Mark Duffy on his way out.

[Alan Southstand]

Don't sit on the fence, BST!

Tell us what you really think.

[Drover]

  I knew he wasn't going to stay,he wasn't happy with being used as a bit part player

Maybe he should have performed as more than a f***ing bit part player then. He showed occasional flashes, but overall, he was a big disappointment. Went missing at crucial times. If his response is to jump ship then f*** him, and Birmingham are welcome to him.

Also,don't forget,by their standards Birmingham were shit last season and I believe with a substantially bigger budget than ours.Don't think he will be pulling up trees there.We shall see in 6-12 months.The one advantage of league one is we can get/bring in decent players for less wages etc than in the championship.

[drfc-steve]

I don't think the point is how good Duffy is... He's easily good enough for league 1, he proved that last time he was in this league.

The point is apparently we have all these players who's clauses in their contracts allow them to leave for free. You can understand it with 1 or 2 but apparently it's near enough all of them. It leaves us with a far more difficult job each summer than what it should be! It's an absolute poor decision and whoever decided to allow it to happen, deserves to be held responsible for it.

Paying a transfer fee for a player and allowing him to leave for free the next summer, is NOT a self sustainable way to run a football club. Neither is allowing loads to leave each season. The bigger the turnover in players, the bigger the cost, the less time to prepare and the less chance of success.

It's amateur.

[Filo]

  I knew he wasn't going to stay,he wasn't happy with being used as a bit part player

Maybe he should have performed as more than a f***ing bit part player then. He showed occasional flashes, but overall, he was a big disappointment. Went missing at crucial times. If his response is to jump ship then f*** him, and Birmingham are welcome to him.

Also,don't forget,by their standards Birmingham were shit last season and I believe with a substantially bigger budget than ours.Don't think he will be pulling up trees there.We shall see in 6-12 months.The one advantage of league one is we can get/bring in decent players for less wages etc than in the championship.

Why go for the cheaper options, we have new owners that are "prepared to put their money where their mouth is"

[bobjimwilly]

Who has read the contracts of all these players?

[Copps is Magic]

Duffy is not a big loss. Move on. Forrester is going to be a better player.

One more off the wage bill = more money to spend.

[drfc-steve]

Who has read the contracts of all these players?

It's what the media have been reporting since the end of the season (hence me using the word 'apparently').

Duffy going on a free would probably more or less confirm it to be true, considering he's one player we paid a fee for and signed on a 3 year contract.

[DonnyBazR0ver]

No great loss. By the way, these release clauses are pretty standard these days. The agents insist on their inclusion before their player signs. These sort of things lead to speculation about 'losing the pen' when players have agreed. Not amateur  on the clubs part.

[Glyn_Wigley]

It works both ways too, it enables a relegated club to ship out players on a large wage quicker.

[goalkick]

Bennett will come good now.

not on previous performances.plus in his loan spell he did not show much promise.

[GazLaz]

Can't let contracted assets go for free. Terrible by the club. That should be a clause for players like Wellens. No value, highe wages.

[drfc-steve]

Can't let contracted assets go for free. Terrible by the club. That should be a clause for players like Wellens. No value, highe wages.

Shhh apparently "it's the norm" and not amateur/poor 

It's shocking!

[RJHeader]

Why pay a substantial fee and risk losing for free a year later. We are a joke at times. I though Gavin was smarter than that. Pathetic if true.

More than likely he wouldn't have signed without the clause. Catch 22.

Well dont sign him then?! There was always a likelihood we would go down so that clause should never of been there. We complain about losing money every year, and how we need to become self sustainable. Well maybe not doing stupid stupid things like this.

Its not the first time, and i can guarantee it wont be the last something like this happens. We might be a League One/Championship club on the field, but when it comes to dealing with transfers we tend to look like a Conference side still.

I dont generally think he's the biggest loss, would of been very good in League One, but we can deal without him. its the manner in which we've lost him.

[Leebtyler]

I can assure you all now Cottrell is also gone.

[BillyStubbsTears]

Can't let contracted assets go for free. Terrible by the club. That should be a clause for players like Wellens. No value, highe wages.

Shhh apparently "it's the norm" and not amateur/poor 

It's shocking!

Go on. I'm going to go against my better judgement and indulge you.

In an era where players hold the whip hand in negotiations, how do you suggest that we sign them in the first place if they insist on release clauses?

[keyser_soze]

I can assure you all now Cottrell is also gone.

Seems Cotterill was in Bristol yesterday discussing terms.

[DRFCCOYR]

 

[bobjimwilly]

I can assure you all now Cottrell is also gone.

Seems Cotterill was in Bristol yesterday discussing terms.

no great surprise after the revelation of his divorce and his kids living in wales.

[pib]

I can assure you all now Cottrell is also gone.

Seems Cotterill was in Bristol yesterday discussing terms.

no great surprise after the revelation of his divorce and his kids living in wales.

Bit of a drop down to the Conference though, eh? I think he can still easily do a job at this level.

 

[GazLaz]

Duffy and Cotts will take some replacing. Both good league 1 players. Duffy is worth £250k of anyone's money. That's £250k + what we paid for him + what we spent developing him. Money slaughtered.

[drfc-steve]

Can't let contracted assets go for free. Terrible by the club. That should be a clause for players like Wellens. No value, highe wages.

Shhh apparently "it's the norm" and not amateur/poor 

It's shocking!

Go on. I'm going to go against my better judgement and indulge you.

In an era where players hold the whip hand in negotiations, how do you suggest that we sign them in the first place if they insist on release clauses?

The amount with the clause in (I'll put apparently... You'll see it's true over the coming days/weeks) shows me it's more of a club policy.

The way people are defending it is as though they were the only players available and every player at every club has the same clause! That's not the case.

It's poor showing this from our club I am afraid, although we've seen it before with out of contract players previously, so we shouldn't be surprised. Still a kick in the teeth though. Especially when these players are actually under contract.

[GazLaz]

It's not as thought he's a Meite/Tamas type player who were taking a perceived step down joining us. We were a step up for Duffy. We were doing him a favour.

[DonnyNoel]

So has it been confirmed if its a "free" for definite?

[mushRTID]

Duffy and Cotts will take some replacing. Both good league 1 players. Duffy is worth £250k of anyone's money. That's £250k + what we paid for him + what we spent developing him. Money slaughtered.

Completely agree, indefensible. It's not about whether he is a 'big loss' or not (he obviously is at L1 level) it's another cock up that's cost us if true.

[drfc-steve]

Imagine the uproar for Chris Brown leaving (on a free)...

[BillyStubbsTears]

Imagine the uproar for Chris Brown leaving (on a free)...

I thought you'd stopped supporting the Rovers?

[steve@dcfd]

Can the contracted players, who have a clause, leave for another league one club in the case of Cotterill may be going to Bristol.

 

[drfc-steve]

Imagine the uproar for Chris Brown leaving (on a free)...

I thought you'd stopped supporting the Rovers?

Where have I said that?

[BillyStubbsTears]

I dunno. I thought I'd picked it up somewhere. Apologies if I'm wrong.

[robchester]

Players come, players go it football.  Good luck at their new clubs and thanks for the efforts whilst they were with us.