Anthony O’Connor wants to stay next season

He definitely wants to stay. He's taken a page out of the Billy Clarke book and gone and bought himself a house 10 minutes from the training ground.

 

We may see him as a back-up, I think he sees himself as a starter. If he gets a new contract, but not a start, how long before rumours come out about him being unhappy? “Trouble at t’mill” potential - move on for me.

 

Decent lower league defender.
Questionable decision making when under pressure.
One for the future? No.
Can we get better? Surely.
Value for money? No.
Can he play in the division above? Yes but is limited.

For me one of several who will leave this summer. With our new Director of recruitment I’m genuinely hopeful that we can get better younger and cheaper.

Others to go

Ishmael Always injured
Pritchard
Wood will leave but ain’t been great this season.
Donaldson
Clarke

If O Donnell wasn’t under contract I would let him go too.

 

Good squad player at a good age and is versatile enough to play anywhere which with smaller squads and injuries is essential you have at least one player who can do that to an adequate level which he does and his height helps as well, If we can do a deal financially then we should sign him for another 18 months / 2 years

 

Give it a couple of months and they will be.

 

This reinvention of AOD as some sort of squad player/back up is laughable. He's been in the top two in terms of appearances in all the time he's been here. Six different management regimes have continued to pick him and he's been ever present under the present one. I'm sure many on here would like him downgraded and like to invent stuff to somehow justify this. The facts are that he continues to be integral and vital to the team and has been during numerous formation, tactical and playing style changes. Negotiations can only proceed under these terms or AOD needs to find another agent.

 

I agree he is probably the most consistent player we have

 

Or you could say that under 5 of those managers we ended up 2nd from bottom of the football league and he's been top two in appearances. Depends what your agenda is. Personally i would keep him because he can play more than one position well. But depends on what money he wants. But lets not kid oursleves, every player bar the odd one is replaceable in this squad.

 

Is it really a positive for him that he's been "integral and vital" in our continuing decline?

If it were me, I'd be advising my agent to leave out everything about the past 3 years if I'm at all bothered about securing a new contract here.

 

Absolutley bang on this post. Hes average at best. Playing as a fullback, he has zero ability going forward, always takes the safe option and turns and plays the ball backwards. Not what we need in a team with aspirations of promotion. A constant in our decline over the past few years. Get rid. Better needed

 

To say he has zero ability going forward just isn't true though is it. Sure he's not going to skin full backs like a flying winger but he's a decent footballer and gets himself in the box. I think when T&S took over they told the whole defence to defend and not go adventuring forwards. Maybe as they relax that a bit we'll see a bit more from all of them

 

Unfortunately he neither scores goals nor stops them. After 3 years of being at the club as a probable top earner, he’s no better than POC or Canavan. When he plays in the middle of defence he’s never been the ball winner. He passes backwards more times than forward and offers very little attacking wise. He is good enough for league 2 but ask yourself this, if he was in the opposition back line at centre half or right back would you be pleased or worried?

We need players in our side that give opposition problems not us.

 

Ok fair point, maybe zero ability was a tad harsh, yet given hes allegedly on a top end L1 wage, and given what he does bring, I think T&S and the board need to be looking at better than him if we are to achieve promotion anytime soon

 

I’d keep but only if he takes a wage cut. Wouldn’t be first choice for me if we are serious about promotion but a good cover for CB/RB so his wages need to reflect that. If he went based on that offer, wouldn’t be end of world

 

He has now added central midfield to his CV. So far this season he has played centre half, played in a three, played full back and now central midfield. Good squad player for me as he is still only 28.
Paudie and Niall are good centre backs but you couldn't see them playing anywhere else. We need a squad not just a starting eleven.

 

News alert!! Every player on any club's books should see themselves as a "starter" otherwise they have no ambition and are of no use to that club.
At Bradford City I don't want any player on the books who doesn't think they are worth a place in the starting eleven.

 

You'd bin him off! Thank you Jose

 

New deal for me. It sounds clear he will accept a decreased deal vs what he’s currently on and today, showed his versatility which is important in a squad.

He’s been decent this season and perhaps showed a few of us there’s a decent player in there.