Smallwood Has Left The Building

I think his weekly may have been an issue as well.....incremental increase from L2 to L1. Rest of squad will have higher wages than last season.

 

“No offer was made is plain

If you are right then he’s not worth more as two years is a long time for someone who is gradually losing his pace . He will probably love it at a place like York, short drive , in fact Cooky, and Patto can drop him off and collect him?

 

interesting Parker hasnt covered this in the T & A

 

He’s in the same shock as we are ?

 

Think he said he was on leave?!

 

The club have now confirmed

 

He may be younger but Smallwood doesn’t miss a game. Just compare their last two seasons. If I was Smallwood I’d be questioning why a guy who’s hardly played is getting 2 years upfront and I’m not when I start every week. Hopefully Power can play 90 minutes every week like Smallwood did but I’d be surprised

 

life goes on. There are lots of footballers out there.

I remember thinking how could we possibly replace Andrew Davies. Then Reece Burke came along.

 

Yeah reckon that's about spot on too. I remember listening to the MacAnthony pod before, might have been when they got relegated and he said its pretty much an EFL regulation now in contracts, the players will have somewhere around a 25%-35% raise for promotions, drop for relegations on all contracts.

So for arguments sake he was on £3k a week in L2, that's £4k a week before you even get started in L1 and he probably came to the table saying he's captain and POTY and will have rightly asked for more. It's probably his final pro contract, i don't begrudge the lad for trying to get every penny he can. Fairly play to the club too for standing firm and not putting our eggs in an aging basket for 2 seasons.

 

You can’t be offering 34 year olds, 2 year deals. That’s not a good move.

The club obviously think there is better value out there

 

Besides wishing the lad and his family all the very best going forward , I think I was one of the first to suggest we needed to be ruthless and have no room for sentimentality immediately after the Fleetwood game …. Is it a real sign they actually mean business?

Not offering your player of the season a renewal at all says ………yes?

 

I'd be very surprised if the club and Alexander especially didn't want to offer him at least a 1 year deal. My guess is that is all we were willing to offer but Smallwood wanted a 2 year deal, as neither side wanted to move no offer was made.

I'm sure he won't be short of offers especially in league 2, I wouldn't be surprised if he ended up at someone like MK or Notts County

 

I'm all for being ruthless but to not offer your captain a new deal when he's just won POTY is crazy work.

The worst thing promoted sides do is rip up a successful side and try to replace players who have actually performed for them. Don't get me wrong, I'm firmly in the camp that a lot of our squad aren't capable of the step up but Smallwood wasn't one.

 

Because he is 4 years younger - has more gas in the tank.

 

Let’s see who they replace him with and I’ll judge it then. If Power is his replacement then I highly doubt he’ll be able to replicate smallwoods minutes

 

There’s no guarantee of that at all?

 

Well science suggests he will....younger lads tend to last longer in the game than older lads.

When Smallwood came into City he got a 3 year deal, and he was around Max Powers age.

 

Time will tell. Im looking forward to the window in a positive way, only way to think.

 

Wasn't the story at the time that he came to City because he has a young family in the north east and isn't planning on moving again? If that's still the case, there aren't many teams he will be looking at to be fair.

You're talking York or Harrogate, unless Gateshead have got some money? Maybe not but one club that does and is my bet for his contract is Carlisle. Signs on for 2 years up there, plays under Hughes again, probably on a better contract than he'd get anywhere in L2 given their spending habits.

Edit: Forgot Hartlepool we're still around too. Again, dunno what their financial situation is.

 

Hughesy putting the band back together - Richie, Jamie and Crich. Lets be honest, Richie will have offers waiting elsewhere, otherwise he would be signing up again.