Contract expiry

[dave the minion]

Don't see why that should be the case though.

On him pomp he's superb. We don't know how much his relationship with IE was strained, especially with taking the captaincy off him, and now he has a new manager who he has essentially a clean slate with (& who managed against Santos when he was perhaps at his best for us, so will have liked what he saw...)

With a potentially poor relationship and then being scapegoated by our "fans" as everything that was wrong with Evattball, plus playing through several niggling injuries will have had a massive impact on his form, but he potentially has the opportunity for a fresh start.

If I was schumacher, I would be doing everything I can to persuade him to stay....

[nicholaldo]

Don't see why that should be the case though.

On him pomp he's superb. We don't know how much his relationship with IE was strained, especially with taking the captaincy off him, and now he has a new manager who he has essentially a clean slate with (& who managed against Santos when he was perhaps at his best for us, so will have liked what he saw...)

With a potentially poor relationship and then being scapegoated by our "fans" as everything that was wrong with Evattball, plus playing through several niggling injuries will have had a massive impact on his form, but he potentially has the opportunity for a fresh start.

If I was schumacher, I would be doing everything I can to persuade him to stay....

My suspicion is he probably feels his time here has run its course, with the falling out with supporters earlier this season only exacerbating that, and that he may be looking at a return down south.

He's also likely to be one of our highest earners and is soon to turn thirty, meaning he'll be wanting to negotiate his last big contract; a contract we might currently struggle to justify offering.

The combination of those factors I think will be the reason both parties might decide the fresh start you refer to is him going elsewhere.

[TonyDomingos]

Any contracts handed out now must take into account our aspiration to be in the championship within the next 18 months. Much as I like him, I don't see Santos fitting the bill by that measure. At best, we'd offer him a 12 month extension, but I can't see that being attractive to him at this stage in his career.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

I think it possible we would rue losing our paciest defender. Toal and Forrester like defending deep because, to be uncharitable, it often feels like milk turns quicker. Defending deep isn't necessarily terrible but if you also want to close down high (and it sounds like Schumacher does) you can get very very stretched.

[The_Gun]

I doubt Santos wants to sit out too much longer if he can avoid it. That wouldn’t put him in a strong position to negotiate his next contract, either here or elsewhere.

[Prufrock]

He's injured isn't he? Assuming so we have no way of knowing. He's got so many attributes you'd think any new manager would back themselves to get the best out of him. But god knows what else is going on behind the scenes.

[Worthy4England]

I'm pretty sure a number of threads touched on this last season, with a view that we might have had 8 or 9? who allegedly wouldn't disgrace one level up. Santos and Thommo would have been in that group at the time (Thommo subject of a bid from Brizzle City if I recall) and a few others mentioned in dispatches. We also said the same of the group coming up from L2, many of which didn't make it past "first contact" with a transfer window!

It's pretty difficult to suggest that there might need to be significant activity in L1 in the summer and that we have an "oven ready Champo turkey" that isn't just turkey.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

I know every league needs losers, but it feels like there are so many warning stories at the bottom of the division above us.

• Plymouth looked like the template to follow but for some reason they went for Rooney. 5 wins in 30.
• Luton, man, there's a proper plummet from grace. Obviously they've had worse but it's an unforgiving division whichever way you arrive in it.
• Hull demonstrate you can have the big foreign takeover and still slide away.
• Derby show that even the archetypal "solid frill-free manager" is no guarantee.
• Cardiff - war zone.
• Stoke - half-decade death by non-adventure.
• At least Portsmouth and Oxford show there are ways to (probably) survive - one of them by 'trusting the process', the other by abandoning what got them promoted.

[GhostoftheBok]

I thought this tweet from Brommers was indicative of why Cogley should be offered a new deal.

[boltonboris]

Hard to disagree with that. He has limitations, but his biggest asset is his availability and that should not be downplayed - Think he's had an upturn in form since Schumacher arrived, too

[brommers95]

Yeah you need players like JDC in a squad - fit, reliable, good character, hard working. For a player signed on a free from L2, on what I imagine is a modest wage he's been a brilliant bit of business. Yes his final cross or pass could be better but if it was, he wouldn't be playing at this level.

It's unfortunate the Kane Wilson deal fell through as it meant a lot of the responsibility for creating chances on the right wing fell to JDC which was a heavy burden in the Evatt system. He's done admirably though, with 3 goals and 5 assists in the league last season and 5 assists in the league so far this season.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Updated with JDC's extension and some youth loans.

JUNE 2025
Nathan Baxter (8/11/98)
Joel Coleman (26/9/95)
Gethin Jones (13/10/95)
Ricardo Santos (18/6/95)
**Alex Murphy (25/06/04) - signed on six-month loan from Newcastle, where he signed a 'long-term' contract in May 2024
Jay Matete (11/2/01) – loan until June from Sunderland, where he is contracted to 2026
Kion Etete (28/11/01) - signed on six-month loan from Cardiff, where he's contracted to 2027

JUNE 2026
Luke Southwood (6/12/97) - club has +1yr option
Will Forrester (29/06/01)
George Johnston (1/9/98)
Josh Dacres-Cogley (12/3/96)
Jordi Osei-Tutu (2/10/98)
Kyle Dempsey (17/9/95)
Carlos Mendes Gomes (14/11/98)
Victor Adeboyejo (12/1/98)
Dan Nlundulu (5/2/99) - loaned to tier-3 Cambridge

JUNE 2027
Eoin Toal (15/2/99)
Chris Forino (26/04/00)
Josh Sheehan (30/3/95)
George Thomason (12/1/01)
Aaron Morley (27/2/00)
Szabolcs Schön (27/9/00) - club has +1yr option
Aaron Collins (27/5/97)
Klaidi Lolos (6/10/00)
John McAtee (23/7/99)

JUNE 2028
Joel Randall (29/10/99)


---------------------------------
B-team & young pros, in descending age order:
Luke Hutchinson (1/9/02) contracted to 2025 - loaned to tier-6 Marine till June but recalled in October
Luke Matheson (3/10/02) contracted to 2025 - loaned to tier-6 Alfreton from Feb-Jun
*Max Conway (5/9/03) contracted to 2025 +1 - loaned to tier-4 Crewe until June
**Elis Litherland (5/5/04) contracted to 2025 +1 - loaned to tier-8 Atherton Colls until Oct, then tier-7 Matlock Town in March
**Ben Andreucci (5/10/04) contracted to 2025 +1 - loaned to tier-6 Buxton from Sep-Jan, then tier-6 Darlington from Mar-Jun
**Charlie Hayes-Green (30/12/04) contracted to 2025 - loaned to tier-8 Clitheroe from Aug-Nov then tier-7 FC United of Manchester from Nov-Jun
***Noah Halford (1/1/05, allegedly) contracted to 2024 +1 - this was extended summer 2024, length unknown - loaned to tier-6 Warrington from Oct-Nov then tier-7 FC United of Manchester from Nov-Mar
***Trevon Bryan (8/3/05) - loaned to tier-7 Ashton United, Sep-Feb, but recalled mid-Jan and loaned to tier-6 Marine until Feb
***Dubem Eze (8/3/05) contracted to 2026+1 - loaned to tier-6 Chorley from Sep-Jun, but recalled and loaned to tier-5 Halifax Town until June
***Sonny Sharples-Ahmed (23/3/05) contracted to 2024 +1 - this was extended summer 2024, length unknown
***Ajay Weston (20/6/05) contracted to 2026
***Sam Inwood (17/9/05) contracted to 2026
****Mark Isong (26/1/06) contracted to 2026

First-year pros: (presumably, but not definitely, born 2006)
Jack Dallimore turned pro 2024, contract length unknown, probably one year
Sean Hogan turned pro 2024, contract length unknown, probably one year
Joe Toole turned pro 2024, contract length unknown, probably one year
James Westwood turned pro 2024, contract length unknown, probably one year
Harrison Fleury turned pro 2024, contract length unknown, probably one year

*Stars indicate underage players; number of stars indicates number of seasons (including this one) they will remain underage, assuming EFL age rules don't change. For season 2024/25 an Under 21 Player is someone born on or after 1 January 2003 – so Hutchinson and Matheson are overage, Conway is in his last underage season, but Sonny Sharples-Ahmed and his yeargroup have two more after the 2024/25 season.

[irie Cee Bee]

Thanks for this update DSB. From the June 2025 list alone, Schuey should have at least space to make 6 new signings over the summer to strengthen the squad with Baxter looking to be the only one of the seven I would want to offer a contract. We should also be looking to move on for transfer fees from a few of the players with longer contracts.. Lolos, Dan and Randall comes to mind.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Thanks for this update DSB. From the June 2025 list alone, Schuey should have at least space to make 6 new signings over the summer to strengthen the squad with Baxter looking to be the only one of the seven I would want to offer a contract. We should also be looking to move on for transfer fees from a few of the players with longer contracts.. Lolos, Dan and Randall comes to mind.

Of the six replacements I assume three would be loans, as three of the incumbents are (Etete, Matete, Murphetete). Fine by me - Plymouth's promotion was driven by well-chosen loanees - but I know not everybody likes us to 'develop other teams' players' or leave ourselves hostage to fortune.

Of the other lapsers - I want Bax to stay and I'm on record as wanting Santos to if he wants to. That would leave only Gethin (hearty handshake and good luck) and Joel Coleman (shrug and best wishes). Not sure either will be on much so we're not looking at a lot of wage budget to attract players.

While it's true we could try to move on some other players, it wouldn't be easy. Maybe with Evatt out of the building we could cut our losses on Nlundulu. Lolos is, I suspect, another 'project' player, and one who may have been pressed rather more quickly into service than Evatt had intended; Schumacher seems less sure so it's possible he could be expendable if anybody wants him.

Randall would be harder - who would offer anything like the price we paid for what would clearly be regarded as damaged goods? Even if Evatt completely landed on his feet by getting the Huddersfield job, would he put someone else's money where his mouth was?

Who else would TW readers want shut of? As Pru has noted, we're really into the fine-tuning stage now - it's not a poor squad requiring major surgery. Again I come back to the way Rioch supercharged Neal's squad with three good signings (and plenty of good management).

[Mar]

Charlie Hayes-Green has been recalled from his loan.

Not sure why we'd actively seek to do that so late in the season unless we were looking to get him looked at for the run in.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Charlie Hayes-Green has been recalled from his loan.

Not sure why we'd actively seek to do that so late in the season unless we were looking to get him looked at for the run in.

I really doubt it, Mar. For one, he's a centre-back, and we got loads of 'em.

More pointedly, he's been on loan in the 7th tier and as far as I can see he's never been near the first-team picture. Considering we've had 12 youth players (Isong, Andreucci, Weston, Eze, Hutchinson, Matheson, Dallimore, Sharples-Ahmed, Inwood, Lewis, Abimbola and Irwin) in matchday squads this season, taking up a total of 53 squad places in total, that would be a very very impressive loan indeed.

Maaaaybe he'll be loaned out again to a higher level (like Eze was) and that would be impressive enough. He was at 8th-tier Atherton Colls before Christmas before being geared up to 7th-tier FCUM, so a second 'promotion' would be impressive. Or maybe, as he's been on loan pretty much all season, we want to check him out before his contract expires this summer - he's still underage next season.

[TonyDomingos]

Charlie Hayes-Green has been recalled from his loan.

Not sure why we'd actively seek to do that so late in the season unless we were looking to get him looked at for the run in.

I really doubt it, Mar. For one, he's a centre-back, and we got loads of 'em.

More pointedly, he's been on loan in the 7th tier and as far as I can see he's never been near the first-team picture. Considering we've had 12 youth players (Isong, Andreucci, Weston, Eze, Hutchinson, Matheson, Dallimore, Sharples-Ahmed, Inwood, Lewis, Abimbola and Irwin) in matchday squads this season, taking up a total of 53 squad places in total, that would be a very very impressive loan indeed.

Maaaaybe he'll be loaned out again to a higher level (like Eze was) and that would be impressive enough. He was at 8th-tier Atherton Colls before Christmas before being geared up to 7th-tier FCUM, so a second 'promotion' would be impressive. Or maybe, as he's been on loan pretty much all season, we want to check him out before his contract expires this summer - he's still underage next season.

Hadn't realised that Adam Le Fondre is also at FCUM Are we recalling him too given our shortage of strikers?

[Mar]

Charlie Hayes-Green has been recalled from his loan.

Not sure why we'd actively seek to do that so late in the season unless we were looking to get him looked at for the run in.

I really doubt it, Mar. For one, he's a centre-back, and we got loads of 'em.

More pointedly, he's been on loan in the 7th tier and as far as I can see he's never been near the first-team picture. Considering we've had 12 youth players (Isong, Andreucci, Weston, Eze, Hutchinson, Matheson, Dallimore, Sharples-Ahmed, Inwood, Lewis, Abimbola and Irwin) in matchday squads this season, taking up a total of 53 squad places in total, that would be a very very impressive loan indeed.

Maaaaybe he'll be loaned out again to a higher level (like Eze was) and that would be impressive enough. He was at 8th-tier Atherton Colls before Christmas before being geared up to 7th-tier FCUM, so a second 'promotion' would be impressive. Or maybe, as he's been on loan pretty much all season, we want to check him out before his contract expires this summer - he's still underage next season.

I wasn't thinking of it in terms of him actually playing games. Certainly we'd much rather put out our main lot. I was thinking it in terms of whether or not he qualifies for a contract renewal in the B-team or not.

Can't exactly gauge how well he's going to play at the tier he was at. He was getting clean sheets and MOTM plaudits but I think it's probably us determining whether he should be put in the B-team and actually tested against the likes of Dempsey returning rather than some other team.

In terms of him possibly being given a chance. We've just had Toal out for another period, Santos coming back from injury, Forino being injured for good chunks of the season. Should there be a risk to our current playing staff, i'm sure we'd much rather have backup options on the bench that know how we play, rather than having options that know how FCUM play.

[jmjhb]

Charlie Hayes-Green has joined Halifax permanently.

[TonyDomingos]

Schuey making the point that, as it stands, next season we'll have no players aged under 24 or over 29 - ie we'll lack both youthful exuberance and experience.

https://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/sport/2 ... coln-game/