Clayton Donaldson

Or the 3rd option of giving them a 1yr deal and then for whatever reason, not extending it and allowing them to walk away because we didn’t see them develop enough in 12mths.

 

Yep but if they turn out good then the club get slagged off

 

Yeah, sorry, I have edited my post as my point wasn’t clear enough. There are 3 types here, the two you posted and the one I’m trying to make.

Look at Oli McBurnie as a perfect example. We saw something in him but, even though he was given a few games, he was still deemed as 1 for the future. Handed a 3yr deal and no pressure on him from the club to repay that contract.

He was eventually prised away but we should earn good money from him this summer. Imagine if we’d only given him 1yr and then watched him join Swansea (or anyone else), because we didn’t look to extend it

 

McBurnie was a different case. Think he was highly rated in the Scottish youth set up and in the under 21's while with us and not really playing so us giving him a 3 year contract makes sense. The network of coaches working with him will improve him and he was worth a punt by Swansea.

Not every youth player is the same. We have had Danny Devine for so long and he's utter shi@e. We offered Patrick a 3 year deal and he's an utter disappointment.

Bradford City have had players like Wisdom that have left before kicking a ball for us but a lot does depend on if they can brake into their national youth sides for them to get a move.

We can't be throwing long term contact offers about.

 

Not even if they are long term youth contracts?

Devine isn’t shite. For a young player, he’s probably only slightly behind where he should be for a kid of his age. When he got into McCall’s side, he looked a prospect but for one reason or another, he hasn’t progressed enough since.

It was only a season or 2 ago, where many were saying he’d do well dropping down a division and getting some games to aide his development with us. Now he’s going to be at that level anyway. If he can show the promise he had, he can win a place in a L2 midfield.

As for Patrick, I agree with you. He was signed as a player we thought we could nurture. He scored a couple of goals and suddenly that youth contract was ripped up and replaced with a 3yr deal. From then, he was no longer a player developing- he was expected to deliver immediate results and the pressure was on him. So much for ‘developing’ the players...!

Yes, you’re partly right, Mcburnie made his Scotland u19 debut whilst at City and went on to play 4 times before his transfer. It was whilst at Swansea that he moved up to the u21s

 

Will only stop if we give managers time to work at it and not sack 4 in a season

 

Managers need to prove themselves at a club. I don't mind sacking for managers.

What I do mind is getting the wrong managers and it was crystal clear that Collins and Hopkin were wrong for the club.

 

Collins without doubt was a gamble by Rahic but I dont remember many at the time saying Hopkin was the wrong signing, in fact the very opposite the majority thought it was a very good appointment.

 

I think after the Rahic/Collins catastrophe we were just relieved to get a proper manager into the club - I do remember there being a few comments about DH style of play but agree most of us gave it the thumbs up

 

Hopkin was right man wrong time imo. The problem with sacking managers like that is it throws any kind of long term thinking out the window. We did it and its completely cost us our identity as a club and gotten us relegated.

 

Hopkin wasn't sacked, he walked.

 

I stand corrected on that but i think both my points still stand as valid.

 

This is where you see the advantage of the European club set up where the manager is basically only of a number. Chop the head off and the club still lives and you just replace the head. Too many clubs sack managers, all the support staff go, you have to replace the lot and maybe get a different style of play. Must be costly too

 

Hopkin was without doubt the wrong manager in my opinion, After the disaster of Collins and with the club in a mess it needed an older experienced manager who may not have been the future as regards progressing the club over the next couple of seasons but would have enough knowledge and experience to pull the club round in the right direction and avoid relegation and start to rebuild the club.

 

With the lack of effort shown by many and lack of ability in a number of players, I don't honestly believe anyone could have avoided relegation after January.

 

Love the interview in the T&A from Clayton this morning, so refreshing to read words away from the run of the mill comments from new players.

 

He reckons he still has another 3 or 4 years left in him, suggesting he is still in very good shape. Hopefully, that may appease the doubters who say he is finished and too old

 

I see the T&A are making foolish errors again. Apparently the 35yr old, left us 17yrs ago as a 16yr old. What happened to the other couple of yrs of his career? Or is he really only 33, and why he believes he still has another 3-4yrs left?

 

Don’t know dude can’t read it. Need to pay for such great writing!

 

Didnt pick up on that, but he did leave in 2000 as a 16 year old