually replace him with better I'll be extremely surprised. None of the names that have been thrown about are better players, never mind that Clayton is only going to improve. The main point is that we shouldn't have to sell key players to raise transfer funds, what happened to the Gradel and Howson money? What do you think will actually happen to the Clayton money?
I'm not too sure really, not knowing what other players are on. But if you say that Snoddy and McCormack are on 11k p/w (read it somewhere on here) and those two are our best players, considering Clayton will probably be rotation or a squad player next year, I'd imagine 6k p/w at a push. Every penny is going to count for Warnock, no point paying players who aren't going to be shoe ins for the first team the wages he could otherwise use on first team players
He shouldn't have to use transfer funds to get players in, and who says that's what they'll even be used for?
The way I see it, he's not good enough to be the leading midfielder in a promotion winning side. Just my opinion. Yes he will improve, but Warnock's building a team for THIS SEASON, not long term. I don't think we should have to sell key players to raise transfer funds, not at all! But if they're not accepting the offer on the table, what choice do we have? If we give in to their demands, there's no money left for other players' wages. Not the way it should be, but it is unfortunately. And if Warnock doesn't get the Clayton money, I'd imagine he'd walk, so we'll have to wait and see on that one.
If you feel he is worth 6k then an extra 3k is going to cost the club £150,000 for the year, we are not going to replace Clayton with a better player for that much should Clayton decide to run down his contract and walk like Johnson did. If we sold him and got £500k who is going to be better and be available for that much? I trust what Warnock is doing and will adopt a wait and see approach, I just hope it all works out well for the club.
I don't know the team's wage policy, but I don't think he's half as good Snoddy and McCormack, so accordingly, I wouldn't offer him much more than half their wages. That's just my opinion there. Obviously that's not how football works! If we can't replace Clayton with better, then I don't see us getting promoted! Again, personal opinion, and I'd love to be proven wrong, but I don't think he's good enough, over the course of a season, to be the midfield general we need to get us up. Let Warnock have a look and see who's available
Got to remember the FPP rules have come in, so I think the club is gambling that no-one else sees him as worth the amount he puts on himself either. He's not (yet) a Prem league prospect, so only the Champ or lower is possible. If no-one comes in for him at the price he has set for himself, he may well accept a lower (but good) offer from us. The one thing that is going to change is that footballers wages are going to reduce (except for the real cream of the crop), and they and their agents had better start getting used to that. In the meantime, expect more players to be turned down before they man up
I think Ristac has hit the nail on the head. £9k a week plus bonuses is over £500k a year. Sorry guys, but at this level, I'd want to see a guy running the show & conntrolling the game for that sort of money. Not sure I agree that Derry is the answer, as I think he's not likely to be with us for long. Either e go up this coming season or we don't. Would we really want a 35 year old coming in for one season on 7 or 8k a week, only to be replaced by a younger & fitter player in 2013/14? Let's wait & see what happens between now & the end of May, & then the beginning of July. Either we'll get some quality in or we won't. If we do, great. We can all look forward to an exciting season. If we don't, I can foresee Warnock walking before the season starts.
From Warnock's perspective, if that 34/35 year old came in on 7/8k p/w and got us promoted, that's perfect. He's not here next season, and rightly or wrongly, I don't think he's overly bothered about players with potential like White and Clayton. He likes White because he's pacy, but again, I can't see him keeping him if he believes his wages are unreasonable, simply because he's not the finished article. But yeah if Warnock doesn't get the backing, he'll walk. Fingers crossed I guess, eh? It'll be a roller coaster ride, that's for sure.
The FPP rules are not going to get any effect for at 5 years. So until they will, Leeds is the only team to obey them.
Is Derry the kind of quality we are looking for? I really hope we will be looking for something better. The minimum requirement must be that the ones we get in at least has to be better than the ones we ship out
My thoughts exactly, if Clayton goes I'd want something better coming in, though Derry would probably be a good fit for Warnock's plans of promotion. I can't help but agree with all the comments about shortermism.
Don't think Derry would be the replacement for Clayton. If he did come in, it'd presumably be to rotate with Brown in the holding role, which I'm fine with.
I guess I could see Brown / Derry rotating. If that was the case (and Clayton leaves) I'd want 2 new CMs to compete for the other CM role (assuming 4-4-2). Pugh as utility backup, not one of the rotating CMs
