Oh Dear

[DearneValleyRover]

How do you know that they haven't been offered new contracts? It's up to each individual player to decide whether to sign. Add in another consideration Spurr is one of the highest earners at the club if we had not got promoted next season we would have been operating on an even smaller budget to this seasons requiring the wage bill to be trimmed again. I'm sure all at the club would have wanted to tie Tommy down to a longer deal but couldn't offer it until we knew which Division we would be in.

[PACMAN]

But the flip side of that is you give Martin Woods a 4 year contract and he get's injured or turns out to be garbage (which he isn't, I'm just making a point) and you're stuck paying £5k a week for the next three years...

The difference being that you could do little about that - an unforeseen injury.  Whereas offering TS a new deal before his contract expired could have been forseen and acted upon....... 

The players are free to talk to other clubs 6 months prior to the end of their contracts. TS only had a 2 year deal anyway so try putting yourself in the clubs position for once. Lets see now, do we offer a new deal in January when we have absolutely no idea which division we'll be in next season???? Think about it!!!

I am, however, more than slightly concerned that we have had no news on any of the OOC players resigning as of yet and the club do appear to be slow on this. The retained list was announced before PD's appointment so discussions should be well advanced by now.

[Filo]

But the flip side of that is you give Martin Woods a 4 year contract and he get's injured or turns out to be garbage (which he isn't, I'm just making a point) and you're stuck paying £5k a week for the next three years...

The difference being that you could do little about that - an unforeseen injury.  Whereas offering TS a new deal before his contract expired could have been forseen and acted upon....... 

The players are free to talk to other clubs 6 months prior to the end of their contracts. TS only had a 2 year deal anyway so try putting yourself in the clubs position for once. Lets see now, do we offer a new deal in January when we have absolutely no idea which division we'll be in next season???? Think about it!!!

I am, however, more than slightly concerned that we have had no news on any of the OOC players resigning as of yet and the club do appear to be slow on this. The retained list was announced before PD's appointment so discussions should be well advanced by now.

Players probably want to go away on holiday first and relax before starting contract negotiations

[The L J Monk]

LJM: This sort of thing is inevitable. Big teams will always cherry-pick our better players.

That's how we got him in the first place - we were able to offer him slightly better wages than Weds were prepared to offer him, and for a price (as a club) they (and we) felt was decent enough too!

We were also a division above them too at the time!

What goes around comes around - the teams mentioned are bigger than us financially and historically - we do it to smaller teams too - tough titties!

I like Spurr, however, if he moves he moves - such is life!

Tis the nature of the world!

That and the fact he had been transfer listed and wasn't playing for them.

[keith79]

copps could have gone ipswich a couple of years ago but wanted to stay with us

[grayx]

How did we let Spurr get out of contract?

Because we're very good at it. Remember Greeny?

[The L J Monk]

The club can only pay what it can afford.

It could strive to hold on to its better players, but break the budget to do so. We've tried that before, and it's not sustainable.

Assuming Spurr were to leave, there is no knowing what his wage demands for a new deal would have been, nor if we could have met them.

[MartinB]

I'm sure there is something on the table..but we can't afford to  offering silly wages again.

[DonnyNoel]

How did we let Spurr get out of contract?

Because we're very good at it. Remember Greeny?

But if you were Spurr - at what point would you have signed a new deal even if we had offered one?

At any point during the 11/12 season when we were in a relegation battle? Doubtful
Last summer when we had low expectations and 7/8 contracted players and had just been relegated with little team spirit left? Doubtful
Towards the end of this season when its unclear what division we'd be in next season so signing early may commit to a L1 salary? Doubtful

Sometimes things are just out of our control.

(But yes, the Greeny thing was a bit farcical and I'm sure he could have been tied down sooner given his history with the club)

[PACMAN]

But the flip side of that is you give Martin Woods a 4 year contract and he get's injured or turns out to be garbage (which he isn't, I'm just making a point) and you're stuck paying £5k a week for the next three years...

The difference being that you could do little about that - an unforeseen injury.  Whereas offering TS a new deal before his contract expired could have been forseen and acted upon....... 

The players are free to talk to other clubs 6 months prior to the end of their contracts. TS only had a 2 year deal anyway so try putting yourself in the clubs position for once. Lets see now, do we offer a new deal in January when we have absolutely no idea which division we'll be in next season???? Think about it!!!

I am, however, more than slightly concerned that we have had no news on any of the OOC players resigning as of yet and the club do appear to be slow on this. The retained list was announced before PD's appointment so discussions should be well advanced by now.

Players probably want to go away on holiday first and relax before starting contract negotiations

You are, of course, correct Filo, however, that's why players employ agents so I would expect some news soon??

[Colin C No.3]

How did we let Spurr get out of contract?

Because we're very good at it. Remember Greeny?

But if you were Spurr - at what point would you have signed a new deal even if we had offered one?

At any point during the 11/12 season when we were in a relegation battle? Doubtful
Last summer when we had low expectations and 7/8 contracted players and had just been relegated with little team spirit left? Doubtful
Towards the end of this season when its unclear what division we'd be in next season so signing early may commit to a L1 salary? Doubtful

Sometimes things are just out of our control.

(But yes, the Greeny thing was a bit farcical and I'm sure he could have been tied down sooner given his history with the club)

Have to agree DonnyNoel. Spurr & his agent had 'the luxury' to hold back & football's a very short career, just ask Giggs, Scholes & Carragher.

Anyway, Spurr was always poor in the tackle. Just take another look at the first poster's link. Even Gillett looks to be thinking"Jeez Tommy, that one's a red for sure!"

[wilts rover]

How did we let Spurr get out of contract?

Because we're very good at it. Remember Greeny?

But if you were Spurr - at what point would you have signed a new deal even if we had offered one?

At any point during the 11/12 season when we were in a relegation battle? Doubtful
Last summer when we had low expectations and 7/8 contracted players and had just been relegated with little team spirit left? Doubtful
Towards the end of this season when its unclear what division we'd be in next season so signing early may commit to a L1 salary? Doubtful

Sometimes things are just out of our control.

(But yes, the Greeny thing was a bit farcical and I'm sure he could have been tied down sooner given his history with the club)

Given that the manger left him out of the team until Christmas, and tried to send him out on loan during that period too, at what point would he have been offered a new contract and who would have made the decision to offer it - as it was clear to the fans and presumably him that he was not wanted?

You cant just pick and choose the piece of history that you want to base a decision on - players obviously have to make long-term decisions that is best for them.

[RobTheRover]

TO be fair, the club has offered contracts to all the players approaching the end of their contracts they wish  to retain. 

[roverssam1879]

He will end up going the same way as Roberts and playing for Derby, leaving us with only Husband at left back.

Spurr out

Grounds and Ward in

[moses]

If the club have offered him a contract and are no position to say take it or leave it yet. Then you would fully expect his agent to test the water to see if he could get more at other/bigger clubs.
What's the worse that can happen from his point of view, he ends up agreeing to re sign for us before pre season has started.

[Norfolk N Chance]

Get use to it !

Thats why even competing in this league is an achievement!

Consider someone like QPR and there paying Samba £100k a week ....UNREAL!

[IDM]

I'm not worried.  It is too early.

I am certain there will have been talks behind the scenes, both for player retentions and new signings - especially with BF around, he'll have been doing his contact stuff regardless of the new manager recruitment process.

Things may just not be in the public domain yet.  I for one don't just think the club is sat on its hands waiting for players to make their minds up come June....

[selby]

Have Derby got a mole on the inside of our club.We must be the only club they scout and we have not got a penny off them for any player.I hope they get relegated and we can cherry pick their good young players that is if they have any?

[hoolahoop]

But the flip side of that is you give Martin Woods a 4 year contract and he get's injured or turns out to be garbage (which he isn't, I'm just making a point) and you're stuck paying £5k a week for the next three years...

The difference being that you could do little about that - an unforeseen injury.  Whereas offering TS a new deal before his contract expired could have been forseen and acted upon....... 

The players are free to talk to other clubs 6 months prior to the end of their contracts. TS only had a 2 year deal anyway so try putting yourself in the clubs position for once. Lets see now, do we offer a new deal in January when we have absolutely no idea which division we'll be in next season???? Think about it!!!

I am, however, more than slightly concerned that we have had no news on any of the OOC players resigning as of yet and the club do appear to be slow on this. The retained list was announced before PD's appointment so discussions should be well advanced by now.

Err yes if we could afford him last season , we could have afforded him this season and the next irrespective of how we finished the season.

[RedJ]

Not necessarily hools - the threshhold for how much in terms of percentage you spend on wages drops from 65% to 60% in your second season after relegation before stopping at 55% in the third onwards.

[Sammy Chung was King]

The only way we come out winning from Tommy Spurr going(that's if he is),is if we get a player in who is better than him,hard on the wages we pay but not impossible,he is one player whether we stayed in league one or not,needed to be offered a good extension to his contract,he's young enough and good enough to have been offered an improvement,i don't mind players leaving,as long as we get a decent fee for them,a little short sighted by the club and a mistake,we can't afford too many,this league is going to be hard enough.

[DearneValleyRover]

Hoola our budget for last season was based on our turnover in the Championship which had a greater media revenue our budget for this season would have been based on League 1 revenue, a vast difference which would have led to more players leaving.

[mina75]

You're all making out that he has gone already, but take a step back and think about it. First of all it's a line that says "Sky Sports undertsands" there is no firm offer to Spurr from any of these clubs yet. Secondly Rovers have offered him a new contract and what to say he hasn't already agreed that with us you know how secret they are over these things. And lastly yes there are plenty of footballers about who would just move for the money, but there are some who feel that they have plenty of money in the bank (especially ones who been on about £5k a week for 10 years or so) and just want to play regular football, i don't know Tommy personally but he seems to be enjoying his time with Rovers so maybe that will be more important when the decision is made.

[DonnyBazR0ver]

Would not bother me at all. For me he has not reached the heights I expected for a so called 'Championship' player. OK defender but too slow to be a Championship full back for me and didn't do enough going forward. More often than not, when he had space in front of him, he checked back and we lost momentum.

He's a good lad and he's certainly played his part. I'd like to see him at CH but I also think Quinn would make an excellent CH alongside Jones. But of he leaves, so be it.

 

[streatham dave]

If this ends up happening we could do a lot worse than getting James O'Connor back

[Donnyrovers]

If this ends up happening we could do a lot worse than getting James O'Connor back

I think that would be a bad move as we would still need another natural left back because we would only have Husband and we have Quinn and Griffin for right back.

[PaulRover08]

If this ends up happening we could do a lot worse than getting James O'Connor back

I think that would be a bad move as we would still need another natural left back because we would only have Husband and we have Quinn and Griffin for right back.

It would be a bad move as James O'Connor was terrible for the last 2 seasons with us. Lets not let time blinker judgement.

[streatham dave]

Harsh Paul. He wasn't given much playing time during the experiment and thought he did reasonably well for most of the previous season we will have to agree to differ on this one.

[Wellred]

I have never understood this obsession with so many posters on here wanting to bring back players who have previously played for the club.

I know Poznan fans stand with their backs to the pitch when they score but every close season we have so many fans looking back its not true.

The only way we will ever progress as a club is to be a "Forward Thinking Club".

If only we could get the fans to think the same.

[colincramb]

Wellred, I think it's only natural people look back and want former players at the club again, probably because it reminds them of a time which was good in life and they associate these players with it. This being from a purely psychological perspective like.