James Harper!

[Chris Black come back]

Still with us next season!

Free Press: James Harper's contract has been extended by a year. He triggered an extension clause by playing so many games last season. #DRFC

[mushRTID]

Jesus.

[Chris Black come back]

You would have thought that someone would have noticed the clause and stopped him playing.

[MrFrost]

Oh dear. I bet he is pissing himself.

[Jenny]

Surely we'll just pay him off?

[Chris Black come back]

Absolutely astonishing. He made 29 appearances last season in total.

[RedmanRufus]

He should be playing no higher than Conference North/South, unbelievable that he's to be a Championship footballer next season. Stealing a living

 

You reds

[phil o sophical]

Well that's just help me make an important decision. I will be in the shed today looking for my old Puma boots and i'll be away to Cantley park when pre season training starts. The wife says i'm very good at pointing

[hoolahoop]

I bet he soon ''pointed out'' that clause to them , we could do without him stealing a wage from our budget. 

[DonnyBazR0ver]

Please send him out on loan.

[Filo]

How desperate must we have been to sign him if we allowed that clause to be inserted into his contract, he was training with Hungerford Town at the time!

[idler]

I would imagine that someone at the club will get a bollocking over this.

[streatham dave]

Reminds me of the situation a few years ago. Jason Price had a similar/same clause. He had to reach 25 games either from the start or as sub. He reached 24 and was then not played again. Waide Fairhurst who was also let go that year played instead even though Price was the better player of the two IMHO. I think the club behaved badly back then. Looks like we weren't as on the ball this time. Karma is an interesting thing. Would rather have Price now than Harper. Wish we could do a swap deal.

[MiKA]

Do the board never learn, I mean Harper ffs he's absolute shite 

[KieronDRFC]

Surely john ryan/gavin baldwin are to blame for this poor business management yet nobody says a bad word about them do they. Throwing money away.

[Chris]

And on the other hand Harper is a very experienced midfielder whose presence off-the-pitch may be valued quite highly by Flynn and the rest of the backroom staff.

Who knows?

[mushRTID]

And on the other hand Harper is a very experienced midfielder whose presence off-the-pitch may be valued quite highly by Flynn and the rest of the backroom staff.

Who knows?

If its true he dumped his gear in his car and stormed off when not in the squad then that can't be any good for the dressing room.

[Filo]

And on the other hand Harper is a very experienced midfielder whose presence off-the-pitch may be valued quite highly by Flynn and the rest of the backroom staff.

Who knows?

If its true he dumped his gear in his car and stormed off when not in the squad then that can't be any good for the dressing room.

I`ve personally seen him do this on more than one occasion

[Sprotyrover]

Super Gavin Baldwin not so super after all
 

[wilts rover]

You would have thought that someone would have noticed the clause and stopped him playing.

Good point - so you believe that the board should pick the team not the manager?

[Bristol Red Rover]

At the time he was judged to be needed and presumably good enough for League 1. Realistically, I'm sure Gavin and JR didn't expect us to bounce back to the Championship even if they were trying for that. His contract would have involved various terms but mainly length of contract and wages. The extension deal would have been a bargaining tool in keeping his wages lower.

So not a bad decision so much as an unfortunate one. Lay off Gav

[RedJ]

Super Gavin Baldwin not so super after all
 

What a ridiculous statement. This is one thing he's got wrong after how many brilliant things?

Besides, at the beginning of his time here, we're forgetting, he did actually look something like. Then we saw his true colours.

[streatham dave]

It was Flynn that played him in those last few games no one else.

[MachoMadness]

This explains a lot, actually. Harper was decent when he first arrived, then inexplicably completely stopped trying about halfway through the season. Now we know why. He knew he had a meal ticket already sorted for next season.

[Red wizard]

Please tell me this is a joke.

[DonnyOsmond]

It was Flynn that played him in those last few games no one else.

Please tell me you're not blaming Flynn for playing him when we had two available midfielders?

[wilts rover]

By that theory MM he would have stopped trying as soon as his contract extension kicked in - so are you saying it was only 10 games?

I don't think he got any better or worse - people just spotted what he was or wasn't doing. He was welcomed because he wasn't Paul Keegan and could pass straight - he was slagged off because he wasn't Paul Keegan and wouldn't run around or tackle.

[The Beast]

Hindsight is a wonderful thing, when he first came to club people were very positive about him. After the Hull game i recall people were saying he was just what we were missing before, linking up the play. Not every signing comes up trumps, even Sir Alex made some stinkers and that's with unlimited resources. Give the club a break ,they must be making more good decisions than bad, we've just won the league for crying out loud!

[Red wizard]

On the bright side i doubt is wage will be alot and im sure he will end up on loan at bottom l1 top l2 team.

[streatham dave]

If it was the same clause as Price then 5 games less he wouldn't have been with us. In those last games and a few more besides he was awful. Cameron Howieson was available for those games as was Mark Wilson who ended up on the bench instead of him at least once. We also had Mullen, Meade and Midleton and for a number of games Bennett was on the bench and for what good Harper did he might as well have been used centrally. I'm not wishing to blame anybody. What is done is done but I certainly think people are pointing at the wrong people when they are looking at JR and Baldwin.