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Post by pirate49 on May 5, 2019 8:13:07 GMT
Firstly, thank you Tom for your contribution to Rovers both on and off the field.
You have been a fine role model for any young professional and have never
given anything less than 100%.
As regards the departure. I seem to remember that we got Lambert to sign a deal
even though quite soon after we got 1 million(?) from Southampton for him.
Surely it would have been possible to negotiate a contract with Tom whereby if
a club in a higher league came in for him we'd allow him to talk to them.
Looking back at the investment in Tom over the years, from the days when he was
a member of that fine youth side with Harrison, Cooper, Macey, Lucas etc it seems
wrong that there is no return on that investment.
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Post by smudge1 on May 5, 2019 8:14:04 GMT
He was offered three different contracts during this season all of which he rejected. Three clubs have offered him terms. Giggs told him he needs to be playing at a higher level. Quite simple really.
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Post by peterparker on May 5, 2019 8:14:25 GMT
How do you know he wasnt offered longer. Perhaps its the only length deal he would sign I don’t, but that doesn’t mean they did. Considering at that time we weren’t offering long contracts out, is there any reason to believe we tried? No. Look at the end of the day if you think it’s acceptable that we are the only club who keeps losing their best player for free/peanuts then be my guest, enjoy living in the bubble of “that’s football” & “there is nothing we can do” while we sleep walk back into the conference. In 2 years we will look back at the squad of Lockyer, Brown, Taylor, Bodin, Harrison & Sercombe whilst they’ll all be in the championship/top end L1 & think ‘how did we let that squad go’? I’ll tell you how, because we managed contracts poorly and in total got £1.5m. What a farce Can we better? Always and i would agree we have let some players go to cheaply at times With Lockyer, what should we have done assuming he didnt want to extend his contract. If a 100k was the only offer we got in the summer for instance, do you sell and have everyone moan he went to cheap, or keep him for his value on the pitch to us and hope we can get him to sign a new deal of we have a good season? |
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Post by Deleted on May 5, 2019 8:15:52 GMT
Do you not think Tom Lockyer may have wanted nothing more than 18 months at the time? Perhaps he never wanted to be tied down long term when he has aspirations to play at a higher level and enhance his chances with Wales. Perhaps he had in mind to leave at age 24 if Rovers hadn't progressed and regardless of what you say the board could do nothing about it. Perhaps whilst looking at his Rovers exit he also (rightly) would have wanted to maximise a future income and signing on fee by letting his contract run down? Perhaps, but a servant of 8 years - there’s no reason to believe he would say no to 2 1/2 years. We weren’t offering those contracts out, so let’s not make out that we tried it, because chances are we didn’t. As someone else just said, we should have looked to move him on in the summer & used the funds to replace him. However, our transfer policy & contract management is a joke and now we’re left penniless & moaning that we don’t have money to sign good players in the summer. We put ourselves in this position. It’s not football, it’s bloody Bristol Rovers You do realise you can't just "move a player on" - he has to agree. If nothing come up that he fancied he would obviously sit tight and become a free agent massively opening up the market of potential takers. its clear we don't offer long deals left right and centre as we've had our fingers burnt before but I'm sure someone like Locks will have been offered longer, no doubt whatsoever. |
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Post by gasheadwest on May 5, 2019 8:21:06 GMT
Hi much did we pay for Clark Harris. We can’t have it all ways.
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Post by Gassy on May 5, 2019 8:21:41 GMT
Perhaps, but a servant of 8 years - there’s no reason to believe he would say no to 2 1/2 years. We weren’t offering those contracts out, so let’s not make out that we tried it, because chances are we didn’t. As someone else just said, we should have looked to move him on in the summer & used the funds to replace him. However, our transfer policy & contract management is a joke and now we’re left penniless & moaning that we don’t have money to sign good players in the summer. We put ourselves in this position. It’s not football, it’s bloody Bristol Rovers You do realise you can't just "move a player on" - he has to agree. If nothing come up that he fancied he would obviously sit tight and become a free agent massively opening up the market of potential takers. its clear we don't offer long deals left right and centre as we've had our fingers burnt before but I'm sure someone like Locks will have been offered longer, no doubt whatsoever. I guess let’s agree to disagree then mate. I see no reason why TL would have said he doesn’t want to be sold to a championship club last summer, double his wage etc, but would want to run down his contract, screw over Bristol Rovers in the meantime on a transfer fee & then go for free the next summer 😂 |
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Post by Deleted on May 5, 2019 8:22:13 GMT
Firstly, thank you Tom for your contribution to Rovers both on and off the field. You have been a fine role model for any young professional and have never given anything less than 100%. As regards the departure. I seem to remember that we got Lambert to sign a deal even though quite soon after we got 1 million(?) from Southampton for him. Surely it would have been possible to negotiate a contract with Tom whereby if a club in a higher league came in for him we'd allow him to talk to them. Looking back at the investment in Tom over the years, from the days when he was a member of that fine youth side with Harrison, Cooper, Macey, Lucas etc it seems wrong that there is no return on that investment. Surely the Lambert one was a coincidence of timing. Why would anyone in their right mind cost themselves hundreds of thousands of pounds by signing a deal knowing an offer was going to be made. it is frustrating when players leave for below market value (or free) due to football contract law but there is nothing we can do about it. Just make sure we pick up our share of free transfers and 'fleece' another club of an asset they've worked on for many years !!!! |
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Post by Gassy on May 5, 2019 8:23:45 GMT
I don’t, but that doesn’t mean they did. Considering at that time we weren’t offering long contracts out, is there any reason to believe we tried? No. Look at the end of the day if you think it’s acceptable that we are the only club who keeps losing their best player for free/peanuts then be my guest, enjoy living in the bubble of “that’s football” & “there is nothing we can do” while we sleep walk back into the conference. In 2 years we will look back at the squad of Lockyer, Brown, Taylor, Bodin, Harrison & Sercombe whilst they’ll all be in the championship/top end L1 & think ‘how did we let that squad go’? I’ll tell you how, because we managed contracts poorly and in total got £1.5m. What a farce Can we better? Always and i would agree we have let some players go to cheaply at times With Lockyer, what should we have done assuming he didnt want to extend his contract. If a 100k was the only offer we got in the summer for instance, do you sell and have everyone moan he went to cheap, or keep him for his value on the pitch to us and hope we can get him to sign a new deal of we have a good season? If it was 100k & we were already at the point he refused to sign then yes - keep him. But there isn’t a chance he’d go for 100k last summer. He’d go for comfortably 750k with a year left. Would you have taken 750k for him last summer? |
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Post by Colyton Gas on May 5, 2019 8:26:45 GMT
Even as long ago as Telford away when he played at full back he was physically strong for a youngster and gave his all.Thanks Thomas for such excellent service.You deserve to play at a proper stadium wherever that might be.Suspect you may be back one day.Not long ago you and Browner celebrated second successive promotions with amazing scenes at the Mem and it seems neither are with us now.
Things change rapidly in football.We need to keep pace but Thomas has been good for us.Just a pity we won't get a few million.
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Post by peterparker on May 5, 2019 8:30:07 GMT
Can we better? Always and i would agree we have let some players go to cheaply at times With Lockyer, what should we have done assuming he didnt want to extend his contract. If a 100k was the only offer we got in the summer for instance, do you sell and have everyone moan he went to cheap, or keep him for his value on the pitch to us and hope we can get him to sign a new deal of we have a good season? If it was 100k & we were already at the point he refused to sign then yes - keep him. But there isn’t a chance he’d go for 100k last summer. He’d go for comfortably 750k with a year left. Would you have taken 750k for him last summer? If anyone offered 750k i would be 99.99999% sure the club would have bit whomevers hands off. |
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Post by gashead1981 on May 5, 2019 8:31:35 GMT
Hi much did we pay for Clark Harris. We can’t have it all ways. JCH was a free transfer. |
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Post by Topper Gas on May 5, 2019 8:34:04 GMT
I don’t, but that doesn’t mean they did. Considering at that time we weren’t offering long contracts out, is there any reason to believe we tried? No. Look at the end of the day if you think it’s acceptable that we are the only club who keeps losing their best player for free/peanuts then be my guest, enjoy living in the bubble of “that’s football” & “there is nothing we can do” while we sleep walk back into the conference. In 2 years we will look back at the squad of Lockyer, Brown, Taylor, Bodin, Harrison & Sercombe whilst they’ll all be in the championship/top end L1 & think ‘how did we let that squad go’? I’ll tell you how, because we managed contracts poorly and in total got £1.5m. What a farce Can we better? Always and i would agree we have let some players go to cheaply at times With Lockyer, what should we have done assuming he didnt want to extend his contract. If a 100k was the only offer we got in the summer for instance, do you sell and have everyone moan he went to cheap, or keep him for his value on the pitch to us and hope we can get him to sign a new deal of we have a good season? Just sell him, bank the cash and explain if he'd stayed til this summer he'd go for nothing, just like Bodin had done. It beggers belief that under DC's management he let Bodin, Brown and Lockyer all just run down their contracts. What other Div 1 club have lost two Wales Internationals and one of the best LB's in the division all on frees, in just a couple of seasons? Hopefully GC's ruthless management style also applies to contract negotiations, and JCH and the like don't also leave on frees in the future. |
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Post by farmygas on May 5, 2019 8:35:49 GMT
Parting with a home nation international on a free hahahaha. This club is going nowhere.
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Post by singupgas on May 5, 2019 8:37:59 GMT
Shambles. Let a key player, probably one with some value leave for free. So amateur it's unbelievable. Bit disappointed in Tom too if I'm honest, the club make no money. TL and his agent have used the rules of football to their advantage. He's done nothing wrong and neither have the club. If a player is intent on running down his contract then there is nothing the club can do and certainly nothing to do with being "amateurish". We are amateurish on many other levels though ! What has Tom done to disappoint you? If you think he should have only left when under contract earning us a fee at the expense of his own future income and signing on fee you are not living in the real world. He's been a fantastic servant to the club and should always have the respect of every gashead if/when he ever visits us in the future. Damned if you do then. Everybody moaning the snake had a low get out clause to benefit himself can't complain either. It happens time and time again, why let one of your key players contracts run below 1 year. Why were there not attempts to extend the contract sooner. Imo, if players are refusing to sign contracts to move on the free they shouldn't be starting every game. |
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Post by Topper Gas on May 5, 2019 8:38:54 GMT
Hi much did we pay for Clark Harris. We can’t have it all ways. JCH was a free transfer. That's the OP's point, however, Coventry wanted him off the wage we didn't get a play worth a fortune because he'd run down his contract. I don't think we have ever got one of those players, which seems to suggest it doesn't happen that often. The only player that springs to mind we've ever been linked with is Ricky Miller (not the best example though!). |
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Post by Topper Gas on May 5, 2019 8:41:01 GMT
TL and his agent have used the rules of football to their advantage. He's done nothing wrong and neither have the club. If a player is intent on running down his contract then there is nothing the club can do and certainly nothing to do with being "amateurish". We are amateurish on many other levels though ! What has Tom done to disappoint you? If you think he should have only left when under contract earning us a fee at the expense of his own future income and signing on fee you are not living in the real world. He's been a fantastic servant to the club and should always have the respect of every gashead if/when he ever visits us in the future. Damned if you do then. Everybody moaning the snake had a low get out clause to benefit himself can't complain either. It happens time and time again, why let one of your key players contracts run below 1 year. Why were there not attempts to extend the contract sooner. Imo, if players are refusing to sign contracts to move on the free they shouldn't be starting every game. Does it though, how many £1m+ players are leaving Div 1 clubs this season on frees? |
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Post by singupgas on May 5, 2019 8:43:38 GMT
Damned if you do then. Everybody moaning the snake had a low get out clause to benefit himself can't complain either. It happens time and time again, why let one of your key players contracts run below 1 year. Why were there not attempts to extend the contract sooner. Imo, if players are refusing to sign contracts to move on the free they shouldn't be starting every game. Does it though, how many £1m+ players are leaving Div 1 clubs this season on frees? Don't believe TL would fetch 1m tbh. But Bristol Rovers most of our key players move on the cheap. |
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Post by Antonio Fargas on May 5, 2019 8:55:58 GMT
Damned if you do then. Everybody moaning the snake had a low get out clause to benefit himself can't complain either. It happens time and time again, why let one of your key players contracts run below 1 year. Why were there not attempts to extend the contract sooner. Imo, if players are refusing to sign contracts to move on the free they shouldn't be starting every game. Does it though, how many £1m+ players are leaving Div 1 clubs this season on frees? JCH |
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Post by Deleted on May 5, 2019 8:56:03 GMT
If we'd let him go last summer and got a fee for him, it would likely have been 500k tops. He's a centre half, not a striker who command bigger fees.
More importantly though, we would have probably gone down as we wouldn't have had the benefit of his superb performances this season. He will take some replacing and successfully doing so may be just as key to our survival chances next season as the playmaker, winger and striker we need.
Thank you Tom. Model pro who never gave less than 100% to the quarters. As DC once said, he'd kick his granny to prevent a goal. I wish him well and will watch his career with interest.
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Post by Topper Gas on May 5, 2019 9:08:43 GMT
Does it though, how many £1m+ players are leaving Div 1 clubs this season on frees? JCH JCH was still under contract and Coventry were glad to get him off the wage bill (and save £100K p.a.) a bit like us with Bennett & Payne, that's a whole different scenario than a player a club doesn't want to loose leaving on a free. |
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