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There's an arsehile on SMB called Ashley out, the most negative poster ever.
I think he has a stiff on over me, he forgets I told SMB Ross would be off before the press got it.
Some sad makers on that site
forget him mate, you signed up here to get away from **** like him. don't give him the reaction (on here) that he wants, ignore the tosser!
 
Yes I get that mate, I wouldn't want us to do a Derby, but if he have a player with the calibre Stewart has, who we know can get us to the next level then I think we should everything we can to keep them. Having teams like Swansea and Boro linked to our best players is abit embarrassing really

I agree providing the club think it's sensible and sustainable.

I think the club has done extremely well, with ins and outs, so I'm happy to sit back and watch. There's no certainty that Stewart will leave or wants to but it's an easy guess to claim other clubs are looking at him.

There are scouts at all of our games but there's been scouts there since Stewart has been out. It's pretty obvious that the players Speakman brings in are the kind who'll attract attention ...

... the alternative is to bring in lumpy plodder and play lumpy percentage football that might just get you up.

The problem with that is you end up in the PL with a squad of lumpy plodder, on high wages, who no-one will buy.
 
Not sure we know for certain Stewart is off yet do we? The press stories were inevitable. The rumours were inevitable. His agent speaking to others was inevitable.

It’s all inevitable. And will come down to how much clubs are willing to offer this winter considering his time out injured.

It’s definitely our model to cash in. But I think many may be underestimating this regimes willingness to cash in at an artificially low price. A Stewart scoring goals for rest of season May well even reach more in both transfer value and wages than he would right now after a period out, even tho he’d have less time on contract

I can very feasibly see a compromise where we give him a significant raise but with a mutually reasonable release clause that flexes up or down depending on whether we’ve been promoted or not etc
 
The option for an extension, is that something that we only have to activate or is it down to the player to agree it?

It seems pointless if it's down to the player agreeing it?
 
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The option for an extension, is that something that we only have to activate or is it down to the player to agree it?

It seems pointless if it's down to the player agreeing it?
We activate it gives us a little bit of protection unless I’ve understood it wrong
 
I can see Rangers coming in for him in Jan think the new manager will need to shake things up Might we’ll turn his head.
 
If we activate it, I would imagine Stewart could then go on a free at the end of the contract.

he could go on a free no matter what. If we don’t activate it he could go on a free this summer (absolutely will not happen). If we do then it will be the summer after he could go on a free.

I guess we haven’t yet activated that extension because we are hoping he will sign entirely new terms.

we have to be careful with that because from 1st Jan, foreign clubs can offer him deals officially under Bosman ruling because he will be in final 6 months. And that includes Scottish teams
 
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Thank you for that explanation.
I am sure the club will be aware of the situation you mention in the last paragraph. Its pretty complicated but something that is easily solved with the stroke of a pen
 
he could go on a free no matter what. If we don’t activate it he could go on a free this summer (absolutely will not happen). If we do then it will be the summer after he could go on a free.

I guess we haven’t yet activated that extension because we are hoping he will sign entirely new terms.

we have to be careful with that because from 1st Jan, foreign clubs can offer him deals officially under Bosman ruling because he will be in final 6 months. And that includes Scottish teams
I dint think they can when we have the clause to extend. There would be no point as wed just press the button on the extension as soon as there was a whiff of interest
 
I dint think they can when we have the clause to extend. There would be no point as wed just press the button on the extension as soon as there was a whiff of interest

yeh hard to know what happens in principle. Could even argue that even if he signs a contract with rangers on 3rd jan for example , it becomes invalid if we extend. Guess it would be in hands of lawyers

but I’d be shocked if it came to anything like that
 
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Do not be shocked in this greedy game, owt can and will happen when the agent see's £ signs, and big ones at that.

aye but I can’t imagine him leaving this summer on a free is what I meant. We will extend his contract before he gets the chance to even if his agent doesn’t like it.
 
Yes I know you were mate, glad I'm not alone in thinking pi$$ing about in this league longer than we need to is pointless, because either way once we get promoted the chances of relegation will be big, so I'd rather have a go sooner rather than later and at least bring a load of money into the club to have another go the season after and keep getting stronger
Exactly it’s all well and good having a 5 year plan or whatever but going up at the first time of asking must be the aim this season given the position we find ourselves in now. Such a shame that all these injuries have knocked us back a bit as without those dodgy results we would be knocking on the door of top 2.
7th would be a disappointing season for me top 6 is achievable and a Wembley trip should be the aim, who knows what could happen if we get there, I would fancy us over anyone in the league to be honest.

I also think this squad would surprise a few in the premier league, we have some talent as well as hard workers and a great team spirit. We play some lovely football and with a few quality additions we could definitely compete in the bottom half and avoid coming straight back down.
 
Exactly it’s all well and good having a 5 year plan or whatever but going up at the first time of asking must be the aim this season given the position we find ourselves in now. Such a shame that all these injuries have knocked us back a bit as without those dodgy results we would be knocking on the door of top 2.
7th would be a disappointing season for me top 6 is achievable and a Wembley trip should be the aim, who knows what could happen if we get there, I would fancy us over anyone in the league to be honest.

I also think this squad would surprise a few in the premier league, we have some talent as well as hard workers and a great team spirit. We play some lovely football and with a few quality additions we could definitely compete in the bottom half and avoid coming straight back down.

100% without the injuries and a couple of dodgy decisions going against us we would be well in the play off positions and as you say chasing the top two!

Where we are sitting considering the injuries and the fact this is our first season back is credit to how well the club has done in building this squad!
 
Whilst I understand the plan and logic of having a sustainable model of a football club ie buy good young players and sell for a profit, whilst taking every opportunity to market the club.

I have a couple of doubts..

Firstly a minimum amount of investment is needed, re the number and quality of the playing squad, ie fees and wages. Even for the Championship imho we have not reached that level, so starting a 'sustainable' model will hurt the quality of the playing squad. Poor results will follow.

Secondly has there ever been a really successful, League and Cup winning side that had operated at breakeven or made a profit? So it follows it could be argued that the sustainable model is really accepting that at best you will be mid-table or at worst relegated.