If I was 20 and was offered a 4 year contract that meant i could buy myself, mum and siblings houses outright and effectively set them up for life in an industry where that scenario may be a once in a life time opportunity I would not think twice.
Good luck to the lad....gave some great times for us and was very much a popular part of the squad with great rapport with the fanbase.
There is no loyalty in football and we've just let Watson and others go without a second thought and there's never any fan hoo ha when we release players and effectively put them out of work, turn their and their families' lives upside down e.g. potentially having to move areas, schools etc. It's the game.
Correct, as the majority of Thierry's peer group are either playing semi-pro when you are struggling to get any type of contract or give up through injury or because they can't keep taking rejection. The lucky few are playing Premier football and they will be set up for life if not ripped off by unscrupulous 'financial advisers'.*
Rodders, having known one ex Academy player, (released by Fulham) go for trials at 13 different EFL clubs over a 3 year period and known as even 'A trialist' to his mates I can totally understand Small taking the 4 year contract at Preston. I'm still gutted that Nathan didn't think Small was worth being made an offer to keep him at CAFC but possibly it sounds like Small and his agent couldn't keep Preston and the concrete offer waiting too long and he was always leaving over the last couple of months.
The lad above who did the numerous trials was a left back is now at 23 a Journeyman footballer doing the part-time rounds in South east county leagues.
If I was 20 and was offered a 4 year contract that meant i could buy myself, mum and siblings houses outright and effectively set them up for life in an industry where that scenario may be a once in a life time opportunity I would not think twice.
Good luck to the lad....gave some great times for us and was very much a popular part of the squad with great rapport with the fanbase.
There is no loyalty in football and we've just let Watson and others go without a second thought and there's never any fan hoo ha when we release players and effectively put them out of work, turn their and their families' lives upside down e.g. potentially having to move areas, schools etc. It's the game.
Correct, as the majority of Thierry's peer group are either playing semi-pro when you are struggling to get any type of contract or give up through injury or because they can't keep taking rejection. The lucky few are playing Premier football and they will be set up for life if not ripped off by unscrupulous 'financial advisers'.*
Rodders, having known one ex Academy player, (released by Fulham) go for trials at 13 different EFL clubs over a 3 year period and known as even 'A trialist' to his mates I can totally understand Small taking the 4 year contract at Preston. I'm still gutted that Nathan didn't think Small was worth being made an offer to keep him at CAFC but possibly it sounds like Small and his agent couldn't keep Preston and the concrete offer waiting too long and he was always leaving over the last couple of months.
The lad above who did the numerous trials was a left back is now at 23 a Journeyman footballer doing the part-time rounds in South east county leagues.
* Advisors if formal.
Except he did - another offer had been made, discussions were had, there absolutely was no intention to just let him go without a qualm. Now without knowing the terms I don't know if the offer was a good one (but Preston was better) or a token lowball that would never have been accepted, but it definitely was made.
Preston offered him a wage that would have made him one of the top earners at the club if we matched it.
We clearly didn’t rate him high enough to match it. Further more because we were always bringing Apter in by the looks of things I expect Small was not even going to be a guaranteed starter.
Given the signings we have made, and the likely wages we are now paying some of the new recruits, it now seems likely that NJ advised the board that whilst TS was a good player, we would probably get more for our money elsewhere.
Preston offered him a wage that would have made him one of the top earners at the club if we matched it.
We clearly didn’t rate him high enough to match it. Further more because we were always bringing Apter in by the looks of things I expect Small was not even going to be a guaranteed starter.
Not to mention Small, by the sound of things, wanted to play Left-Back and was never going to dislodge Edwards.
Preston offered him a wage that would have made him one of the top earners at the club if we matched it.
We clearly didn’t rate him high enough to match it. Further more because we were always bringing Apter in by the looks of things I expect Small was not even going to be a guaranteed starter.
Not to mention Small, by the sound of things, wanted to play Left-Back and was never going to dislodge Edwards.
Although apparently played RWB for Preston Nob End yesterday ...... "Small cut inside from the right and left footed, shot over the bar", I read earlier. Or something like that.
Also worth noting that Jones has always said we've had our targets set for along time and it's entirely possible that Small was always going to be behind Apter in the pecking order due to his lack of end product and his tendency to fade out of games. Even in L1 he lost the battle against Edwards to play LWB and only found his place at RWB when Ramsay, Watson and ZMitchell were injured, and planning to add in a multi-million pound signing in his spot a league up isn't necessarily a ringing endorsement from Small's perspective. It's understandable if we weren't willing to pay a high wage for a player we planned to be a backup
Do we actually know he was offered big wages though?
I think that the prevailing theory is that he was NOT offered big wages, that's kind of the point. The demands he made were not commensurate with the value Jones saw in him so he was allowed to leave. He wanted the pay and position of a first choice player, Jones didn’t see him as a first choice player so off he went.
No sorry I meant do we know Preston offered big wages?
Rumoured to have almost quadrupled his salary. Similar reports say he's on 11k a week there. So I assume he was on 3k here and we probably offered 6k on promotion
No sorry I meant do we know Preston offered big wages?
Rumoured to have almost quadrupled his salary. Similar reports say he's on 11k a week there. So I assume he was on 3k here and we probably offered 6k on promotion
I imagine some of our players, especially the newer arrivals will probably be on similar amounts to be fair, but again it comes down to Jones’s apparent qualms about Small as a player. For a regular starter in the Championship then it's about the going rate but if Small really was seen as more of a squad player you could maybe see why we didn't want to go that high.
Comments
Correct, as the majority of Thierry's peer group are either playing semi-pro when you are struggling to get any type of contract or give up through injury or because they can't keep taking rejection.
The lucky few are playing Premier football and they will be set up for life if not ripped off by unscrupulous 'financial advisers'.*
Rodders, having known one ex Academy player, (released by Fulham) go for trials at 13 different EFL clubs over a 3 year period and known as even 'A trialist' to his mates I can totally understand Small taking the 4 year contract at Preston. I'm still gutted that Nathan didn't think Small was worth being made an offer to keep him at CAFC but possibly it sounds like Small and his agent couldn't keep Preston and the concrete offer waiting too long and he was always leaving over the last couple of months.
The lad above who did the numerous trials was a left back is now at 23 a Journeyman footballer doing the part-time rounds in South east county leagues.
* Advisors if formal.
Would rather he'd have stayed, but was still a very good signing in terms of 18 good months and making a profit.
We clearly didn’t rate him high enough to match it. Further more because we were always bringing Apter in by the looks of things I expect Small was not even going to be a guaranteed starter.
Or something like that.