Stephen McPhail was absolute quality against Forrest (and also against MK Dons). His workrate has increased tremendously since last season (well under Hart he was lacking - but he improved under Ritchie). He was also playing well before he got injured and holds the shape of the midfield well. Although Burns does a lot of hard work he doesn't retain possession particularly effectively so having someone who can knock the ball about as well as working is giving us a great balance in the centre of the park. Who agrees? Onwards and upwards - youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu reds!!
its amazing to me how people want us to get rid. We look a lot better team when he plays, the one thing he does lack is goal scoring. but burns seems to chip in with a few anyway. and shuker is second top scorer so we have some goals from midfield. I just hope after friday hayes and richards might be forming a good partnership.
I am quite happy for him to stay as long as he puts the effort in. For too many matches he hasn't, but the last couple he has & he's been solid. I hope he keeps it up, this is a hard league to get out of as Forest are finding out
His wages are, I believe, excessive but he has the ability to dictate the game rather than us being sucked into a kick and rush frenzy that a lot of teams at this level seem to want to play at. I would rather have 1 quality player on high wages than 2 average players on average wages. Goalscoring - he could do better but Disco & Shuker contribute so not a massive problem. I reckon we have a really strong midfield with Howard as well very able to slot in on the left or in the centre. Richard Kell looked alright, comfortable on the ball and able to spread the play.
i wouldnt think they are that high otherwise he wouldn't have been given a contract in the summer. He could have gone else where but nobody any higher wanted him so not like we had to break the bank to keep him
McPhail's contract We signed him on a two year contract, but he was free to leave after the first year should we fail to gain promotion. Obviously, we weren't promoted, so he was free to go elsewhere. However, should he decide to stay we had no choice but to keep him on the terms that were agreed when he first signed. There was no renegotiation of his contract. McPhail and his agent made it pretty clear that they were looking elsewhere. Turns out that McPhail stayed with us. Whether that was because he had no other offers, or the other offers did not match what he was getting at Barnsley or that he genuinely wanted to ply for this club, we don't know.
Yes I've never seen his contract, so I've no idea how much he is on. If I were to speculate, considering we signed him from a club where he was on a premiership contract reputed to be 10 grand a week and if you take into account that he was an international, I'd be surprised if he isn't our highest paid player.
