The remainder of the season hinges on Conor Hourihane

What would you pay for us to be sure of safety in the Championship this season? I’ll come back to that.

On the face of things we are in a good position at this stage of our season. 38 points from 26 games, 14 points above the third bottom team and only 7 points off the playoff places. But we now find ourselves without our main striker, and in danger of losing our most important player with the interest currently being shown in Conor Hourihane. Sam Winnall has scored goals which have earned us 7 points in terms of the final outcome of games. Conor has netted 6 goals in circumstances where the result would have been different. That’s 13 points, which would have left us sitting one above the relegation zone. Sure, another striker might have scored in Sam’s place, and ditto for Conor. But it’s only a might when you consider the huge influence of these two players. Conor has also had 11 assists. I haven’t analysed those, but you can bet that many of those made the difference in the final result too.

It took us a full season, and arguably more to develop Conor to the level he began to play at last season, and this season he has progressed further. He has been reported to be not just our most influential player, but the most influential player in the Championship according to leading stats organisations. If we had already got another prospect like him that player would still be a long way off that level of development. But so far as I am aware, we haven’t anyone who possesses his range of skills or the potential to acquire them. That’s not to say that we don’t have midfielders with other qualities, but none of them are anywhere near Conor’s level. Morsy would have gone some way, but that deal is now off. When you have a club like Aston Villa in the Championship, desperate to get back to the top tier, and with resources to burn, it’s almost inconceivable that they won’t successfully conclude their pursuit of Conor. They have already sacked a Champions’ League-winning manager for failing to get them closer. And it would be surprising if Conor was not also on Rafa’s radar, given the blip that Newcastle have recently experienced with the absence of Jonjo Shelvey. £5M would be small beer for either of these clubs. But if that is what relegation would cost us, then that should be the minimum that Conor should be sold for. And if we take the money, we should be prepared for the consequences.

The player has of course already said that he is in no hurry, but an extra 21K a week for the next 20 weeks amounts to 420,000K. Can he really afford to turn that down? He turns 26 in two weeks’ time. In the wholly exceptional circumstances that we are in, and as an absolute one-off, I believe we should be prepared to give Conor the difference in salary for the remainder of this season. We have money from the Stones and Mawson deals, but we don’t have and can’t hope to acquire another Hourihane in the short term. Of course that creates a situation for Paul Heckingbottom to manage in terms of wage disparities, and I can hear Red Rain screaming at me for suggesting such a thing. But I do believe that this is a unique situation. Conor will leave in the Summer regardless, when he wouldn’t have to gamble on his new club being a Premiership one. So the ‘fix’ would be a short term one. We can then buy time and assess where we want to go.

Relegation with Conor is unlikely, but without him it becomes a far greater possibility when you look at the many difficult fixtures remaining. The administration is in turmoil following recent dealings, and we have a Head Coach who cannot devote sufficient time either to that role or to spearheading the recruitment drive, given that he’s trying to straddle both jobs. We wouldn’t bat an eyelid at paying 420K for a new player – and we certainly couldn’t get a Conor Hourihane for that.

But anyway, would you pay a fiver to be sure of us staying up? We are currently 40/1 for the drop, so if the worst happened, you’d be £200 better off if we went down. Nearly enough for a League One season ticket! If Conor leaves, we’ll be half that price.

 

Why do we need to pay Conor 420K to stay for 6 months when he's contracted to stay on the same wage anyway.

I'd pay him that plus his wages to stay for another 2 years. But another 6 months is just silly.

It would be absolutely ridiculous.

We're in great form taking 16 points from the last 24 available. Not even close to going down.

People seem to be ignoring the fact that along with everyone else we also have a chance to strengthen. We've recruited better than most in the country over the last 3 years. Just trust them to get it right and lets see what happens Saturday. A win and we're flying again.

 

Why do we need to pay Conor 420K to stay for 6 months when he's contracted to stay on the same wage anyway.

So was Sam. You know how it works. We need to make sure CH will be no worse off staying with us - especially if Villa up the price.

I'd pay him that plus his wages to stay for another 2 years. But another 6 months is just silly.

What is just silly is to imagine that this lad won't be playing in the Premier League by next season. Staying with us beyond Summer is not an option.

It would be absolutely ridiculous.

Assertion, Mr RAC.

We're in great form taking 16 points from the last 24 available. Not even close to going down.

That points tally would have been halved without Winnall and Hourihane. Be alive to what's going on.

People seem to be ignoring the fact that along with everyone else we also have a chance to strengthen. We've recruited better than most in the country over the last 3 years. Just trust them to get it right and lets see what happens Saturday. A win and we're flying again.

We have no full time CEO/recruitment specialist. In any event, the new recruits don't come ready made - at least not the ones we can afford. Is a win against Leeds likely if we play like last night?

 

With Winnall and Hourihane we took 7 points from 11 games between September and November. Nothing's guaranteed. As important as Hourihane is, there's a few other blokes in red who have input. Good or bad.

 

With our budget you dont pay a player 420k to stay for 6 month. He either stays on his wage until the end of the season, extends his contract or goes and we get at least a million in.

We're not in danger of relegation so absolutely no need to blow 420k because some supporters are panicking.

 

"Winnall and Hourihane, our supposed star players".
"If these two are the best we've got, we're in deep do-do".

http://barnsleyfc.org.uk/showthread.php?237009-Winnall-and-Hourihane&p=1776772#post1776772

 

I do not scream. I simply shake my head for side to side and look very sad. I may even tut. But I never scream.

The team that beat Millwall at Wembley has now lost George Williams, Alfie Mawson, Josh Brownhill, Lloyd Isgrove Sam Winnall and Ashley Fletcher. That is more than half of a starting eleven that functioned so well as a team. Although their replacements have in some cases been good players, they do not function so well as a team, and no matter how good, or how influential Connor Hourihane is as an individual, he is not and can never be a team on his own. Last night, we did not look like a team, and as a result, most of the players in it looked average. We are starting to rock and no individual can save us when that happens. The question is, should we go out of our way to save one individual who has been a big influence upon the way that we have played the game for the last 18 months, even though it is probably already too late to save that method because of the players that we have already lost, or should we simply cash in all our chips and begin again.

We were so poor at time last night, so distant from the method and ethos that won us promotion that I began to ask myself those fundamental questions. Posters gloried in the pressing game, the work rate and the balance of our team. Those thing are gone, and with them the magic that we had that carried us to promotion. Yes we have won games in this league, but we have won on the counter-attack and if the opposition does not oblige us by playing in a way that facilitates that method of play, we are spent. Frankly, we are ordinary, we are very average. The team has been broken up by money, and whether you like it or not, Conor will go the same way. The only question is should we begin rebuilding now, whilst we have a cushion of 14 points, or should we begin in the summer, and without the money we could get for Hourihane. I do not have the answer to that question. I just know that we will have to begin sooner or later.

 

Hoho

 

Heh heh

 

I think the thing that worries me most about that JL is Hemsworth Tyke agreeing with me! :biggrin:

 

Just a bit of mickey taking, old mate.

 

I am beginning to get very worried. Do you have a huge database of embarrassing quotes? What have you got on me? What are you going to wheel out just when I am relaxing in my self-satisfied, I'm better than you posing chair, awaiting my tributes from adoring fans. Or is it your dark secret?

 

I certainly do have a huge data base of embarrassing quotes. Unfortunately, all those quotes were made by me!
Anyway, I agreed with a post of yours the other day. It may well not be the last, either.

 

We are soul mates, especially if you have something embarrassing about me in your cupboard. I intend to like all your posts in future - honest!

 

I don't have anything embarrassing about you, or anyone else on the BBS.
Trust me.