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Billy Clarke

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  • YTS1978
    YTS1978 Posts: 1,705
    @ForeverAddickted good point. We've got Williams in and hes played about 50 games in the last 8yrs I suppose!
  • Croydon
    Croydon Posts: 12,736

    Richard J said:

    Not surprised.

    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
  • Covered End
    Covered End Posts: 52,016
    edited January 2019

    Richard J said:

    Not surprised.

    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.
  • el-pietro
    el-pietro Posts: 611

    Richard J said:

    Not surprised.

    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?
  • clb74
    clb74 Posts: 10,824
    We don't know what's round the corner, keep him here as a squad player at least
  • 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?

  • el-pietro
    el-pietro Posts: 611
    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.
  • Oggy Red
    Oggy Red Posts: 44,957
    el-pietro said:


    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.

  • Oggy Red
    Oggy Red Posts: 44,957
    I meant to add ..... thanks for posting though, el-pietro.

    Much appreciated.




  • clb74
    clb74 Posts: 10,824
    Settled team, when did that happen.

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  • el-pietro said:

    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.
  • Alwaysneil
    Alwaysneil Posts: 13,815
    clb74 said:

    Settled team, when did that happen.

    Just as soon as Jonny Williams played 20 minutes and looked class above, and then played 70 minutes or wherever it was and still looked class above.
  • Leuth
    Leuth Posts: 23,335
    I'd be in the controversial camp of preferring Reeves to Clarke myself
  • blackpool72
    blackpool72 Posts: 23,683
    Leuth said:

    I'd be in the controversial camp of preferring Reeves to Clarke myself

    When both fully fit (don't laugh )
    Clarke was by far the better player
  • Leuth said:

    I'd be in the controversial camp of preferring Reeves to Clarke myself

    It's a close call, but I'd probably agree.
  • Alwaysneil
    Alwaysneil Posts: 13,815
    They play a different game though. Reeves can play wide cutting in, Clarke is better central
  • clb74
    clb74 Posts: 10,824

    clb74 said:

    Settled team, when did that happen.

    Just as soon as Jonny Williams played 20 minutes and looked class above, and then played 70 minutes or wherever it was and still looked class above.
    Ah that settled , I thought I'd seen us start about 20 different players over the last 10 games
  • Exiled_Addick
    Exiled_Addick Posts: 17,179
    Leuth said:

    I'd be in the controversial camp of preferring Reeves to Clarke myself

    Probably the least surprising thing I've read on here since finding out the takeover wasn't happening yet.
  • Alwaysneil
    Alwaysneil Posts: 13,815

    Leuth said:

    I'd be in the controversial camp of preferring Reeves to Clarke myself

    Probably the least surprising thing I've seen Leuth post
  • ct_addick
    ct_addick Posts: 4,337
    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

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  • Alwaysneil
    Alwaysneil Posts: 13,815
    He needs game time
  • BigRedEvil
    BigRedEvil Posts: 11,076
    Wherever he ends up I wish him well. Who knows maybe he'll find his way back into our team before the end of the season
  • golfaddick
    golfaddick Posts: 33,643

    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.
  • Alwaysneil
    Alwaysneil Posts: 13,815
    Yes less than 12 but it doesn’t take me that long to form a view as to whether he’s a decent player. He is.
  • cafcfan1990
    cafcfan1990 Posts: 12,811
    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.
  • wmcf123
    wmcf123 Posts: 5,827
    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
  • CAFCsayer
    CAFCsayer Posts: 10,231
    Reeves looks beter cm and Clarke is better at the top of the diamond imo
  • Scoham
    Scoham Posts: 37,386

    Wherever he ends up I wish him well. Who knows maybe he'll find his way back into our team before the end of the season

    Not if he goes out on loan he won’t, unless it’s to non-league. All loans in the FL are half or full season loans.
  • The_President
    The_President Posts: 14,280
    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.
  • Callumcafc
    Callumcafc Posts: 63,787
    Poor bloke’s on trial with Bolton...