He never moved his family home from Yorkshire and is sharing a flat with Wimbledon's Liam Trotter. I suspect he would attract someone like Bury, Oldham or Rochdale and get a contract for next season.
Good luck Billy
Not read all the posts but this tells me a lot about the modern day footballer. 2 year deal & lives away from his family......heart not really in it & as soon as the 2 years are up they are off to find another club (don't care where) and get the signing on fee.
Well Mr Billy (big bollox) Clarke, how has it worked out for you this time ?? Played around 20 games & whilst injured we paid you & then got you fit again.
Thanks & on the way out take Mr (injury prone mk2) Reeves with you.
Not sure I've ever known someone to jump to conclusions as quickly as you
He never moved his family home from Yorkshire and is sharing a flat with Wimbledon's Liam Trotter. I suspect he would attract someone like Bury, Oldham or Rochdale and get a contract for next season.
Good luck Billy
Not read all the posts but this tells me a lot about the modern day footballer. 2 year deal & lives away from his family......heart not really in it & as soon as the 2 years are up they are off to find another club (don't care where) and get the signing on fee.
Well Mr Billy (big bollox) Clarke, how has it worked out for you this time ?? Played around 20 games & whilst injured we paid you & then got you fit again.
Thanks & on the way out take Mr (injury prone mk2) Reeves with you.
I hope this is your attempt at humour. If it isn't then I'm appalled. Like someone said recently, I think you're becoming a parody of yourself.
He never moved his family home from Yorkshire and is sharing a flat with Wimbledon's Liam Trotter. I suspect he would attract someone like Bury, Oldham or Rochdale and get a contract for next season.
Good luck Billy
Not read all the posts but this tells me a lot about the modern day footballer. 2 year deal & lives away from his family......heart not really in it & as soon as the 2 years are up they are off to find another club (don't care where) and get the signing on fee.
Well Mr Billy (big bollox) Clarke, how has it worked out for you this time ?? Played around 20 games & whilst injured we paid you & then got you fit again.
Thanks & on the way out take Mr (injury prone mk2) Reeves with you.
Charlton offered him a very good salary. He had already bought a house in the Bradford area. What do you expect him to do? Sell his house, move his family and try to settle them in London/Kent and then uproot them again after two years? He hasn't played because he tore his ACL. Thats not Billy's fault. Hes not in the team and presumably moving on because the manager has decided he doesn't fit his system, or he has better options. Thats not Billy's fault. Would you rather he sat around taking a decent wage and not contributing, or would you rather he took his move and got off of the wage bill?
If hes not in Bowyers plans, then he needs to move on because hes out of contract at the end of this season and needs to show teams what he can still do. Hes only 31 so he has a few years left in him, but not so many that he can afford to sit on the bench with no contract in front of him.
I didn't see him play for Charlton last season but he seemed to have a lot of fans here and on Charlton live. Hes played well when called upon, hes just no longer being called upon. What else should he do?
Not in the know, just a hunch, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it was announced after the weekend that he has ‘moved on’
A really good player, who has had a horrible injury, just needs regular game time to hopefully shine, which is hard to come by when you’re chasing promotion.
I watched him closely in the FA cup 2nd round, and he looked very ring rusty, as you’d expect, given the length of time out, and I wondered if he was the same player that he was before the injury, and whether he’d ever get back to his best.
I wonder if Karl wants to get the band back together at Oxford?
As it happens, this is on of the few subjects I am "in the know" on. I just spoke to his dad. Well his dad stopped me to chat as I was leaving the office.
The gist I got is that Billy asked Bowyer why he isn't getting a chance in the team and was told it was because they are settled and playing well. Billy then said something along the lines of "if I'm not gonna play then I should probably move on". Bowyer suggested that would probably be the best solution for everyone.
So it seems Lee Bowyer simply doesn't rate Billy Clarke and Billy Clarke wants to play football.
No club is lined up yet. His agent is looking. I'd imagine it could happen pretty quickly once a club is found if they can afford Billy's salary. I also asked if he would be coming home to play for Cork City and that is not on the cards. Cork City could not afford him anyway but was worth asking.
The gist I got is that Billy asked Bowyer why he isn't getting a chance in the team and was told it was because they are settled and playing well. Billy then said something along the lines of "if I'm not gonna play then I should probably move on". Bowyer suggested that would probably be the best solution for everyone.
So it seems Lee Bowyer simply doesn't rate Billy Clarke and Billy Clarke wants to play football.
That doesn't necessarily mean that Bowyer "doesn't rate Billy Clarke" ...... but rather implies that currently Clarke is not going to be starting in the near future, as the team is settled.
Remember, you've said it was Clarke who approached Bowyer and said if he isn't going to play, he'd rather move on. And everybody understands that he needs to play to get a new contract this summer.
No manager likes to keep an unhappy player and if Clarke does leave, it gives him the chance to bring in the needed striker and balance the squad.
As it happens, this is on of the few subjects I am "in the know" on. I just spoke to his dad. Well his dad stopped me to chat as I was leaving the office.
The gist I got is that Billy asked Bowyer why he isn't getting a chance in the team and was told it was because they are settled and playing well. Billy then said something along the lines of "if I'm not gonna play then I should probably move on". Bowyer suggested that would probably be the best solution for everyone.
So it seems Lee Bowyer simply doesn't rate Billy Clarke and Billy Clarke wants to play football.
No club is lined up yet. His agent is looking. I'd imagine it could happen pretty quickly once a club is found if they can afford Billy's salary. I also asked if he would be coming home to play for Cork City and that is not on the cards. Cork City could not afford him anyway but was worth asking.
That all makes sense. Bowyer would rather use different players in that position, while Clarke (after a year out) understandably is desperate to play football.
In the old days, he'd probably have gone somewhere on a month's loan to get his sharpness back and show us what he could do (or not). I don't agree with getting rid of such short term loans, to me it's has a negative impact on fringe players, who either have to go for half a season or to non league.
I was at the Southend home game a couple of years ago and thought Clarke was a cut above everyone. Good player. Problem is we are on a good run so difficult to fit him in. With his contract up soon I would let him go this window and get a fee if possible
They play a different game though. Reeves can play wide cutting in, Clarke is better central
Can't say we've see enough of him to make a proper judgement. He's only played 25 games in total (which inc poorly attended cup games) & some of the league games were away. Hand on heart how many games do you reckon you've seem him.in ?? For me I'd probably have to guess at less than a dozen. Jurys out for me I'm afraid.
Clarke was miles better then Reeves last season but Reeves has stepped up a gear or two. Not a fair comparison because Clarke hasn’t played but it’s definiteky a position we can let one leave and it makes sense all round.
Reeves takes 7 touches when two would do. Lightweight and very one-footed. Personally, he’d be way down the pecking order now Lapslie and Cullen are back
Must admit, i've only seen Clarke play 3 three times, and each time i thought he was ordinary (but one of those was in his returning game v Mansfield). And Bradford fans didnt rate him before us. Just one of those decisions that you leave to Bowyer - he's done pretty well in those decisions in the past tbh. IMO, no great loss if he does go - i think we have better in that department.
Comments
If it isn't then I'm appalled.
Like someone said recently, I think you're becoming a parody of yourself.
He hasn't played because he tore his ACL. Thats not Billy's fault.
Hes not in the team and presumably moving on because the manager has decided he doesn't fit his system, or he has better options. Thats not Billy's fault.
Would you rather he sat around taking a decent wage and not contributing, or would you rather he took his move and got off of the wage bill?
If hes not in Bowyers plans, then he needs to move on because hes out of contract at the end of this season and needs to show teams what he can still do. Hes only 31 so he has a few years left in him, but not so many that he can afford to sit on the bench with no contract in front of him.
I didn't see him play for Charlton last season but he seemed to have a lot of fans here and on Charlton live. Hes played well when called upon, hes just no longer being called upon. What else should he do?
A really good player, who has had a horrible injury, just needs regular game time to hopefully shine, which is hard to come by when you’re chasing promotion.
I watched him closely in the FA cup 2nd round, and he looked very ring rusty, as you’d expect, given the length of time out, and I wondered if he was the same player that he was before the injury, and whether he’d ever get back to his best.
I wonder if Karl wants to get the band back together at Oxford?
The gist I got is that Billy asked Bowyer why he isn't getting a chance in the team and was told it was because they are settled and playing well. Billy then said something along the lines of "if I'm not gonna play then I should probably move on". Bowyer suggested that would probably be the best solution for everyone.
So it seems Lee Bowyer simply doesn't rate Billy Clarke and Billy Clarke wants to play football.
No club is lined up yet. His agent is looking. I'd imagine it could happen pretty quickly once a club is found if they can afford Billy's salary.
I also asked if he would be coming home to play for Cork City and that is not on the cards. Cork City could not afford him anyway but was worth asking.
Remember, you've said it was Clarke who approached Bowyer and said if he isn't going to play, he'd rather move on.
And everybody understands that he needs to play to get a new contract this summer.
No manager likes to keep an unhappy player and if Clarke does leave, it gives him the chance to bring in the needed striker and balance the squad.
Much appreciated.
In the old days, he'd probably have gone somewhere on a month's loan to get his sharpness back and show us what he could do (or not). I don't agree with getting rid of such short term loans, to me it's has a negative impact on fringe players, who either have to go for half a season or to non league.
Clarke was by far the better player
Just one of those decisions that you leave to Bowyer - he's done pretty well in those decisions in the past tbh.
IMO, no great loss if he does go - i think we have better in that department.