I was talking to a steward yesterday and he said at the agm the gills board are not prepared to pay the 6000 a week cody wants .Also we want to buy cody but coventry don't want to sell so that's why were at a stalemate but after yesterday Scally may change his mind as a striker is needed asap .
From the AGM it was said the decision will be made in 2-3 days. As for wages and whatever he gets paid, he has a choice, we took him from out of the cold (not playing) last time, he has the same choice this time - bring your wages down or continue to not play -simple.
I can see the wages issue from both points of view. I would expect that a compromise might be achievable for the remainder of this season - with a clause of £ X increase if we get promoted / get out clause if we don't etc. A point I would raise is ' How much, potentially, would failure to gain promotion, cost the Club ?' There are only about 17 or 18 weeks left of this season ( without any play-off period .) If you assume that £6000 per week is probably double what any of our players are getting in wages - and that if GFC 'only' want to offer around £3000, the difference over the next 18 weeks is about £ 54,000. 1. Whilst we're not swimming in money - I don't think £54 K will cause us any hardship. 2. I firmly suspect that failure to gain promotion will cost us far in excess of £ 54,000. I don't believe that players shoulld hold a club to ransom - but Gills would be wise to look at all the possible consequences of a deal for Cody.
though your correct alwaysright in stating it's a gamble worth taking in the fact promotion would & should cover any costs regards cody mac short term and would far out way the outright negatives of not gaining promotion from div two this season...or any other come to that...which i would be pretty sure Gillingham fc are aware of in the first place always ! i feel the fact cody would be picking up six grand could well have a negative impact on the rest of the playing staff ?...though like you that's a chance i'd be willing to take right now and then address it come the end of the season when things are a lot clearer regards what the future holds for GFC. as someone else said, it looks Coventry only want to loan him out, while Gillingham want something more permanent and that could be as much to do with the hold up as wages for Cody McDonald ???....just hope something gets done either way so we can get someone in, because it's a must for us.
Unless the difference between what we are willing to offer and what he wants his huge do we want a player who is only money orientated. We offer probably gauranteed first team football (you never know under MA) and a good opportunity to be in promotion winning team. Also I know it worked both ways when he was on loan with us but without that season would he have got the move to Coventry. Now don't get me wrong I am a fan of Cody and would love to have him back at the club but surely Cody needs to look at the situation like a house sale, we might not offer the full asking price but the situation we are in is a good package. I agree with alwaysright about the cost of not getting promotion is huge so we could offer him slightly lower wages but then a one of bonus if we do achieve promotion.
I wouldn't hold the fact that Cody is on 6k a week and doesn't want to drop against him. He's got 18 months of his contract left so thats about 1/2 a million quid if he stays there. Footballers work for a wage like all of us,so why give up that amount of money when it can go a long way to setting you up for life. I think if we hold tight, Coventry want shot of him and I reckon they'll have to do a deal with him to buy out his contract for a sum less than the 1/2 mill they'll have to pay in the long term, to get him off the wage bill. He would probably be happy then to take a pay cut. Supposing Cov offered him 1/4 mill to leave then we could probably pay him 2k a week and everyones a winner.
I agree vinney, precisely my thoughts that Cody while under contract may well hold on to his current pay packet. However, what he needs to look at is he is about 26 years of age, so once his 18 months is up, that will still make him still less than 28, so then what? His choice but in 18 months time or even less he could well be ruing his chances. I said two seasons ago what would happen to him when Norwich started playing silly games, although fortune shone at that time with Coventry, will he be so lucky again or unlucky if you take wages out of the equation. I expect players like all of us live within their means, so it is not a case probably of being set up for life with less than 1/2M but how will he pay those same bills in the next chapter. The above is not an indication that I want the player, I am just expressing an opinion on the reality of his situation. I would also welcome him but while no deal has currently been done (unless they are signing the paperwork now), I think we have more than an adequate equivalent in Birchall. So if I am saying that as a League Two club supporter, I think Cody needs to consider his options very careful.
Any potential Cody deal is fraught with problems. The QPR situation is a great case study in what happens to a team when there are sudden disparities in pay. Frankly, the stalwarts in a team, who might be the backbone of the team but receive modest remuneration, just give up. This is not necessarily intentional it just happens when players feel undervalued. There are plenty of good casestudies about players returning to where they had once been successful and they are hopeless. Examples are ten a penny but just think back to Chris Dickson and Bob Taylor and the sheer disappointment and embarrassment that followed their return. So, with Cody having achieved the grand total of 6 goals in the last two years the message is simple BEWARE. However that does not mean an arrangement is out of the question. Vinney is dead right that Coventry want to get shut of him and they might give him a golden goodbye to get him off the payroll and it just might be possible to do a deal within the Gills wage structure that does not rock the boat but it is high risk. Much lower risk would be an ex Championship youngster who has just failed to make the grade or just never had a decent chance. Alternatively encourage the back four to cross the halfway line and attack like they did early season and last season when goals came aplenty. Last defender to give it a go was Jackman and his quite superb equaliser against Exeter. His reward? Dropped.
Hang on, why has no-one mentioned the obvious solution? Surely this screams out for a LOAN deal? We relieve some of the wage bill for Coventry; if he does well then either we buy him at the end of the season, or Coventry have the option to keep him on, given his increased confidence. Signing him and paying him masses is a big risk bearing in mind how off-form he is right now. Surely a loan is the best option!
I think if we are brutally honest, we all know that the Cody deal won't happen. He signed for Coventry when they were in the championship so wages was always going to be a problem. Its bit of a pipe dream for us to want him back and its dragged on too long now that he's probably going to be looking elsewhere. We either start looking at new targets or get promoted with the squad we've got.
My concern taking the money out of the debate is the doubt he will score, he was great last time round but as it has already been said we have seen returns fail before. He has not played much and it is a tall order for him to hit the ground running and scoring goals. UTG!!
