I’m gutted about this. Let’s be honest, we play in a very rigid and non-expansive way and Small was the contradiction to that. He made us better and more enjoyable to watch as he brought some excitement.
I said a couple of days ago I had a nagging doubt about how much Jones rated him. I don’t expect us to replace with a similar style player.
The average Championship salary as at Aug 24 was reportedly £10k a week. Our owners are going to have to make some big decisions if we are losing out when competing financially with Preston. Because we already know we won’t be able to compete with Wrexham and Birmingham if they want the same players.
However. I will add that Small’s best appearance for us was against Preston away in the cup. He looked unstoppable for a spell in that game. If their fans think they’re getting that every week, they won’t.
I think we probably need to go for an out and out speed merchant as a replacement. As others have said, we looked very one dimensional when Small didn’t play and it put too much emphasis on Tyreece on the other side. Excited to see what NJ and Chapple have lined up tbh.
Not sure why Preston are the right club for him, is it location, probably money?
He’s probably just had the best season of his career and topped it off by winning at Wembley and promotion to the championship. No gratitude or loyalty for what the club did for him and for that reason, as far as I’m concerned he’s a C…;)
That is disappointing. I'm not sure we'll find his blend of athleticism, attacking threat, and defensive reliability quite so easy to replace as some suggest. He does need to find more consistent end product, but that's been building. I find it a bit of a weird choice in terms of club to leave us for, when he seemed finally settled here and had a manager who believes in him and has improved him
Is he impossible to replace, no, but an oven-ready player with everything Small has, plus the potential to be better, like Small also has, aren't two a penny. We might be finding one with the raw attributes but needs some coaching to polish him, more like Small was when we got him.
If he hadn't played so well there in the cup I'm not sure to what extent he'd have even been on their radar.
Seemed a nice lad though and did lots on the community side so best of luck to him.
Bit of a nothing move for him footballing wise. They aren’t gonna be pushing for promotion next season.
You’ve forgotten about the fact he’s now got the national railway museum in York on his doorstep. The chance to have all that history just a 2 hour drive away is a big pull
How big is your bleedin’ doorstep @cabbles 🤷🏻♂️😱😂😂
Sat on that for a week, never ITK but was told by two different people that Preston were offering Thierry between 10-11k a week to sign him and that he already agreed to it in the last week.
I didn't want to say incase they were wrong, but once I read all the Preston fans say about their offer, and how likely he was to accept it, all the dots joined up, and is why I was saying we aren't paying the going rate, specifically for him.
Apparently we couldn't get near what they were offering, or at least we weren't willing to match it. Had we offered Thierry what they did, he would have stayed. It was just about money from what I have heard.
I'm gutted personally as he has so much resale value, he fit in with the team, and he was a good player for us.
Good luck to him, shame.
couldn't or wouldn't.....big difference, I suspect the latter
Bloke is an agents dream and in 10 years time his Wiki page will have 20+ clubs on it.
Preston fans will be creaming themselves as he had a very good game against them in the cup. They can also look forward to the games where he is totally anonymous for 90% of it and hoof 5/6 crosses to no one.
Am sure we will have known this was coming and will have suitable replacements lined up.
Ok. So, I’d requested to join this morning but I’ve not long since been approved. Really it was just to give an input from our end on what we’d heard last night. It was mentioned that it had swung in our favour on our forum, yesterday. Which has obviously been proven true now.
I think a lot of our fans persistence with a deal for Small comes from the fact we haven’t get anyone with any pace, mainly due to 3 years of Ryan Lowe recruitment. Plus he did well against us in the cup. Our recruitment is sometimes just, who played well against and might be available. Anyway it seems Heckingbottom has had a touch-on for him since then. Rumour was, in the winter window, we’d pushed hard for him late on and Ridsdale was at your game up at The Lashers, but an injury to our centre back meant we had to switch from Small and get Porteous in from Watford instead. All in all I think our pursuit of him has made him feel loved. Most North End fans genuinely thought he’d be staying with you when you came up. Maybe Jones signing that new deal is what made his mind up to leave? For what it’s worth I really rate Jones. He had one foot in the door here before he joined you. Unfortunately the scouse car salesman talked our owner round and he ended up staying on. Good luck for this season.
Midlands is north is it not , then he was in Merseyside not miles away from Preston .. may have family in the area you don’t know but when he signed he was always looking at his next move
He certainly hasn’t given the impression of wanting to be locked into the journey with us…..which I find rather strange. I mean to say…….PNE FFS! Feel very let down by him…..having said that, I also agree with what many are saying in that he is far from being an accomplished player. Yes, it’s exciting what he tries to do on the pitch but to be honest he invariably screws things up more often than not. So I am 50/50 in my view on this move…..I am really quite surprised, as it doesn’t appear to be a step up for him…….I think he may well live to regret it.
Player with tonnes of potential. I think everyone wanted him to stay and potentially unlock that potential here. Proper handful with ball at his feet and is a loss to the 1st team as it looks now.
But maybe we couldn't commit to the wage level of PNE for him. I mean what is his full time position moving forward? Is that how Jones wants to play moving forward? Or was his move from LB to RW what worked with the group best for the group we had last year.
A lot to be seen for the whole window, doubt anybody wanted him to go, but I'm sure if we had massively upped his wages to he whole squad would be at the door asking for double bubble.
Disappointed in Thierry himself as well really. Yes I know footballers have every right to try and make as much dough as they want but I thought he may have a bit more loyal to the club that gave him a chance when his career was going nowhere but oh well
That's life (and especially football) though - Blackpool gave Sonny Carey a chance when he was playing non-league and offered him a new contract, should he have been a bit more loyal to them?
Players move on, it's a shame in this instance but I don't see a player seeing out his agreed contract period as disloyal - we signed him for 18 months, he played those 18 months and gave his all, then moved on.
Not sure why Preston are the right club for him, is it location, probably money?
He’s probably just had the best season of his career and topped it off by winning at Wembley and promotion to the championship. No gratitude or loyalty for what the club did for him and for that reason, as far as I’m concerned he’s a C…;)
Pretty harsh.
"What the club did for him" - we gave him a contract but Small is the one who had to go out on the pitch and perform each week. If not then he'd have been let go just like we did with Watson.
The gravity of his departure will depend on who replaces him. Hopefully we'll make some signings next few weeks to make this forgettable.
Feels like we've turned a corner off the pitch and Jones has proved he knows what he's doing so as initially disappointed I am it's not scott parker or clive mendonca leaving
He seems to be chasing the money too early in his career, when he should be going somewhere he knows he will play and develop. The money will always come later. But who knows what his background is, maybe that's not a choice he's prepared to make.
I loved him as a player and that last-minute goal against Shrewsbury was a big turning point in our season. I hope it works out for him, but not sure it will.
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However. I will add that Small’s best appearance for us was against Preston away in the cup. He looked unstoppable for a spell in that game. If their fans think they’re getting that every week, they won’t.
Excited to see what NJ and Chapple have lined up tbh.
Not sure why Preston are the right club for him, is it location, probably money?
He’s probably just had the best season of his career and topped it off by winning at Wembley and promotion to the championship. No gratitude or loyalty for what the club did for him and for that reason, as far as I’m concerned he’s a C…;)
Is he impossible to replace, no, but an oven-ready player with everything Small has, plus the potential to be better, like Small also has, aren't two a penny. We might be finding one with the raw attributes but needs some coaching to polish him, more like Small was when we got him.
If he hadn't played so well there in the cup I'm not sure to what extent he'd have even been on their radar.
Seemed a nice lad though and did lots on the community side so best of luck to him.
It keeps the squad pretty streamlined, and gives someone like Mitchell, two routes into the first team.
He was probably in light talks with Preston before the playoff final and he got used to the idea of moving up there.
It means there is more room in the squad for us to fill up.
Preston fans will be creaming themselves as he had a very good game against them in the cup. They can also look forward to the games where he is totally anonymous for 90% of it and hoof 5/6 crosses to no one.
Am sure we will have known this was coming and will have suitable replacements lined up.
Feel very let down by him…..having said that, I also agree with what many are saying in that he is far from being an accomplished player.
Yes, it’s exciting what he tries to do on the pitch but to be honest he invariably screws things up more often than not.
So I am 50/50 in my view on this move…..I am really quite surprised, as it doesn’t appear to be a step up for him…….I think he may well live to regret it.
But maybe we couldn't commit to the wage level of PNE for him. I mean what is his full time position moving forward? Is that how Jones wants to play moving forward? Or was his move from LB to RW what worked with the group best for the group we had last year.
A lot to be seen for the whole window, doubt anybody wanted him to go, but I'm sure if we had massively upped his wages to he whole squad would be at the door asking for double bubble.
"What the club did for him" - we gave him a contract but Small is the one who had to go out on the pitch and perform each week. If not then he'd have been let go just like we did with Watson.
Feels like we've turned a corner off the pitch and Jones has proved he knows what he's doing so as initially disappointed I am it's not scott parker or clive mendonca leaving
I loved him as a player and that last-minute goal against Shrewsbury was a big turning point in our season. I hope it works out for him, but not sure it will.