Seems the talk is that he is going to follow Lambert (Who hasn't got there yet!) to Villa. I cannot see us selling a player like Holt to a rival club for anything other than an obscene price. I can't see any clubs bidding the amount we are going to ask for him, so either he is going to rot in the reserves are be used in a bargaining chip for whoever his replacement is, which may well be a Championship player. It is highly likely that Holt is not going to end up at whichever club he wanted to be when he sent in the request.
shame that its all turning so bitter really but sometimes this is what happens. i think many of us feel lambert might be making a mistake by leaving, well holt certainly is. his life though
Price on Holt should be £1m for every goal scored this season just gone if he wants out then fine but wanting out and someone coming in willing to pay the money are to different matters. I think it's a real shame the way this is going but just shows that despite everything football is nothing more than a job to these people and perhaps we as fans lose sight of this
Yeah, £5 million is what I am thinking, for a thirty year old, but if it is Villa then that is most of their budget gone!
This. The voice of sense. If the Pieman wants out, sell him, buy a quality replacement and jeer him at every opportunity. No point in keeping a rotten apple in the barrel
I think ultimately you're probably right but that won't be the initial headline figure NcNally will slap on him if people come a knocking
Bent is older now won't be worth ever so much, and Abonglahor hasn't been setting the world on fire recently (Except against us) but those two and Shay Given are Villa's only decent players!
can't speak for others but i for one would never boo grant holt nor paul lambert. they have both done more for our club than hundreds of individuals have combined. just because they leave doesn't mean they aren't still special to us. he'll definitely score against us though
I think the whole Lambert / Holt fiasco goes back further than the last week or so. It looks more and more like a staged fall out and for that I would be disappointed in their conduct. Youve got to look on the upside, a new manager and players could kick you on. I have seen some reports on your upper wage limit structure and can see why that might be hindrance (not in the real world of course) to getting some bigger names in or why Holt feels he can double his money elsewhere.
we aren't and never are in the market for 'big names' on 'big wages' - that's what might hold us back from breaking the top 8 but it shouldn't hinder us from being mid table and pushing for europe, so long as whoever is in charge is good in the transfer market, tactically astute and is a good man-manager. so not too much to ask...
Very true. Read the article entitled " good article about the current state of NCFC finances " and you'll understand much better why we appear to have adopted this scrooge-like stance
Good luck to Holt if he wants to leave. As long as we get a fair price for him, whats the problem? We can go and try and buy someone hopefully younger and better. For goodness sake, its football, and when you hear of young Syrians having their throats cut and parents burning their children to death, Grant Holts future pales into insignificance. NCFC will be there next season fresh and ready for a new season with hopefully new idols to cheer. I can't wait.
Cromer - I'm not knocking your club's stance, in fact if more clubs followed that example football would be a much better place but in the real world where Championship players are on £20k/wk deals its hard to get the talent in. Hence the Pieman realising he can double up. Its a sordid game.
Being serious guys, would the club want to have an unhappy player around the training ground? get a fair price for him for sure, but you you dug your heels in, and he stayed the negativity from him could quite easily rub off on to happier players and bring them down, thus destroying your team spirit and the new guy will have a harder job to motivate them. Probably best to say, thanks for everything now be on your way.
yeah, they'll sell him but they won't be held to ransom - i think everyone knows from recent times that the city board do not get rolled over anymore! i think £5m and he'll be off - that seems a fair price for someone with his ability and still in his prime but without much chance of any re-sale value in two years time.
Just getting to the point of the clubs stance on finances, this will definately make it harder to attract a new manager/players with the restrictions in place, the first question on a managers mind will be transfer budget, and if lambo wasn't happy then a new guy probably won't. then attracting new players, like somebody said previously, there are some clubs in the championship paying more than you top whack and you i would hazard a guess are in the bottom 2 in wages terms, and its been shown pretty well in the holt case that money talks so you could have issues there against other clubs. I'm all for keeping the wages tight and financial fair play, but it will only work if everybody is doing it!
Swap deal (+cash) with Burnley for Rodriguez? We get a young striker, Holt gets his move North, and so long as Burnley can pay his wages I don't see the problem! If only...
thing is, it won't make it harder will it, so long as the new manager is aware that these are the parameters. in fact, by bringing in someone from the league below, they'll think they've suddenly got a treasure chest at their disposal. i am delighted that the club are being so strict over budgets - i wouldn't want them to throw all that hard work down the pan just to keep one player or even the manager. the budgets are set because without them we'd get in financial trouble again. if a player wants to play for the club they will still come, we just have to be clever in who we try to lure. we spent years doing it before the premier league kicked off so we can do it again
