Smallwood Has Left The Building

GA decision. Sharp had a 12 month deal ready but GA pulled the plug according to Smallwood.

Maybe punishment for the Swindon red...

 

Well..... that's a sour start to the summer! To completely change your mind on the offer agreed verbally with your captain and POTY? Unless we are having a tactic/style change it just seems weird.

Edit: agreed verbally might be off. But to have him willingly agree to a one year deal which GA wanted to have the turn around is a bit strange.

 

In Graham we trust

 

Well,that’s the first question sorted for the fans forum.

 

Wonder if GA has had the word from a agent that a player is available and sees him as a better option. Or he sees Power as that man....

Like I said, seems 'Skip' was well liked amongst the squad. Not good for harmony. Sarc and Cook must be thinking their time could be up next summer aswell.

The fans forum will be interesting....we should get an answer there.

 

What i do find strange is Smallwood met GA last Thursday to be told the news - but doesn't have an answer why he was released. Surely he asked for a reason? I'm your captain, player of the season and helped you get promoted, why am I not getting a deal..............seems the very obvious question?

I'm not sure Richie is telling the whole truth there. I'm 99% sure GA will have told him why. It surely wasn't a 30 second conversation where GA told him the news and Smallwood accepted, shook hands and walked out.

 

I would think GA has been researching and watching league 1 games and came to realise Smallwood was not up to it. There is the thinking he may have been able to play a part but no longer the main man but maybe that influence he has in the squad could be a negative if he believed he should be playing and wasn’t getting a game.

 

So there you have it.
Smallwoods account of his departure.
I'm under no elusion that League One will be a hell of a challenge if we don't get the required recruitment right, it goes without saying we will be back in League Two in a breath.
Tough decisions ahead for the management team. The promotion honeymoon period is over its time to move on with inevitable player departures being just one area which must be addressed if we want to move forward.
Shopping in the bargain basement for players should no longer be on the agenda but I have reservations about the size of our budget something Alexander will be aware of after the hierarchy meeting in Germany.
Maybe it's not what he expected time will tell.

 

Doubt we will ever know the real reason, we will just get a textbook answer about the club moving on in a different direction etc.

 

It’s a gamble… Sarc was injured a lot. Patto injured a lot. Bobby great one day then pressure on him. Khela gone home. Max only played once in seventeen years etc etc etc Interesting one side article. I suppose it will come out in the wash….

 

sounds like he wanted two years ,then they pulled the rug on a one year deal ,some of the names mentioned yesterday ,like tilt and woods ,the club are going down the cheap route .

 

Tilt rumour has been rubbished by 1 or 2 with decent track records. And Woods was fans clamouring to sign him, nothing more. And I doubt he would be cheap as he has 2 years on his Acci deal, just 22, 9 goals and 6 assists from centre midfield. More likely out of our price range!!!

 

It would be good now if GA gave his side of the story and explain to shocked fans why the u-turn on the contract offer.

Is our budget going to be much bigger than he thought and he thinks we can now bring in better players than he thought, or is the budget far worse and he wants to get high earners off the books.

All very strange to me that you throw under the bus our player of the season and the player who has captained the team to promotion.

 

Interesting article. GA praised Smallwood on multiple occasions last season, often referring to his on and off the pitch exemplary behaviour, and he started most games under the manager’s watch so it will be very interesting to hear GA’s side of the story. I always got the impression that GA really loved him!

 

This article in the T&A this morning is a shock. I presume it is the truth as Richie sees it, but I want to hear what Graham says. I don’t like it. There is a way of dealing with exits and this isn’t the way, but I will reserve judgement until GA has replied.

 

Id expect the club to give a slightly different version of events at the fans forum as this looks pretty heartless on them and could be bad for morale and atmosphere when training starts.

I reckon they need to pull out a signing or two before then to improve the mood as this might be a rougher ride than than expected when they announced the fans forum.

 

You are right to correct. Nothing was agreed , but Smallwood is being a bit disingenuous here. He was happy to accept a 12 month deal ……so why set his and his agents mind on a two year deal . I realise always ask for more and negotiate less but ….hes talking “ after what might have been “ here .

Storm in a tea cup if you ask me … It’s life in football and Richie is perfectly aware of that.

 

“ As Richie sees it” ……. Why the hell is he even discussing it?

 

Didnt we have a similar situation with Donaldson a few years ago. He went to the local press giving his version of events and Sparks released a statement rubbishing it.