Its always Tease! Tease! Tease! Your happy when I'm on my knees! One day its fine the next its black..... Sorry it reminds me of one of my favourite tracks from the Clash! That and London's Calling! Leadbitter says that he wants to stay at Town after this season but everything is still 'up in the air!' My opinion is that 4 decent football matches at the end of a 3 year contract does not constitute the award of a further contract! Especially when you consider that we have bright young talents like Luke Hyam who has only been given an extra year! Lets remember Leadbitter's contribution to the team over the last 3 years as a whole and not just for a few decent performances at the end! On balance he may have quality but rarely shows it and his passing is all backwards and sideways. http://www.twtd.co.uk/news.php?storyid=20483&title=leadbitter:_i_would_like_to_stay
I would say for the wages he is on (and would probably still be after) and the contribution he provides then no, if he was willing to take a pay cut to fit into line our new wage structure then possibly. The bottom line is that there is definately better and more hungry players on less out there that we could sign to replace him.
Just to throw this into the mix Warky... A few days ago Jewell said that Jason Scotland's contract negotiations were being dealt with by Clegg and that he didn't want to mis-report the information until he knew the outcome of those talks. We heard similar things about Luke Hyam, Carlos Edwards... Why now is Jewell saying HE will hold contract talks with Leadbitter? Giving your players the time once a year to sit down and thrash out a contract is not a difficult thing to get right. Why do they always make such a mess of it? You can't have one rule for your favourite player and a different one for everyone else! Get shot of Jewell and Clegg now please.
It also says on TWTD that Jewell's priorities for next season include a Right Winger and a Striker! No mention of a Goalkeeper or Right Back!
I prefered train in vain myself but each to there own, anyway. Leadbitter - decent player for 6 matches a season after spending 1.7m on him and I would imagine decent wages - no he can bugger off. The scotland situation is a bit different. He has a clause (another Keane/ Clegg cock up) that entitles him to a new contract on his current terms if he starts another match (or 2). As we signed him from a premier league club I would imagine he is on decent wages aswell and with his age it would be madness to keep a squad player on high wages, regardless of age. I tend not to believe TWTD rumours and too much time on this board is spent commenting on rumours from that site that turn out to be wrong. I will save my comments until signings are made but I hope to god that they do include a keeper/ a CB and a RB.
Just for you Tractorbhoy! [video=youtube;eNot47WRBFk]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNot47WRBFk&ob=av2n[/video]
I don't think TWTD's take on Jewell's transfer priorities is anything to go by. There are areas that have needed sorting for far too long now, but that's not to say we can't go out and get another quality striker as well, we need a pacey man up top!
Given Jewell's poor track record in signing central midfielders (Bullard,Bowyer(please!?) and even Andrews who I thought flattered to deceive) I would rather re-sign Leadbitter IF he takes a pay cut.
Big Al, I think thats a bit harsh considering our form central midfielder at the moment is Drury, who not only is a Jewell signing but also cost next to nothing.
Be fair! The only reason Drury is playing now is because we couldn't agree a fee with Crawley for them to take him after his successful loan spell there! It was through pure luck rather than design that Drury is playing for us at all!
I think we could do better than Leadknob. He doesn't have what it takes to be either an attacking or a defending midfielder, so what does he do? He has been an ever present in most of our abject displays and now he's suddenly worth a new contract, come on, please. Whilst he is here and available for selection he will take opportunities from other more able players.
I think its a bit harsh to say Leadbitter has been **** since he's been with us i agree he has been poor this season but before that he was certainly one of our better players.
I'm more of a rock the casbah fan myself!! I'm not too sure about this one tbh. I think there's certainly a good player in there somewhere. Anyone remember his first few performances at the club were superb? Shame about the middle part really!! Whilst I think he has been rubbish, I also think he has been unlucky in alot of ways: For alot of his time here we have been rubbish and in a team managed by Keane Messi probably would have looked distinctly average. Did any player in the Keane era really do himself justice?? Also for alot of his time here, he was played as a more defensively minded midfielder with Norris partnering him. If you're only going to play Norris and another CM in CM that player basically has to run the midfield by himself. Then this season he was given the captains armband and I don't think this helped him. It would be a risk signing him again because he would undoubtably be a high earner and in a position where we are fairly well covered would it be a risk worth taking?? I wouldn't be too dissapointed to see him leave but I could see him going to a big championship club and suddenly performing really well for them!! As for Scotland, I would like to see him sign another contract but clearly he would have to take a wage cut, there's no doubt he's an asset to us but not really worth the high wages!! I hope this is an end of this having a clause in contracts that triggers a new deal after a number of appearences, especially with older players!!
For me Leadboots can go and anyone that says Murray should be given a go needs a brain scan!! As for Messi under Keane, trust me even Keane couldn't ruin the talent that is Messi!!
He's been going great guns at Swindon Spanish... we've seen what the loan spell did for Lee Martin and I'd definitely give Murray a shot.
Whilst I wouldn't mind seeing him given a chance, he hasn't exactly been going great guns at Swindon, he's hardly started a game!! And the good it did Martin, we had to wait about a year after the loan to see what it did for him, it doesn't really appeat to be linked!!
Not sure how you work that one out, he was recalled from his loan as soon as Jewell took charge and made an impact straight away. He's taken it up a notch this season certainly but being away did him good. One of my exs is a Swindon lass and she reckons Murray's been playing out of his skin.
