“Yes boss, of course I want to stay but my agent says that the offer is far too low” The cynic in me leads me to believe that the wanting to stay is just camouflage in case they are forced to stay because nothing better comes along. If they wanted to stay they would have signed.
The clubs being used again by certain players. Then you get this rubbish that they want to all stay !!! NO!! they want to play us off and fall back on us if no one else wants them, there just trying to keep us sweet. Just get rid of them and start again with players that actually want to be here !!!
Yes because this is happening at Charlton and only Charlton in all of the league. No other team has any out of contract players who are trying to get a good offer from another team. Definitely not. No sir.
So how long do you allow them to string us along before then dropping us. It has been what 4 or 5 weeks since the end of the season players know way before this what there being offered or what other teams will be in for them. Like I said this is just words we need action and fast its 3 weeks before the start of pre season and we need to be ready to go, not hope this players might sign when it suits them.
The clubs being used again by certain players. Then you get this rubbish that they want to all stay !!! NO!! they want to play us off and fall back on us if no one else wants them, there just trying to keep us sweet. Just get rid of them and start again with players that actually want to be here !!!
So unrealistic.
They are professional footballers, it's their livelihood. Of course they look around to see what else is on offer and compare that with our offer.
Just as players at other clubs last season are looking at what we've offered and are deciding whether to stay with the other club or join us.
If they join is it because they "want to be here" and they are fulfilling their life's ambition of playing for Charlton in league 1 or because we made the best offer? I think we all know the answer.
They are not fans, it's a job to them. Yes, once they have signed I expect them to show loyalty and commitment to the club and team and they have and will but let's not get high and mighty about this when other players who have been let go are described by fans demanding loyalty as "deadwood", "shit", "not good enough" etc etc.
This is why there is no point Adkins or anyone else at the club trying to explain to some fans what is happening.
WIOTOS
This. Bed wetting over players not signing new deals 5 minutes after receiving them is ridiculous.
Having said that, I dont get the delay with Watson.
The clubs being used again by certain players. Then you get this rubbish that they want to all stay !!! NO!! they want to play us off and fall back on us if no one else wants them, there just trying to keep us sweet. Just get rid of them and start again with players that actually want to be here !!!
So unrealistic.
They are professional footballers, it's their livelihood. Of course they look around to see what else is on offer and compare that with our offer.
Just as players at other clubs last season are looking at what we've offered and are deciding whether to stay with the other club or join us.
If they join is it because they "want to be here" and they are fulfilling their life's ambition of playing for Charlton in league 1 or because we made the best offer? I think we all know the answer.
They are not fans, it's a job to them. Yes, once they have signed I expect them to show loyalty and commitment to the club and team and they have and will but let's not get high and mighty about this when other players who have been let go are described by fans demanding loyalty as "deadwood", "shit", "not good enough" etc etc.
This is why there is no point Adkins or anyone else at the club trying to explain to some fans what is happening.
WIOTOS
This. Bed wetting over players not signing new deals 5 minutes after receiving them is ridiculous.
Having said that, I dont get the delay with Watson.
I got get the delay in Watson either, he either enforces the option, or he doesn't.
He isn't going to get a pay rise, why would he accept a pay cut. He won't find another club on anywhere near the money he is on here that is close enough to his house.
The clubs being used again by certain players. Then you get this rubbish that they want to all stay !!! NO!! they want to play us off and fall back on us if no one else wants them, there just trying to keep us sweet. Just get rid of them and start again with players that actually want to be here !!!
So unrealistic.
They are professional footballers, it's their livelihood. Of course they look around to see what else is on offer and compare that with our offer.
Just as players at other clubs last season are looking at what we've offered and are deciding whether to stay with the other club or join us.
If they join is it because they "want to be here" and they are fulfilling their life's ambition of playing for Charlton in league 1 or because we made the best offer? I think we all know the answer.
They are not fans, it's a job to them. Yes, once they have signed I expect them to show loyalty and commitment to the club and team and they have and will but let's not get high and mighty about this when other players who have been let go are described by fans demanding loyalty as "deadwood", "shit", "not good enough" etc etc.
This is why there is no point Adkins or anyone else at the club trying to explain to some fans what is happening.
WIOTOS
This. Bed wetting over players not signing new deals 5 minutes after receiving them is ridiculous.
Having said that, I dont get the delay with Watson.
Heard he went down the training ground to sign the contract yesterday. But turns out he'd forgotten his reading glasses.
Of course the majority are probably going to want more than what they're on.
Who doesnt want a payrise each year?
Its just up to Sandgaard whether they deserve it or not
Watson and Matthews at the very least will probably want more as they signed under a Salary Cap
Or alternatively we offered then less than they were on! While we were under a Cap, but doesn't mean that every player was on a low wage, Chuks, JFC and Amos were all on deals done before the Cap anyway
In the case of Watson, I assume it's down to whether he takes up the option, rather than us offering him a new deal?
The clubs being used again by certain players. Then you get this rubbish that they want to all stay !!! NO!! they want to play us off and fall back on us if no one else wants them, there just trying to keep us sweet. Just get rid of them and start again with players that actually want to be here !!!
Yes because this is happening at Charlton and only Charlton in all of the league. No other team has any out of contract players who are trying to get a good offer from another team. Definitely not. No sir.
So how long do you allow them to string us along before then dropping us. It has been what 4 or 5 weeks since the end of the season players know way before this what there being offered or what other teams will be in for them. Like I said this is just words we need action and fast its 3 weeks before the start of pre season and we need to be ready to go, not hope this players might sign when it suits them.
We're not "letting" anyone do anything. We've made an offer we think is fair and then they either sign it, or they don't. That's... Kind of how football works.
And it's not like this stops us doing other work while we wait either. We can be talking to multiple targets at the same time - within and without.
Of course the majority are probably going to want more than what they're on.
Who doesnt want a payrise each year?
Its just up to Sandgaard whether they deserve it or not
Watson and Matthews at the very least will probably want more as they signed under a Salary Cap
Or alternatively we offered then less than they were on! While we were under a Cap, but doesn't mean that every player was on a low wage, Chuks, JFC and Amos were all on deals done before the Cap anyway
In the case of Watson, I assume it's down to whether he takes up the option, rather than us offering him a new deal?
Thats why I mentioned that Watson and Matthews will probably want more and might be harder to deal with that the others because they were the two that signed under the Salary Cap
But yeah its quite possible that us and a lot of clubs are trying to recover from the COVID situation where there has been no fan revenue, just look at how small the current Portsmouth squad is... There wont be a Salary Cap anymore, but it doesnt mean that owners across the EFL arent going to turn around and say, look the silly sort of wages you wanted, that cant happen now because our focus is on keeping the club going long term.
As Doucher said, its brinkmanship, it'll be a case of who blinks first, and I bet a lot of clubs will start blinking the closer we get to the season - Equally if we can start to bring in players that'll make our out of contract players think again, it'll be them that'll be blinking.
I get both sides of the argument here but at what point do we say enough is enough? Gallen to players - "You've said you want to sign, it's been 4 weeks and now we move on"
None of the out of contract players are indispensable, maybe Chuks but there's loads of Ben Amos's and Adam Matthews type players out there.
What would be the worst is say we wait for Amos for another 4 weeks but he decides to sit on Preston's bench and in the meantime the already superior Pompey keeper signs for Sunderland. Then it will have affected us as all the best replacements will have gone.
I saw Watson was on £5k a week... he won't get that anywhere else based on last season. I wonder if the option entitles him to another year but maybe the wage and other details are TBC... maybe that's why he hasn't signed as we've offered him less?
I get both sides of the argument here but at what point do we say enough is enough? Gallen to players - "You've said you want to sign, it's been 4 weeks and now we move on"
Would imagine we're equally looking around for replacements, take Amos for example.
If we brought in MacGillivray we can either terminate negotiations with Amos, or we can turn around and say, you take our offer or you can take one of the offers that you were stalling for, as we'd then be in the stronger position with him.
Guess we equally dont want to say to Amos, sign or bugger off now, without using getting replacement, just in case we cant get that cover.
We've then cut our nose off to spite our face as the saying goes
The clubs being used again by certain players. Then you get this rubbish that they want to all stay !!! NO!! they want to play us off and fall back on us if no one else wants them, there just trying to keep us sweet. Just get rid of them and start again with players that actually want to be here !!!
Yes because this is happening at Charlton and only Charlton in all of the league. No other team has any out of contract players who are trying to get a good offer from another team. Definitely not. No sir.
So how long do you allow them to string us along before then dropping us. It has been what 4 or 5 weeks since the end of the season players know way before this what there being offered or what other teams will be in for them. Like I said this is just words we need action and fast its 3 weeks before the start of pre season and we need to be ready to go, not hope this players might sign when it suits them.
I think you are missing the point.
It is brinkmanship. Take Matthews as an example, hypothetically let's say he is saying "I want to stay but not going to sign straight away as I want to see if there are better wages on offer elsewhere first, I like Charlton but if someone wants to pay me double I am off". Do you really think our recruitment team just sit around waiting on him? They will be out talking to other RBs they think could do the job and if they find one equal or better who wants to join for the money we have allocated for a RB they will sign them and pull Matthews contract offer.
The players will look after themselves and the club will do the same, ultimately either party may lose out. That's the players risk in waiting. It happens at every club.
To withdraw the offer now before signing a replacement would make no sense at all and runs the risk that someone like Matthews ends up taking a lower amount elsewhere and would have stayed and we end up with someone less good - that would be the idiotic thing to do.
I get both sides of the argument here but at what point do we say enough is enough? Gallen to players - "You've said you want to sign, it's been 4 weeks and now we move on"
None of the out of contract players are indispensable, maybe Chuks but there's loads of Ben Amos's and Adam Matthews type players out there.
What would be the worst is say we wait for Amos for another 4 weeks but he decides to sit on Preston's bench and in the meantime the already superior Pompey keeper signs for Sunderland. Then it will have affected us as all the best replacements will have gone.
I saw Watson was on £5k a week... he won't get that anywhere else based on last season. I wonder if the option entitles him to another year but maybe the wage and other details are TBC... maybe that's why he hasn't signed as we've offered him less?
Nothing to say we're not doing exactly that. We did it with Matthews last season by signing Gunter, Matthews lost a lot of his bargaining power when he did return later due to that.
Also interesting that Cawley mentions we are still Stockley’s preferred choice. Suggests his agent is trying to bump up asking price by leaking the Pompey interest.
I get both sides of the argument here but at what point do we say enough is enough? Gallen to players - "You've said you want to sign, it's been 4 weeks and now we move on"
None of the out of contract players are indispensable, maybe Chuks but there's loads of Ben Amos's and Adam Matthews type players out there.
What would be the worst is say we wait for Amos for another 4 weeks but he decides to sit on Preston's bench and in the meantime the already superior Pompey keeper signs for Sunderland. Then it will have affected us as all the best replacements will have gone.
I saw Watson was on £5k a week... he won't get that anywhere else based on last season. I wonder if the option entitles him to another year but maybe the wage and other details are TBC... maybe that's why he hasn't signed as we've offered him less?
If the option isn't on the same terms or slightly higher it is not even an option is it?
If you play x number of games you are entitled to an extra year on a, as yet undecided, wage. That's just a new contract isn't it?
I like Amos and I hope he stays but even if we lost out on a couple of "1st choices" there are dozens of keepers available, of the necessary standard, all the time. It's probably the easiest position, for a club our size to fill.
I get both sides of the argument here but at what point do we say enough is enough? Gallen to players - "You've said you want to sign, it's been 4 weeks and now we move on"
None of the out of contract players are indispensable, maybe Chuks but there's loads of Ben Amos's and Adam Matthews type players out there.
What would be the worst is say we wait for Amos for another 4 weeks but he decides to sit on Preston's bench and in the meantime the already superior Pompey keeper signs for Sunderland. Then it will have affected us as all the best replacements will have gone.
I saw Watson was on £5k a week... he won't get that anywhere else based on last season. I wonder if the option entitles him to another year but maybe the wage and other details are TBC... maybe that's why he hasn't signed as we've offered him less?
Nothing to say we're not doing exactly that. We did it with Matthews last season by signing Gunter, Matthews lost a lot of his bargaining power when he did return later due to that.
I'm not saying we aren't I merely questioning at what point we move on to sign another player or send them down the road. Pre-season is only 3 weeks away ant it can't make things easier for the team working out where they put the wage budget with all these players not committing
Saying that I can't see JP and JFC not staying and we're likely lumbered with Watson so we're really talking Amos, Matthews and Chuks
I get both sides of the argument here but at what point do we say enough is enough? Gallen to players - "You've said you want to sign, it's been 4 weeks and now we move on"
None of the out of contract players are indispensable, maybe Chuks but there's loads of Ben Amos's and Adam Matthews type players out there.
What would be the worst is say we wait for Amos for another 4 weeks but he decides to sit on Preston's bench and in the meantime the already superior Pompey keeper signs for Sunderland. Then it will have affected us as all the best replacements will have gone.
I saw Watson was on £5k a week... he won't get that anywhere else based on last season. I wonder if the option entitles him to another year but maybe the wage and other details are TBC... maybe that's why he hasn't signed as we've offered him less?
as has been said it's brinkmanship, it's negotiation.
We offer X, the agent asks for a bit more, we say yes or no or we'll give you a little bit more but not as much as you're asking for and all the while we are looking over our shoulders to see who else is out there who is better/cheaper/available.
Maybe we'll bollox up the whole window and I'll be starting the first game.
Maybe they will play a binder and get every player they want at the lowest possible price
Or more likely they will get some players but miss out on others, get some deals done before pre-season training and others when the agent/player blinks late on (like Matthews in the last two seasons) and then get some Prem loans in to top up our squad but only when the prem clubs have done their business.
Expected more by now to be honest. Not hollow sound bites.
If they wanted to sign, they would have done.
It seems all want to stay IF Charlton pay higher wages than anywhere else....doh, of course that's the case. No shit Sherlock! What I want to hear in soundbites, is that they have signed despite offers elsewhere at higher wages. I've stayed in my job despite being offered 15% more elsewhere doing pretty much the same job. I like my colleagues and the set up so why move. I get it that footballers careers are short and their agents are just trying to Squeeze every penny out of clubs, but surely a happy place is worth it albeit on less money. Look at Taylor. He's undoubtedly on better money at Forest, but I wonder if he skipped into training every day the same way he did at Sparrows Lane.
I get both sides of the argument here but at what point do we say enough is enough? Gallen to players - "You've said you want to sign, it's been 4 weeks and now we move on"
None of the out of contract players are indispensable, maybe Chuks but there's loads of Ben Amos's and Adam Matthews type players out there.
What would be the worst is say we wait for Amos for another 4 weeks but he decides to sit on Preston's bench and in the meantime the already superior Pompey keeper signs for Sunderland. Then it will have affected us as all the best replacements will have gone.
I saw Watson was on £5k a week... he won't get that anywhere else based on last season. I wonder if the option entitles him to another year but maybe the wage and other details are TBC... maybe that's why he hasn't signed as we've offered him less?
But this is not what happens. What happens is we make one offer to Amos and another to another keeper and quite possibly have a chat with the agents of one or two more at the same time.
We're not literally waiting doing nothing, that's not how the business works. Look at the January window where we had about four or five wingers linked in one day, and I would be very surprised if we hadn't had serious chats with every one of them.
I get both sides of the argument here but at what point do we say enough is enough? Gallen to players - "You've said you want to sign, it's been 4 weeks and now we move on"
Would imagine we're equally looking around for replacements, take Amos for example.
If we brought in MacGillivray we can either terminate negotiations with Amos, or we can turn around and say, you take our offer or you can take one of the offers that you were stalling for, as we'd then be in the stronger position with him.
Guess we equally dont want to say to Amos, sign or bugger off now, without using getting replacement, just in case we cant get that cover.
We've then cut our nose off to spite our face as the saying goes
The keeper situation is a particularly interesting one too. Didn’t Adkins recently say if Amos stays AMB will go on loan, but if Amos leaves, then AMB will be number one next season?
I’ve possibly remembered this incorrectly, but it was something alone these lines.
I get both sides of the argument here but at what point do we say enough is enough? Gallen to players - "You've said you want to sign, it's been 4 weeks and now we move on"
Would imagine we're equally looking around for replacements, take Amos for example.
If we brought in MacGillivray we can either terminate negotiations with Amos, or we can turn around and say, you take our offer or you can take one of the offers that you were stalling for, as we'd then be in the stronger position with him.
Guess we equally dont want to say to Amos, sign or bugger off now, without using getting replacement, just in case we cant get that cover.
We've then cut our nose off to spite our face as the saying goes
The keeper situation is a particularly interesting one too. Didn’t Adkins recently say if Amos stays AMB will go on loan, but if Amos leaves, then AMB will be number one next season?
I’ve possibly remembered this incorrectly, but it was something alone these lines.
He did say that yes but no Amos means signing another keeper even as cover unless we have a really, really good youth keeper that we've not heard of yet.
I get both sides of the argument here but at what point do we say enough is enough? Gallen to players - "You've said you want to sign, it's been 4 weeks and now we move on"
Would imagine we're equally looking around for replacements, take Amos for example.
If we brought in MacGillivray we can either terminate negotiations with Amos, or we can turn around and say, you take our offer or you can take one of the offers that you were stalling for, as we'd then be in the stronger position with him.
Guess we equally dont want to say to Amos, sign or bugger off now, without using getting replacement, just in case we cant get that cover.
We've then cut our nose off to spite our face as the saying goes
The keeper situation is a particularly interesting one too. Didn’t Adkins recently say if Amos stays AMB will go on loan, but if Amos leaves, then AMB will be number one next season?
I’ve possibly remembered this incorrectly, but it was something alone these lines.
“I’ve been really impressed with Ben Amos, I must admit. I want Ben to stay. If that happens then Ashley will be looking to go out on loan. There needs to be a clear plan and pathway for players, so that we extract every ounce of potential out of them – for their benefit and our benefit.
“If Ben goes to Real Madrid then I’ve got no qualms about playing Ashley.”
I wonder if the "no qualms" bit is he'll play Ashley, provided we dont get a good enough replacement for Amos. In which case I imagine that we'll send Ashley on loan with Nathan Harness as the bench Goalkeeper, if Amos goes with a "sub-standard" replacement coming in, then Ashley will compete with them for the No.1 slot.
Its a shame that Ashley is likely to head to the Olympics - Australia's first game is 22nd July so its doubtful he'll be here for much of pre-season
I get both sides of the argument here but at what point do we say enough is enough? Gallen to players - "You've said you want to sign, it's been 4 weeks and now we move on"
Would imagine we're equally looking around for replacements, take Amos for example.
If we brought in MacGillivray we can either terminate negotiations with Amos, or we can turn around and say, you take our offer or you can take one of the offers that you were stalling for, as we'd then be in the stronger position with him.
Guess we equally dont want to say to Amos, sign or bugger off now, without using getting replacement, just in case we cant get that cover.
We've then cut our nose off to spite our face as the saying goes
The keeper situation is a particularly interesting one too. Didn’t Adkins recently say if Amos stays AMB will go on loan, but if Amos leaves, then AMB will be number one next season?
I’ve possibly remembered this incorrectly, but it was something alone these lines.
“I’ve been really impressed with Ben Amos, I must admit. I want Ben to stay. If that happens then Ashley will be looking to go out on loan. There needs to be a clear plan and pathway for players, so that we extract every ounce of potential out of them – for their benefit and our benefit.
“If Ben goes to Real Madrid then I’ve got no qualms about playing Ashley.”
I wonder if the "no qualms" bit is he'll play Ashley, provided we dont get a good enough replacement for Amos. In which case I imagine that we'll send Ashley on loan with Nathan Harness as the bench Goalkeeper, if Amos goes then Ashley will compete for the No.1 slot with the replacement.
Thanks mate. Not quite as clear as I remembered the quote being, but still good to see Adkins is keen on youth development as a foundation going forward. Either way, we’ll be looking to bring in one more keeper I guess then (number 2 to Amos or a competitor for AMB).
Also interesting that Cawley mentions we are still Stockley’s preferred choice. Suggests his agent is trying to bump up asking price by leaking the Pompey interest.
He's Preston's player so its not just about us and his agent - Portsmouth could be offering more to Preston - its more likely that Preston have leaked this
I think the hard reality of this that we are just not rushing, I guess we are waiting which if any of the out of contract players sign, then that will have a knock on effect. I understand why people get frustrated because as fans we all want a load of new players and we want them yesterday but I do trust the likes of Gallen and Roddy to deliver.
Comments
Having said that, I dont get the delay with Watson.
He isn't going to get a pay rise, why would he accept a pay cut. He won't find another club on anywhere near the money he is on here that is close enough to his house.
In the case of Watson, I assume it's down to whether he takes up the option, rather than us offering him a new deal?
And it's not like this stops us doing other work while we wait either. We can be talking to multiple targets at the same time - within and without.
But yeah its quite possible that us and a lot of clubs are trying to recover from the COVID situation where there has been no fan revenue, just look at how small the current Portsmouth squad is... There wont be a Salary Cap anymore, but it doesnt mean that owners across the EFL arent going to turn around and say, look the silly sort of wages you wanted, that cant happen now because our focus is on keeping the club going long term.
As Doucher said, its brinkmanship, it'll be a case of who blinks first, and I bet a lot of clubs will start blinking the closer we get to the season - Equally if we can start to bring in players that'll make our out of contract players think again, it'll be them that'll be blinking.
None of the out of contract players are indispensable, maybe Chuks but there's loads of Ben Amos's and Adam Matthews type players out there.
What would be the worst is say we wait for Amos for another 4 weeks but he decides to sit on Preston's bench and in the meantime the already superior Pompey keeper signs for Sunderland. Then it will have affected us as all the best replacements will have gone.
I saw Watson was on £5k a week... he won't get that anywhere else based on last season. I wonder if the option entitles him to another year but maybe the wage and other details are TBC... maybe that's why he hasn't signed as we've offered him less?
If we brought in MacGillivray we can either terminate negotiations with Amos, or we can turn around and say, you take our offer or you can take one of the offers that you were stalling for, as we'd then be in the stronger position with him.
Guess we equally dont want to say to Amos, sign or bugger off now, without using getting replacement, just in case we cant get that cover.
We've then cut our nose off to spite our face as the saying goes
I think you are missing the point.
It is brinkmanship. Take Matthews as an example, hypothetically let's say he is saying "I want to stay but not going to sign straight away as I want to see if there are better wages on offer elsewhere first, I like Charlton but if someone wants to pay me double I am off". Do you really think our recruitment team just sit around waiting on him? They will be out talking to other RBs they think could do the job and if they find one equal or better who wants to join for the money we have allocated for a RB they will sign them and pull Matthews contract offer.
The players will look after themselves and the club will do the same, ultimately either party may lose out. That's the players risk in waiting. It happens at every club.
To withdraw the offer now before signing a replacement would make no sense at all and runs the risk that someone like Matthews ends up taking a lower amount elsewhere and would have stayed and we end up with someone less good - that would be the idiotic thing to do.
If you play x number of games you are entitled to an extra year on a, as yet undecided, wage. That's just a new contract isn't it?
I like Amos and I hope he stays but even if we lost out on a couple of "1st choices" there are dozens of keepers available, of the necessary standard, all the time. It's probably the easiest position, for a club our size to fill.
Saying that I can't see JP and JFC not staying and we're likely lumbered with Watson so we're really talking Amos, Matthews and Chuks
We need 2 center backs, 2 center mids, 2 wingers and a left back if everyone else stays, that's probably what is being worked on.
We offer X, the agent asks for a bit more, we say yes or no or we'll give you a little bit more but not as much as you're asking for and all the while we are looking over our shoulders to see who else is out there who is better/cheaper/available.
Maybe we'll bollox up the whole window and I'll be starting the first game.
Maybe they will play a binder and get every player they want at the lowest possible price
Or more likely they will get some players but miss out on others, get some deals done before pre-season training and others when the agent/player blinks late on (like Matthews in the last two seasons) and then get some Prem loans in to top up our squad but only when the prem clubs have done their business.
What I want to hear in soundbites, is that they have signed despite offers elsewhere at higher wages. I've stayed in my job despite being offered 15% more elsewhere doing pretty much the same job. I like my colleagues and the set up so why move. I get it that footballers careers are short and their agents are just trying to Squeeze every penny out of clubs, but surely a happy place is worth it albeit on less money. Look at Taylor. He's undoubtedly on better money at Forest, but I wonder if he skipped into training every day the same way he did at Sparrows Lane.
We're not literally waiting doing nothing, that's not how the business works. Look at the January window where we had about four or five wingers linked in one day, and I would be very surprised if we hadn't had serious chats with every one of them.
“If Ben goes to Real Madrid then I’ve got no qualms about playing Ashley.”
I wonder if the "no qualms" bit is he'll play Ashley, provided we dont get a good enough replacement for Amos. In which case I imagine that we'll send Ashley on loan with Nathan Harness as the bench Goalkeeper, if Amos goes with a "sub-standard" replacement coming in, then Ashley will compete with them for the No.1 slot.
Its a shame that Ashley is likely to head to the Olympics - Australia's first game is 22nd July so its doubtful he'll be here for much of pre-season