Contract expiry

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Those famous "narrow margins" often worked in our favour last season. I think it's instructive that while the division's average goals scored (and therefore also conceded) per game was 1.28, we conceded a considerably lower 0.78 but only scored 1.48 – our total of 68 goals was lower than Rochdale and only 7 more than 19th-placed Bury. Of our 25 wins, 12 were by one goal and another 9 by two, so only four were truly "comfortable" – two against Gillingham, Posh on the last day, plus the 4-1 against a Walsall team who'd beaten us at theirs.

I think it's fair to say the defence got us promoted. So we definitely need more creativity (or efficient conversion of the chances we get) or it's going to be such a backs-to-the-wall season that we'll be growing moss on our shoulder-blades.

[Worthy4England]

I'm not quite as convinced about our back 4. Maybe the passing of a year has affected people's memories, 2015/2016 the appearances were (leaving out a couple of one-time/two time apearees)

Derik (22)
Dervite (21)
Holding (26)
Moxey (33)
Prince (19)
Wheater (26)
Wilson (11)

We let in 81 goals (I know it's not all just about the defenders). So we looked more stable at the back this year albeit with generally a lower class of sharpness in the oppos attackers. Out of that lot, the hapless Mr Moxey has left the building and we have Beevers and Taylor. We also lost Holding, who by the end of the season was commanding a first team slot at Arsenal.

I think Parky has them better structured and organised than we were. But unless we pop some goals in, at the other end, I could envisage it being a long old season, because the team probably has more than a goal a game leakage in them. We kept 20? Clean sheets this season and still only got up on the last day.

Clearly we will concede more this season against better quality sides. However, I do honestly think comparison to the season we went down under Lennon in total chaos is relatively useless. Parky probably would have kept us up that season. Lennon was clueless.

Delighted you think comparison to the season we went down is relatively useless, then come out with "Parky probably would have kept us up"... We were 20 points off safety. It wasn't a "close run thing". We won 5 games.

Parky also has only limited (none?) experience of the Championship (as a Manager), so it's all going to be a bit new to him too. That's not a criticism of him, just an observation.

[BWFC_Insane]

I'm not quite as convinced about our back 4. Maybe the passing of a year has affected people's memories, 2015/2016 the appearances were (leaving out a couple of one-time/two time apearees)

Derik (22)
Dervite (21)
Holding (26)
Moxey (33)
Prince (19)
Wheater (26)
Wilson (11)

We let in 81 goals (I know it's not all just about the defenders). So we looked more stable at the back this year albeit with generally a lower class of sharpness in the oppos attackers. Out of that lot, the hapless Mr Moxey has left the building and we have Beevers and Taylor. We also lost Holding, who by the end of the season was commanding a first team slot at Arsenal.

I think Parky has them better structured and organised than we were. But unless we pop some goals in, at the other end, I could envisage it being a long old season, because the team probably has more than a goal a game leakage in them. We kept 20? Clean sheets this season and still only got up on the last day.

Clearly we will concede more this season against better quality sides. However, I do honestly think comparison to the season we went down under Lennon in total chaos is relatively useless. Parky probably would have kept us up that season. Lennon was clueless.

Delighted you think comparison to the season we went down is relatively useless, then come out with "Parky probably would have kept us up"... We were 20 points off safety. It wasn't a "close run thing". We won 5 games.

Parky also has only limited (none?) experience of the Championship (as a Manager), so it's all going to be a bit new to him too. That's not a criticism of him, just an observation.

Yes, but we had a tactically inept manager and absolutely no spirit about the place. Parky is easily worth those 20 or so points in my view.

I mean we have two defenders who have played over 100 top flight games each. My point is looking solely at our last, disastrous season in isolation, ignoring the circumstances is a little misleading.

I fully agree we lack quality and it may well be a struggle, but plenty of our players are proven at that level or higher. And there is no reason they can't do it again, IMHO. But they need the attacking quality adding.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Parky also has only limited (none?) experience of the Championship (as a Manager), so it's all going to be a bit new to him too. That's not a criticism of him, just an observation.

He's had two half-goes before.

Having overachieved in his first managerial job by getting Colchester promoted to tier 2 in 2005/06, 38-year-old Parky promptly resigned to take over at divisional rivals Hull instead, winning none of his first six and leaving in December with Hull in the drop zone. (They were kept up by a certain P. Brown; Colchester finished mid-table.)

He then spent 18 months as Pardew's No.2 at Charlton; when The King was booed out of town with the Addicks having slipped into the bottom three in late November 2008, Parky took over as caretaker, won none of his first eight games but got the job anyway and presided over a bottom-placed relegation.

Overall he's managed 49 tier-2 games, W8 D16 L25 F49 A76 40pts. Obviously he'll need to improve on that but to be fair there were mitigating circumstances in his first two efforts – inexperience at Hull, then a collapsing club at Charlton. Hopefully it will make him stronger and more determined, because he's worked bloody hard since.

[boltonboris]

Cannon fodder was perhaps the wrong phrase. I think we're doing well to get last years squad back together and it was an important thing to do in the main. We've got rid of the ones we needed to.

However, I think quality wise we're well under quota. I'd agree that the back four will probably be ok (noting DSBs concern about lack of pace) and defensively we'll have a strong midfield if Spearing signs on.

Up front I do think Madine and Le Fondre can be handy together sometimes. But feel we'll need to go with one up front sometimes and not sure Madine is the man for that in the championship.

Out wide and in creative areas we seriously lack talent to compete in this league. Not enough options going forward. I also think we lack players who can hold onto the ball and get us up the pitch. Which will be important in the championship where often we won't dominate possession and will be playing a counter-attacking game. There is no pace and no real threat running at teams as it stands. We were functional in league one, but I fear that we'll not have enough possession in many games this season to make our set pieces and physicality in the box count. Under embargo it may be hard to rectify this situation as the players with that quality who are affordable will likely be loans from the premiership - who usually require loan fees or wage contributions we are often barred from under embargo (see City lad we missed out on).

Might be a surprise, but you don't often need pace on the break, when you press in midfield.... There's not a huge amount of space to run into. Movement and final ball is more important. Le Fondre and Morais can offer that.

I've not seen us break from back to front on the counter for a good few years.

I think there are 3 worse teams than us in this division. We'll still be hard to beat most weeks and that's vital

[BWFC_Insane]

Cannon fodder was perhaps the wrong phrase. I think we're doing well to get last years squad back together and it was an important thing to do in the main. We've got rid of the ones we needed to.

However, I think quality wise we're well under quota. I'd agree that the back four will probably be ok (noting DSBs concern about lack of pace) and defensively we'll have a strong midfield if Spearing signs on.

Up front I do think Madine and Le Fondre can be handy together sometimes. But feel we'll need to go with one up front sometimes and not sure Madine is the man for that in the championship.

Out wide and in creative areas we seriously lack talent to compete in this league. Not enough options going forward. I also think we lack players who can hold onto the ball and get us up the pitch. Which will be important in the championship where often we won't dominate possession and will be playing a counter-attacking game. There is no pace and no real threat running at teams as it stands. We were functional in league one, but I fear that we'll not have enough possession in many games this season to make our set pieces and physicality in the box count. Under embargo it may be hard to rectify this situation as the players with that quality who are affordable will likely be loans from the premiership - who usually require loan fees or wage contributions we are often barred from under embargo (see City lad we missed out on).

Might be a surprise, but you don't often need pace on the break, when you press in midfield.... There's not a huge amount of space to run into. Movement and final ball is more important. Le Fondre and Morais can offer that.

I've not seen us break from back to front on the counter for a good few years.

I think there are 3 worse teams than us in this division. We'll still be hard to beat most weeks and that's vital

I think we'll end up deeper than much of last season making the press tougher.

Breaking back to front may be ambitious, but I still think we missed a player second half of the season who could run us out of our half or relieve pressure without lumping it to Madine.

[TANGODANCER]

Breaking back to front may be ambitious, but I still think we missed a player second half of the season who could run us out of our half or relieve pressure without lumping it to Madine.

A Mark Davies.....

[BWFC_Insane]

Breaking back to front may be ambitious, but I still think we missed a player second half of the season who could run us out of our half or relieve pressure without lumping it to Madine.

A Mark Davies.....

Maybe though we missed a creative midfield player for other reasons. Someone who picks the ball up and makes things happen.

But was thinking more Ameobi. We definitely missed a wide man who could carry the ball and hold it and get us up the pitch. Morais does that to an extent but a different sort of player. I'd like Morais higher up the pitch as he causes problems when running at fullbacks getting a yard then whipping a cross in.

[boltonboris]

Cannon fodder was perhaps the wrong phrase. I think we're doing well to get last years squad back together and it was an important thing to do in the main. We've got rid of the ones we needed to.

However, I think quality wise we're well under quota. I'd agree that the back four will probably be ok (noting DSBs concern about lack of pace) and defensively we'll have a strong midfield if Spearing signs on.

Up front I do think Madine and Le Fondre can be handy together sometimes. But feel we'll need to go with one up front sometimes and not sure Madine is the man for that in the championship.

Out wide and in creative areas we seriously lack talent to compete in this league. Not enough options going forward. I also think we lack players who can hold onto the ball and get us up the pitch. Which will be important in the championship where often we won't dominate possession and will be playing a counter-attacking game. There is no pace and no real threat running at teams as it stands. We were functional in league one, but I fear that we'll not have enough possession in many games this season to make our set pieces and physicality in the box count. Under embargo it may be hard to rectify this situation as the players with that quality who are affordable will likely be loans from the premiership - who usually require loan fees or wage contributions we are often barred from under embargo (see City lad we missed out on).

Might be a surprise, but you don't often need pace on the break, when you press in midfield.... There's not a huge amount of space to run into. Movement and final ball is more important. Le Fondre and Morais can offer that.

I've not seen us break from back to front on the counter for a good few years.

I think there are 3 worse teams than us in this division. We'll still be hard to beat most weeks and that's vital

I think we'll end up deeper than much of last season making the press tougher.

Breaking back to front may be ambitious, but I still think we missed a player second half of the season who could run us out of our half or relieve pressure without lumping it to Madine.

On't flipside, teams in the Champo play out from the back more than we saw last season. Even Bradford who were some sort of self proclaimed footballing gods got it from back to front quickly, then played their football in the oppos half. I think with an energetic midfield 3 a higher press would be much more effective a division up

[jmjhb]

May have been mentioned but Morais has signed a 12-month deal

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

May have been mentioned but Morais has signed a 12-month deal

Indeed he has, per bwfc.co.uk with PSG (Pitch Seat Grin):

Large.jpg (76.49 KiB) Viewed 1895 times

...so it's updatey time again. Contracts until June unless otherwise stated. Corrections and clarifications (with citations) always welcome.

2017
RELEASED AT END OF CONTRACT
Lawrie Wilson, Reece Wabara, Lewis Buxton, Callum Spooner, Dean Moxey, Liam Trotter, Mark Davies, Tom Walker

LOANEES RETURNED TO PARENT CLUBS
Tom Thorpe (released by Rotherham), James Henry (released by Wolves), Chris Long (contracted to Burnley until 2018), Viv Solomon-Otabor (contracted to Birmingham until 2019)

NOT KNOWN AS YET
Jay Spearing
Max Clayton

2018
Mark Howard
Ben Alnwick
Mark Beevers
David Wheater ("with an option")
Dorian Dervite ("with an option")
Derik Osede
Alex Perry (presumably a one-year deal but not stated)
Jem Karacan ("with the option to extend for a further year")
Darren Pratley
Filipe Morais
Chris Taylor
Jamie Proctor
Conor Wilkinson (Granted permission to speak to other clubs, summer 2017)

2019
Ben Amos
Mark Little
Andrew Taylor
Josh Vela
Adam Le Fondre (with "an option", which is "appearance-based" according to the player)
Gary Madine

[Bruce Rioja]

And he's got rid of that goatee too, so all's well.

[LeverEnd]

And he's got rid of that goatee too, so all's well.

He reminds me of a young Billy Bob Thornton in that pic.

[irie Cee Bee]

May have been mentioned but Morais has signed a 12-month deal

Indeed he has, per bwfc.co.uk with PSG (Pitch Seat Grin):
Large.jpg

...so it's updatey time again. Contracts until June unless otherwise stated. Corrections and clarifications (with citations) always welcome.

2017
RELEASED AT END OF CONTRACT
Lawrie Wilson, Reece Wabara, Lewis Buxton, Callum Spooner, Dean Moxey, Liam Trotter, Mark Davies, Tom Walker

LOANEES RETURNED TO PARENT CLUBS
Tom Thorpe (released by Rotherham), James Henry (released by Wolves), Chris Long (contracted to Burnley until 2018), Viv Solomon-Otabor (contracted to Birmingham until 2019)

NOT KNOWN AS YET
Jay Spearing
Max Clayton

2018
Mark Howard
Ben Alnwick
Mark Beevers
David Wheater ("with an option")
Dorian Dervite ("with an option")
Derik Osede
Alex Perry (presumably a one-year deal but not stated)
Jem Karacan ("with the option to extend for a further year")
Darren Pratley
Filipe Morais
Chris Taylor
Jamie Proctor
Conor Wilkinson (Granted permission to speak to other clubs, summer 2017)

2019
Ben Amos
Mark Little
Andrew Taylor
Josh Vela
Adam Le Fondre (with "an option", which is "appearance-based" according to the player)
Gary Madine

Am I wrong in saying that based on the 23 man list restriction we can only sign 4 more players (2 if Spearing and Clayton are signed) ? If so, we dont have many more options. Signing those 2 will mean 2 loan spots available.

Need to get rid of Proctor, Taylor Wilkinson and Amos soon to make more space available or come out of the embargo.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Am I wrong in saying that based on the 23 man list restriction we can only sign 4 more players (2 if Spearing and Clayton are signed) ? If so, we dont have many more options. Signing those 2 will mean 2 loan spots available.

Need to get rid of Proctor, Taylor Wilkinson and Amos soon to make more space available or come out of the embargo.

The restriction remains, although it always seemed somewhat flexible in practice. I wouldn't disagree with any of those BWexiteers; notable perhaps that if they did go, the only squad members not to have been signed or re-signed by Parky/Ken would be Derik and Pratley.

[bristol_Wanderer3]

Morais entry on the above list might be updated to include this from the BEN:

It is understood an extra year is on offer if he makes a set number of appearances, which falls in line with other contracts offered this summer.

http://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/sport/wa ... pe_Morais/

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Morais entry on the above list might be updated to include this from the BEN:

It is understood an extra year is on offer if he makes a set number of appearances, which falls in line with other contracts offered this summer.

http://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/sport/wa ... pe_Morais/

Yep, seems to be the case. I'll add an asterisk where such "options" have been reported – which includes ALF's tweet that his is two years with an appearance-based optional third – when I next update the list, which will be when someone signs or leaves. Cheers, Brizzle.

[Abdoulaye's Twin]

I hope that doesn't end up with us not playing half the team because we don't want to offer a further season. Especially if we're limited with squad numbers and still stuck with the useless stump up front.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

I hope that doesn't end up with us not playing half the team because we don't want to offer a further season. Especially if we're limited with squad numbers and still stuck with the useless stump up front.

The thought did cross my mind, as it's a problem in that contract style, but I think we may be jumping at shadows a little. I know we lost Spearing for the last month of 2015/16 but that was due to a clause owing Liverpool, not the player.

It's perhaps a backhanded compliment but I would "trust Ken" to structure a contract favourable to himself. You'd assume the extension-triggering bar is fairly high, for instance at least 30 league games in the player's final season (with a caveat for ALF if his second season is in the Premier League) ie two-thirds of games. You'd also imagine it's limited to starts, otherwise it restricts Parky's freedom to bring players off the bench.

Running through simulations, you'd have to pass through a fair few if-gates to make it unpalatable. For instance, say Dervite is out of favour (which means we have better players or think we can get them) but an injury crisis means we have to draft him back in for the last month of the season. So you'd need
(1) a player to have been picked regularly but
(2) Parky not want to extend him - bit weird
(3) Some other thing (injury/suspension) which forces us to pick him anyway.

And even then, if we really didn't want to extend, I'd back Ken to negotiate a pay-off favourable to us. These extension contracts are important to ageing players: by the time these "unextended" contracts elapse, Karacan will be 29, Dervite a month off 30, Wheater 31, while Morais and ALF (the following summer) will be nearer their 33rd birthday than their 32nd. I've no doubt they all asked for that extra year straight away – full-on two-year contracts, three for ALF – so if the promise of more jam tomorrow helped them sign on now, on shorter-term performance-related contracts, I'm all for it.

Also gives us a lot more flexibility if the manager changes...

[Bruce Rioja]

I hope that doesn't end up with us not playing half the team because we don't want to offer a further season. Especially if we're limited with squad numbers and still stuck with the useless stump up front.

No I don't think so. A set amount of appearances merely triggers an option. We don't have to take it up, do we? Does this option work both ways, do we know?