Jake Young

I'd recall Young but if you offer £250,000 IMO bringing him back is not worth the risk you can have him.

 

Recalling the league's top scorer and then not playing him would be an absolutely ridiculous thing to do all round. If he comes back we either play him or sell him.

 

They would struggle to raise £250 Dave

 

They are in a lot better financial position now. Don’t know if they have that kind of money

 

I would like him to come home. Plays for the rest of the season and helps us win promotion. It would show a level of maturity that would be noted by perspective buyers. If he wants to leave he can in the summer. His ties to Swindon are minimal, they have a loan fee contractual arrangement but that is not like a full contract. We return a fair amount back.
Hughes is no longer with us. All the team look happy now is the time.
If he doesn’t want to come back forcing him would be a nightmare. However, we have the right to enforce a review of his loan agreement. We cannot let a competitor have an advantage of a goal scoring striker.

 

Apart from his contract situation with you, this is exactly the same scenario as Doyle. ‘Bring him back’, ‘Ruin Swindon’s chances’ ‘He’s our player, he does what he’s told’. All valid points - as fans would see it. For me you have only one choice. Recall him and sell him whilst his stock is high. If he returns with a view to being played and it doesn’t work for whatever reason his value falls. Whether we could afford him is neither here nor there. If he’s to be sold I presume he’d have a say on where he’d rather go and where he’d rather not go. When he’s not scoring he doesn’t actually do much.

 

I agree. I think we'll sell him in January, probably to a League 1 club desperate for goals and willing to take £250k punt. Stick a decent sell on clause in and some add on's and I think that would be a decent deal for someone we got on a free and has hardly played for us.
I can't see him fitting in to our new style which is a lot more direct under Alexander.
The risk is he comes back, doesn't score and we are left with a player we don't really want and the fee we can get then will be peanuts.

 

Looking at the play offs, unless something changes drastically, there is only one spot up for grabs. I can't recall a season where there has been such a big gap between 6th & 7th at this point.

With Swindon in 7th, and being the team we need to catch, it's an absolute no brainer to recall him, even if they offer £250,000. This could be the difference between us getting 7th or not.

 

Nah. That gap is easily closed with a couple of wins - 6 points is nothing with half a season left. Mansfield have hit prime bottling mode, I’m unconvinced by Barrow/Crewe and Notts County are just as flaky as us.

 

For what it's worth, I think he'll sign for Swindon permanently in Jan. However, i wouldn't say it's the same boat as Doyle. With Eoin Doyle, he wasn't happy playing the target man under Gary Bowyer and went out to play in a system that suited him. When Jan came around, Doyle knew he was going back to the exact same scenario he left, with only 6 months left on his deal. City were happy to hold Swindon to be the only club that could sign him and make them give some cash over, otherwise City were happy to keep him, play him poorly and let him go in the summer. Doyle just wasn't a fit in the system and that wasn't changing, even when Bowyer was sacked within weeks of Doyle leaving, McCall played pretty much a similar tactic with the squad assembled.

With Jake, he left because Hughes and him just fell out very badly. I used to work with a family member of Youngs until recently, and whenever in the office and football talk came up, I did ask about Jake whilst he was out at Barrow and what went on with Hughes. Now, obviously these might be tinted with favouritism toward their family member but....

....It started when Jake signed in the May, he was told he would be the back up to Andy Cook and used as the second striker, get starts in the cups too and that we were bringing in another forward on loan from Huddersfield and the 3 would be the options. Then 2 weeks into pre-season, we brought in Vadaine Oliver. They said when he asked MH about the move, Young was told he will be used out on the left wing and as a back up striker, but Hughes seems him playing out left more. So Young started to try learn the role and started the season scoring out left, then come deadline day we brought in Tyreik Wright and Dion Pereira, both wingers, on loan. Young didn't take that well saying another broken promise from Hughes, then MH started questioning Youngs work ethic and attitude and the two have a training ground argument, leading to Young never to be seen again, sitting in the stands until Barrow loaned him.

Come to this pre-season, Young didn't go on the tour to Spain, he wasn't travelling to friendlies, only featuring in one with the youth players. He was told from the start he wont play for Hughes again and to find a club. There were 2 NL clubs who offered season long loans, think one was Solihull and I cant remember the other. Both were turned down because Jake wanted L2 football and then out of the blue Swindon came in. I think you lot were struggling for numbers in the first team at the time? Either way, he wasn't given any promises by Swindon for game time but he was told by Hughes that he wont play here again. The last I spoke to them was early to mid Sept-ish before they left our place, and they said that Swindon, City and Jakes agent were all discussing making the move permanent as soon as the Jan window kicks in.

But the difference with Young and Doyle, the situation in terms of tactic, style of play and more importantly the management has completely changed at City since leaving. It would be a complete fresh start for Young playing in a 2 up top system back within half an hour of the family home. Unlike Doyle who everyone knew was going to go back and he was dying to go back, Young at City is now an unknown and could thrive here with 18 months left on his deal. I think he signs on permanently or leaves elsewhere for cash and capitalises on his form, staying somewhere familiar or might get a big money offer from L1? Either way, I'm not holding my breath on him playing for City again. Although it would be great having a striker on that kind of form.

 

According to some on the Swindon forum we have a short time probably a week at the start of the window to decide to bring him back. Otherwise he stays

 

I'm sure the club will be aware of that.

 

A big difference is Doyle had 6 months left on his deal, Young has 2 1/2 years left.
We hold all the aces. The lad can't down tools like Doyle did.

 

There is a dilemma here if we bring him back and he fails to live up to expectations he can’t go anywhere else and we lose out on a pay day. A sale to a third party might be the thing to do.

 

I agree. I think we'll sell him to a League 1 club, get a decent fee and a sell on clause.

 

Roy Keane is happy with any striker that just scores goals. When he’s not scoring he doesn’t actually do much.


I thought he did assists too? Stop trying to get him chhheeep

 

Yep, said the same in my post. Although, Young has 18 months left doesn't he? Signed a 3 year deal in summer 2022. Unless we added an extension year if needed.

 

We have a one year option, pointed out by @WilsdenBantam

 

There is no point in you saying he is worth zero. Its codswallop.

2 things will happen and you can guarantee that - he will either return to City or he will be sold to the highest bidder. Either way he is worth something to our club.

 

Of course there is no guarantee that goes without saying. Nevertheless goal scoring strikers ages 22 years in LG 2 are a bit like flying pigs. My guess is we would get a tidy sum I would say upwards of £400,000. Early doors last season he was starting to score, then Hughes ball quashed him. Now he is scoring freely no doubt given the freedom. Most managers would rub their hands and make sure we had a system that accommodated his skill.