Yes, if we were looking to put any sort of challenge towards the Prem......otherwise, may as well off load and then blame the manager for lack of success!!
Well at least Pearson is trying to tie the better players to longer contracts. Not that contracts could stop a player from leaving if he wants to.
But i'm very interested in exactly how you can keep players who want to better themselves financially and professionally and then claim that they have been sold from beneath the manager? in todays football it is inevitable that players wield all the power when it comes to transfers and in every way, the only time that contracts are worth the paper they are written on is when an unwanted player decides to see his contract out, whether playing or not and when signing a 2nd contract players can have all sorts clauses written like a fee at which could trigger that players transfer and of course that opens up agents to telling interested clubs exactly what that fee is, like Matty Taylor for instance.
Of course it doesn't help to keep the better players that your club is in a promotion place in January you sign 2 kids and a no mark French striker. It hardly shows ambition.