For new signings, ask the man from the Pru

[Worthy4England]

We're broke. I get that. But too broke to keep young, half-decent for the level youngsters ? If that's the case how the hell could we add fresh players to the squad even once the ban is lifted ?

If we are that broke there is zero chance the league will lift the ban.

I suspect that everything hinges on selling a couple of our better youngsters to raise some cash. I guess they wanted every wage off the books possible to allow for room for a couple of additions should they sell Holding et al. Because we know the big earners are unlikely to go and create the room.

We seem to need every possible shekel. How many times last year did we speculate around what Madine, Ameobi, Dobbie and Heskey were banking and wouldn't it have been better lumping it on one half decent hoss?

I'd rather us clear the decks now and try and do it properly. We need the best eleven we can afford and anything else is a bonus. We saw what happened when Coyle started replacing one average Prem player with two average Champ players.

[Whookam]

Nixon reckons the Arsenal bid for Holding is £750k plus extras.

How true this is is anyone's guess but I suspect any bid would be closer to this number than the x millions that people have been throwing around.

[Prufrock]

Get rid of Darren and we'll get to Wembley twice next year.

I had hoped we'd got to the point where we could hold out for big money for the good uns. Doesn't look that way. What's the point in buying an already relegated team if you haven't got a pot to piss in and need to flog everyone just to keep going. If we can't afford Threlkeld and Maher (rather than didn't want them) and if we can't hold out to get something proper for Holding, we are not going back up anytime soon at all.

[TKIZ!]

I'm sure it's been mentioned countless times on the forum before but we have to make sure that the wages are 60% of our turnover in this league. With Pratley, Mavies, Spearing, Pisano, Madine and Wilson still on decent wages then cuts have to be made somewhere. I suppose Deano /KA had to ask is it worthwhile getting rid of Wilson/Pisano and paying out the rest og the contracts or letting Threlkeld/Maher go?

I'm gutted with these two leaving and have a massive feeling that with Thomas, Threlkeld and Maher will some how come back to bite us in the bum (in a footballing sense)

[Worthy4England]

I'm sure it's been mentioned countless times on the forum before but we have to make sure that the wages are 60% of our turnover in this league. With Pratley, Mavies, Spearing, Pisano, Madine and Wilson still no decent wages then cuts have to be made somewhere. I suppose Deano /KA had to ask is it worthwhile getting rid of Wilson/Pisano and paying out the rest og the contracts or letting Threlkeld/Maher go?

I'm gutted with these two leaving and have a massive feeling that with Thomas, Threlkeld and Maher will some how come back to bite us in the bum (in a footballing sense)

There seems to be a one year exemption from that 60% for players signed prior to September the previous year for Clubs that were relegated....most of our re-contracting was done prior to September last year...That doesn't make the big earners any more affordable.

To give this a bit of perspective - Walsall (3rd iirc in L1) reported a turnover of £5.6m in the last Accounts, so our wage bill would need to be no more than circa £3.2m. That's Mavies, Amos, Pratley and Spearing and bust.

[BWFC_Insane]

Get rid of Darren and we'll get to Wembley twice next year.

I had hoped we'd got to the point where we could hold out for big money for the good uns. Doesn't look that way. What's the point in buying an already relegated team if you haven't got a pot to piss in and need to flog everyone just to keep going. If we can't afford Threlkeld and Maher (rather than didn't want them) and if we can't hold out to get something proper for Holding, we are not going back up anytime soon at all.

I'm of the opinion that in the rush of the deal there were hidden debts that did not get uncovered, or that one side of the buying pair are having financial difficulties elsewhere that means a source of money is compromised and needs replacing.

I remain convinced that Deano has the best of intentions for the club but Anderson I'm less sure about and I'm sure financially they have more problems than they imagined.

[thebish]

I thought your main complaint was that the deal was the very opposite of rushed??

[bobo the clown]

The nature of due diligence is that the buyer has full access to almost a data and the seller MUST reply honestly and fully any questions reasonably asked.

It may be that some income source dropped away but not that they've uncovered things that were hidden from them.

I actually think Anderson's game is/was to acquire the business for a peppercorn & get us into a shape which he can sell on to a better placed person.for a decent price. If so, all well & good tbh.

[Tombwfc]

However well he might have done at Plymouth (and the fact that there's already article in the local paper clamouring to sign him would suggest he did alright) I'm not sure 18 games at League Two level makes you a proven bet for a side looking to win promotion in the league above.

That said, I thought Oscar looked ok in front of the back four against Fulham - better than I think Derik has looked in the same position. I'd have liked to have kept him, but ultimately I don't expect him to be playing for a side challenging in League One next year.

[irie Cee Bee]

Are Thomas, Threlkeld and Maher that good for us to be so disappointed by their exits?

Would they have set League 1 on fire? I am not in a position to comment as the only one I was able to see play via stream was Maher and he looked very ordinary to me. Comments on this forum after the game was complimentary since he was a young player, however, if that was the performance of a seasoned player, he would have received no more than a "5" from me.

So are they such a big loss? Remember we have offered contracts to a few other young players.. Holding, Walker, Garratt and Finney, Newell. Maybe it is that these are the better young players who can help take us back up.

[bobo the clown]

If Walkers one of the better ones then fck me we're in trouble.

I take your point but re. Thomas see DSB's logic. Re. Threlkeld he's played a season and a half with Plymouth & their fans are clamouring to sign him now we've released him so yes, it IS significant.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

If Walkers one of the better ones then fck me we're in trouble.

I take your point but re. Thomas see DSB's logic. Re. Threlkeld he's played a season and a half with Plymouth & their fans are clamouring to sign him now we've released him so yes, it IS significant.

I don't think either Maher or Threlkeld were Holding-style nailed-on, player-of-the-year, move-heaven-and-earth-to-keep-him certainties, but they showed enough (and are positionally adaptable enough) to be worth a one-year extension.

What really worries me is that we seem to have offered, then withdrawn, those extensions (and possibly others for even cheaper players Thomas and Campbell). I can't imagine it's because they stamped their feet and demanded solid-gold helicopters. If we did indeed u-turn on that it feels like De La Parra again - we're even skinter than we thought we were when we offered terms to Walker and Finney.

[Prufrock]

Yep, it's the cash bit that worries me. We're losing lots of bodies, trying to shift more, keeping two lads with league experience who are on next to fcuk all seems to make sense to me.

[Armchair Wanderer]

I think on the whole it's slightly sickening that we've let some promising kids go, but on the whole what did we expect after relegation. Could've been worse.

The development game I saw Jamie Thomas was one of the players who seemed to be everywhere at once and scored a goal. So that's the one I'm disappointed about.

The thing about not wanting to pay players to go on loan elsewhere is great, but you'd still be saving SOME money... money that might pay for a young-ish dev team graduate.

I'm hoping that one or two more seniors players find a new club, but that might be a best case scenario. I'm also hoping that some of the ones that are left aren't toxic.

[Tombwfc]

If Walkers one of the better ones then fck me we're in trouble.

I take your point but re. Thomas see DSB's logic. Re. Threlkeld he's played a season and a half with Plymouth & their fans are clamouring to sign him now we've released him so yes, it IS significant.

I feel like you might be amalgamating Threlkeld and Andy Kellett, who was on loan at Plymouth the year before. Threlkeld went on loan there in August and made 18 starts with 7 sub appearances.

I think at 22 ultimately he didn't show enough to justify keeping him on at a time when every penny counts.

[bobo the clown]

^^ I probably am. But the point remains. It seems an unecessarily tight decision unless something has changed in our equation from barely a week ago.

[LeverEnd]

^^ I probably am. But the point remains. It seems an unecessarily tight decision unless something has changed in our equation from barely a week ago.

Maybe someone HD a word in Caldwells ear at Wigan that Pratley is wank?

Possibly they are working on the basis that we are stuck with our overpaid shite and may go back with offers if someone's daft enough to sign one of our big earners.

[bobo the clown]

As DSB pointed out, the wages for Jamie Thomas would be about £20k pa at best. I'd have subbed them that if they're that fckg broke. Loan him out (covering most of that cost) & see if he has it in him. Then use or sell with sell-on conditions.

[LeverEnd]

As DSB pointed out, the wages for Jamie Thomas would be about £20k pa at best. I'd have subbed them that if they're that fckg broke. Loan him out (covering most of that cost) & see if he has it in him. Then use or sell with sell-on conditions.

I know. It suggests we are proper fcuked for want of a better phrase. I've said for a while I expected administration next season. It's not looking good.

[Little Green Man]

As DSB pointed out, the wages for Jamie Thomas would be about £20k pa at best. I'd have subbed them that if they're that fckg broke. Loan him out (covering most of that cost) & see if he has it in him. Then use or sell with sell-on conditions.

I don't suppose Thomas et al have been let go because we're intending or have agreed to loan (at minimal cost) a wodge of young players from elsewhere? What better way of finding room to play them by stiffing our homegrown ones.

If I had a tinfoil hat I might even be linking such a pernicious thought with the appearance of a sky blue 'away kit' yesterday.