Interesting quotes coming out in The Chron this morning. Could be soundbites out of context of course, but The Don quotes: - "David has made his opinion public, but it would be foolish for us to pre-empt anything before we know what division we will be in next season. Any contract negotiations could take our focus away from the relegation fight and jeopardise our chances of survival." Could this be the first sign of a potential rift, or just a difference of opinion taken out of context? At The Lamproom, Flicker didn't once mention The Don. All of his references were of his relationship with PC. Interesting stuff... For what it's worth, I do think there's sense in The Don's approach. We have no idea what our player budget is, which makes contract extensions very difficult to predict right now. A nice to have, i'm with The Don.
I agree that we aren't in a position to put concrete contract offers on the table, but surely it would be wise to sit down with our better players and let them know we want them there next season whatever division we are in? Yes there is the danger of players taking their foot off the throttle if they think their future's secure but it works both ways; players aren't likely to be as committed to our struggle if they feel the club aren't loyal to them.
How can they 'have no idea' what their budget will be next season? I'm sure that they will have modelled the two potential scenarios quite accurately. As long as they don't exceed the League One budget, I don't see any reason not to tie some of the players into a new contract. Unless the implication is we can't afford ANY of them...
You are the Don. The clubs dallying could cost us. There is nothing stopping the club from agreeing a contract with Flicker that takes in to account both League 1 and Championship possibilities. Rowing out.
If you listen to the interview with Flicker on radio Sheffield he blatantly says that he's not wanting anything. He'd like to retain the full squad but will see what happens at the end of the season. Rowing obviously feels that we may not be able to keep our better players if we dropped down a division with the inevitable loss of revenue, so it's not worth the financial risk. At the minuite its working well so no need to change it, IMO like.
Exactly the point I made the other day. I said I'd be very surprised if we hadn't drawn up contracts in principle for Flicker, his team and some key players already. It seems like surprise may be in order.
My view on this is quite simple: Don may say contract negotiations may take the focus off the relegation fight, but players and managers out of contract at the end of the seaon are equally if not more likely to be distracted by the lack of guaranteed work. I do understand why we're not committing funds before our budget is known, but a common sense approach would be to set out that contracts will be offered on a certain day* based on the outcome of the season. Hopefully this has been done. * End of season + 35 seconds
Whilst i agree with the don, we need to see where we are playing next season. We also need to keep the focus on the relegation battle. BUT why not offer flitcroft a new contract now. His wages won't anchange if we go down, he will only be offered a one year rolling contract (like all the others we have had) and finally wmho else are we gonna get?
This might just be my memory here... But I'm pretty sure we didn't take this approach before with our better players and it's not like this is the first season we have been in a relegation battle is it? Understand PC wants the club to be self sufficient, but wouldn't the cup money and Stones transfer not cover contracts for our better players? Couldn't we offer a contract on x terms raising to y depending on us 'retaining our championship status'?
I get that Hicksy. I'm sure that the second our future is understood one way or the other, things will get sorted very quickly. I don't think for one second, that players will be thinking of anything other than safety. The rest will take care of itself. Players will leave, players will join. I have no doubt in my mind, that Flicker will keep the players he wants. They're running through walls for him. As for Flicker's contract - not concerned about that at all. I'm very confident that Pat will have had the right conversations with him. They speak every day. IMO, the only thing that will see him leave the Club, is if we do go down and another Champ/PL Club come in for him. It would be unfair on him, to lock him into League football. Never has survival been so critical.
I notice that neither the Chron or Radio Sheff Decided to focus on Flitcroft praising the board for their backing of his recovery strategies at various hotels etc. The cnuts. My inherent contempt for Rowing and Taylor notwithstanding. Do not trust those two not to **** things up.
The Don is a glass half empty bloke, always looks at worse case scenario. What if we'd given Vaz Te a 2 year contract and he turned out to be *****? What if we get relegated and we've offered extended contracts, what if we offer Flicker a new contract and we get relegated, what if Flicker then takes us from League 1 to league 2. We're going nowhere while ever he's in charge. We're doing well in spite of him, not because of him. If it wasn't for all the magnificent work by this set of players and Flicker, we'd already be doomed. Even if we went down, I'd be confident enough with this team to bounce straight back. Couple of Questions for the Don - what if we stay up and all of our best players have moved elsewhere because they want to secure their own future? What if another club have seen what a job Flicker has done and offer him a position?
Half full vs Half empty?? The Don is a glass half empty bloke, always looks at worse case scenario. What if we'd given Vaz Te a 2 year contract and he turned out to be *****? What if we get relegated and we've offered extended contracts, what if we offer Flicker a new contract and we get relegated, what if Flicker then takes us from League 1 to league 2. We're going nowhere while ever he's in charge. We're doing well in spite of him, not because of him. If it wasn't for all the magnificent work by this set of players and Flicker, we'd already be doomed. Even if we went down, I'd be confident enough with this team to bounce straight back. Couple of Questions for the Don - what if we stay up and all of our best players have moved elsewhere because they want to secure their own future? What if another club have seen what a job Flicker has done and offer him a position?
I think too many people readily believe it's The Don who's responsible for these big decisions. It wasn't The Don who put Flicker in charge, it won't be The Don holding off on contract negotiations, and it won't be The Don who decides whether he stays or goes. I know Don-bashing is more popular than Facebook, but that's the likely reality.
Yet it's the Don who comes out with these negative quotes and moans about everything to the press. Like it or not, despite being a PR disaster, he's made himself the face of BFC.
Stones-£3million Davies-£300k Cup run-£700k Oooh well done Don. So if we stay up Flitcroft will have that money added to his budget then?
Cup money's gone, l saw The Don and Bazza in Wildcats at the weekend drinking Pimms with their BFC ties wrapped round their heads. They were playing the popular Gypsy game of "grabbing".
Dawson, Mellis, Perkins, Golbourne, Wiseman and Dagnall are all contracted for another year. Can't see many takers for Harewood or Scotland so they'll re-sign I imagine. Foster, Steele and Hassell all want to stay/sign. Reuben and the other kids are tied down. So who exactly are we worrying about here? Cranie and Etuhu? I think both of them would be foolish to leave a club where they're only just finding their feet/form. Again, can't see many takers for them either. And Flitcroft has a contract til the Summer, and he's said he's content with that. Load of fuss about nowt. Let's focus on the big issue - staying up. (not that magazine that thereev used to sell)
