Contract renewals

[graingrover]

Why would he let most of them go ? I think he will release a handful ..Ravenhill , Taylor , Close , Seaman , Degruchy , Lavery and maybe Bottomley if he manages to sign TLT .

[Petche]

Why would he let most of them go ? I think he will release a handful ..Ravenhill , Taylor , Close , Seaman , Degruchy , Lavery and maybe Bottomley if he manages to sign TLT .

Because most of them are not good enough and are responsible for where we find ourselves.

[roversdude]

I thought Jones got a year last summer meaning OOC this summer

[Colin C No.3]

Biggins played well yesterday. ?

Surely if we’re handing out contract extensions we have to judge players on their contributions while they’ve been here. Not just for the last few weeks when basically they’re playing for their livelihood’s.

But I do feel Biggins is worth persevering with. GM obviously feels there’s real potential there & at the end of the day you can look at xg’s until you’re blue in the face but if your manager sees something in a player well, that’s why he’s where he is & you are where you are. Sat engulfed in reams of data as it were.

[ncRover]

Diidn't GM say we had an option on Zane?

I think he did and GM rates him very highly - praising his vision and calmness. He is a very underrated player for us.

[NickDRFC]

Biggins played well yesterday. ?

Surely if we’re handing out contract extensions we have to judge players on their contributions while they’ve been here. Not just for the last few weeks when basically they’re playing for their livelihood’s.

But I do feel Biggins is worth persevering with. GM obviously feels there’s real potential there & at the end of the day you can look at xg’s until you’re blue in the face but if your manager sees something in a player well, that’s why he’s where he is & you are where you are. Sat engulfed in reams of data as it were.

Give it a rest.

[DonnyOsmond]

Keep
3-James Maxwell
6-Richard Wood
7-Luke Molyneux
24-Zain Westbrooke
28-Bobby Faulkner
32-Ben Bottomley


Let Go
29-Jack Degruchy
30-Tavonga Kuleya
31-Caolan Lavery
14-Harrison Biggins
19-Charlie Seaman
10-Tommy Rowe


Other
36-Maxime Biamou - TBD
27-Liam Ravenhill - 3 month deal
33-Ben Close - Dependant on wages
11-Jon Taylor - 3 month deal

[NickDRFC]

Definitely keep
Maxwell - really good player, even with his chequered fitness record he’s worth a deal for me
Molyneux - starting to deliver on his promise, hope we still sign a player to compete for his place but definitely worth a deal for me
Westbrooke - big fan and he made us tick earlier in the season

Would probably offer
Faulkner - haven’t seen enough to really form an opinion on him but probably worth a new deal to see if the promise materialises
Biggins - McCann has played him in a new role and is seemingly getting the best out of him. Can’t see him being on big money so if he maintains this form he’s worth a new deal for me
Biamou - assuming he gets up to fitness whilst with us over the next couple of months

Not sure
Bottomley - literally no idea if this kid is any good
Kuleya - had a couple of promising cameos but is he good enough?
Ravenhill - as above
Wood - if we can get a player in a similar mould but 5-10 years younger I’m not sure he’s worth it

The rest can go for me, Rowe & Taylor regrettably but I feel if we were to offer them a new deal it would be based on sentiment as opposed to merit.

[Draytonian III]

Is Faulkner still out injured ?

[DearneValleyRover]

My problem with Westbrooke is that he’s prone to injury. We need to move away from that type of player, he may well be influential when he plays but if he’s unavailable for 12 plus games that’s not very helpful

[GazLaz]

We may not have a choice in keeping some of them.

I’d keep Maxwell and Faulkner.

Molyneux has been ok this season but we could certainly find better. Westbrook is good but will only ever play half of a season. Biggins has been ok as well but again, he’s an ok league 2 player, we could certainly find better without much looking.

[RoversInSpain]

Adelakun (offer a contract)
Craig (try for a full season loan)
Waters (not for me)
Lo Tutala ( try to sign, loan of better permanent)
Nixon (Offer a contract)

Youngsters/former youth players: 5

Kuleya.         (Let go)
Bottomley.     (Let go)
Ravenhill.       (Let go)
Degruchy.     (Let go)
Faulkner.      (New contract)

Senior Players: 10

Molyneux (new contract)
Biggins.         (Let go)
Taylor.           (Let go)
Close.           (Let go)
Westbrooke.  (Let go)
Rowe.           (Let go)
Seaman.      (Let go)
Wood.         (Offer contract)
Lavery.         (Let go)
Maxwell.    (Offer contract)

Completely agree on that DVR, just the one exception being Westbrooke.
The rest have contributed to a position of 20th in Division 4 (upto 19th with recent form) and have only improved due to realising they need a new contract and better players arriving in January. Wood has come back and looked calm and measured and probably has one more season in the legs to help a new CH or two bed in with us, not sure where McGrath is?

If we can also offload one of the keepers, Olowu. And sadly take a long hard look at Miller’s situation.

Grant will do the right thing, after all it’s his career on the line, failure at Donny won’t leave too many attractive alternatives for him or Cliff

[ncRover]

We may not have a choice in keeping some of them.

I’d keep Maxwell and Faulkner.

Molyneux has been ok this season but we could certainly find better. Westbrook is good but will only ever play half of a season. Biggins has been ok as well but again, he’s an ok league 2 player, we could certainly find better without much looking.

I’ve been looking for some realistic transfers for the summer but I can’t really find an out of contract left-footed attacker who is better than Molyneux for that position. One for a permanent deal anyway…

[graingrover]

I would not imagine GM seeking a big clear out ..far from it ..The reason we have been poor is down to injuries as the improvement in the  last ten games shows .We have a good squad though three of the best are loanees .I think GM will add five  or six new signings at most plus three or four loanees again .

[ncRover]

I would not imagine GM seeking a big clear out ..far from it ..The reason we have been poor is down to injuries as the improvement in the  last ten games shows .We have a good squad though three of the best are loanees .I think GM will add five  or six new signings at most plus three or four loanees again .

Replace those loanees with the injured Lawlor, Close and Taylor and we would still be in a relegation battle.

[DonnyBazR0ver]

I would not imagine GM seeking a big clear out ..far from it ..The reason we have been poor is down to injuries as the improvement in the  last ten games shows .We have a good squad though three of the best are loanees .I think GM will add five  or six new signings at most plus three or four loanees again .

He's openly said the squad needs trimming  although to what degree we don't know. A number of factors may determine that, including the form of a few players for the remaining games.

I think we just have to hope GM continues to do most of our business early in the window and avoid hanging on for players to make their minds up.

[Colin C No.3]

GM also said that he knows where the squad needs strengthening & has spoken to the board about ‘certain players’ but obviously at this stage of the season it’s a case of identifying players you might like but getting them to sign is a whole new ball game.

With the three loanees coming in January that have made a massive difference (along with Wood playing regularly) GM clearly knows he is able to bolster the squad with good players (Faal played his part too until he thought the grass might be greener) & I sincerely hope he can get two of them to sign permanent contracts with us.

[Jonathan]

I still think there needs to be a degree of ruthlessness going into the summer as it stands to reason that if we want to challenge at the other end of the table then we need to take our chance to switch things up where we can.

That said, it’s also worth considering whether Biggins (for example) is playing for a contract and it’s too little too late (as a cynic might say) or if, after nearly 2 years, we have finally found the right role for him where he can do the things he’s good at and not the things he’s not. He’s given us a decision to make, as has Richard Wood. The others that we should be seeking to renew are the obvious ones mentioned elsewhere, but we do need to balance that out by taking the chance to clear the decks a bit where we can.

I can also foresee some transfer listing of players under contract, especially in the goalkeeping department. We’ve seen more recently why we simply cannot expect to challenge with Jones and Lawlor as our primary options. No pun intended, but we really dropped the ball there last summer. 

[IDM]

Do we need such massive amounts of player turnover.?

Trim the squad a bit by all means - although with recent seasons the amount of injuries has justified a bigger set?

Perhaps we need a small handful of new players - in the big scheme of things 4 or 5 newcomers who are expected to be regular starters makes a huge difference to the team.

The “same players” who got us to within a gnats cock of the relegation places - with the January additions - also have shown promotion form (results wise) in the last 8 games, plus before that we had the odd game like MK Dons with the performance to boot.

What we haven’t had until relatively recently is consistency.  The January recruitment has in the main been very successful, so perhaps that’s the scale of what we need in summer?

A few key additions to the squad might just be enough to make the rest of them “tick” much more effectively and with better outcomes, as opposed to wholesale changes?

As to who those players are/should be, is up for debate obviously..  I haven’t seen enough play in person to make any judgements myself but what I do agree on is that decisions shouldn’t be made on emotions.

[roversdude]

I think it’s fair to say Grant has a ruthless streak and will make decisions that he has said himself are hard to make from the human side of things

[DonnyBazR0ver]

Just worth a bump of this thread with Maxwell being the first renewal to be announced.

A good start to proceedings. Its probably fair to say other offers will have been made. Maybe some know they need to show more in the remaining games? Who knows.

[DearneValleyRover]

Hoping there aren’t too many more

[Avsuptem]

Am I the only one who doesn't buy the dismissive insinuation that a player has only improved recently because they are 'playing for a contract'?  With the odd exception I cannot imagine any professional footballer ever going into a game with the mindset that I am not going to bother playing the best I can.

[Jonathan]

Am I the only one who doesn't buy the dismissive insinuation that a player has only improved recently because they are 'playing for a contract'?  With the odd exception I cannot imagine any professional footballer ever going into a game with the mindset that I am not going to bother playing the best I can.

I would agree that players are not deliberately entering a game with the mindset that “I am not going to bother playing the best I can.” However there will specifically be times when players go into games motivated to push that bit extra, and it stands to reason that contract expiry / renewal could be one of those determining factors. In fact I’d say it probably is.

As much as we don’t like to admit it, we’re probably all a bit like that in our professional lives aren’t we? When there’s a key deadline to meet or a promotion opportunity to impress for I’m sure most of us would acknowledge we give that bit more than on a run of the mill working day. I do, I wish I didn’t and I wish my team always gave absolutely everything they have, but life isn’t like that. It’s not deliberate and the differences in mindset and approach are often subtle but the outputs noticeable. Footballers are just human beings like the rest of us.

[DonnyBazR0ver]

Totally agree with that.

Just referring back to Biggins, his recent form has been good however, he's lucky that McCann has given him the licence to be the more attacking of the midfield three. When asked to play a more disciplined role, he tends to struggle to be more careful with the ball, giving the ball away too cheaply and being slow to recover. He just doesn't seem as composed or as quick in thought n possession as Craig, Westbrooke or Bailey, although perhaps on a similar level to Broadbent in general play.

For these reasons, I would struggle to warrant a new contract to a player who's limited and less flexible than others. Could we find better attacking midfielders, who could also adapt and tuck in when needed?

[Avsuptem]

Am I the only one who doesn't buy the dismissive insinuation that a player has only improved recently because they are 'playing for a contract'?  With the odd exception I cannot imagine any professional footballer ever going into a game with the mindset that I am not going to bother playing the best I can.

I would agree that players are not deliberately entering a game with the mindset that “I am not going to bother playing the best I can.” However there will specifically be times when players go into games motivated to push that bit extra, and it stands to reason that contract expiry / renewal could be one of those determining factors. In fact I’d say it probably is.

As much as we don’t like to admit it, we’re probably all a bit like that in our professional lives aren’t we? When there’s a key deadline to meet or a promotion opportunity to impress for I’m sure most of us would acknowledge we give that bit more than on a run of the mill working day. I do, I wish I didn’t and I wish my team always gave absolutely everything they have, but life isn’t like that. It’s not deliberate and the differences in mindset and approach are often subtle but the outputs noticeable. Footballers are just human beings like the rest of us.

I take your point and a competent manager should have a multitude of ways to motivate his players to get that little bit extra performance, that's his job. Brian Clough was brilliant at this, often involving reverse psychology.  Stuart Pearce's story about how Cloughie brought him back down to earth after being selected to play for England by getting him to fix his wife's iron is a classic.

[RoversInSpain]

Am I the only one who doesn't buy the dismissive insinuation that a player has only improved recently because they are 'playing for a contract'?  With the odd exception I cannot imagine any professional footballer ever going into a game with the mindset that I am not going to bother playing the best I can.

I would agree that players are not deliberately entering a game with the mindset that “I am not going to bother playing the best I can.” However there will specifically be times when players go into games motivated to push that bit extra, and it stands to reason that contract expiry / renewal could be one of those determining factors. In fact I’d say it probably is.

As much as we don’t like to admit it, we’re probably all a bit like that in our professional lives aren’t we? When there’s a key deadline to meet or a promotion opportunity to impress for I’m sure most of us would acknowledge we give that bit more than on a run of the mill working day. I do, I wish I didn’t and I wish my team always gave absolutely everything they have, but life isn’t like that. It’s not deliberate and the differences in mindset and approach are often subtle but the outputs noticeable. Footballers are just human beings like the rest of us.

Yes totally agree, very good post , Jonathan

[ncRover]

A good Litmus test for the players with expiring contracts would be:

- Would a promotion rival want to sign them?

Biggins has picked up and done alright but he still fails that.

[selby]

  Well he played 82 games for Fleetwood between 2017 and 2022 and were Fleetwood mostly in division 1 and up there in Division 2 while he was there, so yes someone going for promotion might look at that him 28 yrs old done it before and take a punt.
  2020/21 on loan at Barrow 22 games

[sedwardsdrfc]

On the playing for a contract thing I think there’s something too it. Not specifically about any of our players just more generally.

You train all week to be at the top of your game in a very competitive sport where there’s not a lot between players on an individual level. Just a small increase in effort across the weeks of training will probably show itself on a match day.

Not saying it’s a lack of professionalism it’s only normal that you have a natural level of effort which subconsciously increase with a feeling of jeopardy about your future