Bid rejected for Clarke

Hypothetical question - would you rather have Harvey Barnes or Jack Clarke? Barnes reportedly will be away from Leicester and a figure of 40 million is being touted. He has two years left on his contract. Obviously Barnes has shown he can perform in the Pl but I have no doubt Clarke can and will. Clarke has 3 years left on his contract so we have no need to sell. If KLD and Sartori genuinely want promotion this year why would they choose to sell him when he would be instrumental in any promotion push and worth much more after its achievement? Taking around 15 million now would be incredibly short-term thinking when he surely would be worth as much as Barnes when we're in the PL.
 


Church said:
Yep. We were great last season and really brought on loan players like Amad. PL clubs will be looking at us thinking what a great place to develop their kids.

It's a tricky balance as you say.
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There's an element of 'farming' that is absolutely inevitable for SAFC, though. At least a well-run SAFC anyway. As and when we go up to the PL we will still find, develop and sell on talented players to teams further up the food chain. That's just what happens if you develop particularly good players.

With us currently in the EFL under their FFP rules, it's almost better for us to get a big sale out of the way early. It ultimately gives us more bites at the cherry. I'd rather we sell from a position of strength rather than being forced to offload from a position of desperation in a season or two. That being said, I'd far rather we just keep all our players, add some freebie youngsters this summer - and go up as champions anyway! :lol:
 
Ohnonotagain said:
The owners have openly stated what the plan was from day one.

It’s obviously working hence the 30,000 season tickets being sold.

As the club grows financially, so will the investment. I believe in Speakman and Co we have the right people to initiate this.

I fully support anything they believe to be the right thing to do.

If Clarke and his parasite (sorry agent) want to break the wage structure then he has to go. No one is bigger than the club.
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When does it end though? Do we just accept bids every window if we aren't promoted? If so it's going to make getting promoted a hell of a lot harder if you flog your best players each window. You would essentially need to recruit replacements and hope we get promoted with them in their first season or just lose them because we aren't promoted that same season.

We are relatively debt free, The 'model' will soon wear off if we a) aren't getting promoted and/or b) a percentage of the money is 'reinvested' but not the full whack (which is hard to identify)

I agree nobody is bigger than the club, but it also shouldn't be used as a cash cow to line owners pockets if they are looking for a return on investment, the best way to do that is be in the PL.
 
Ohnonotagain said:
The owners have openly stated what the plan was from day one.

It’s obviously working hence the 30,000 season tickets being sold.

As the club grows financially, so will the investment. I believe in Speakman and Co we have the right people to initiate this.

I fully support anything they believe to be the right thing to do.

If Clarke and his parasite (sorry agent) want to break the wage structure then he has to go. No one is bigger than the club.
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If we don't break our wage structure we'll never progress, it's as simple as that.
 
Binxy said:
If we don't break our wage structure we'll never progress, it's as simple as that.
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The wage structure is a really awkward one as we shouldnt be getting into the stupid wages to turnover issues other clubs have. I think the last accounts had us around 65% wages to turnover? the new FFP Rules that are coming have it eventually being capped at 70% to Turnover, so we are well on course to keep well within that.

Thats why the shite off the field stuff annoys me as any additional turnover the club can make adds money to the wage budget
 
Binxy said:
If we don't break our wage structure we'll never progress, it's as simple as that.
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Yes we will, this is a total myth. The owners have been clear as day from the day they walked in the building. The club will be run in a sustainable way. Buying young, cheaper players will lots of potential, developing them, selling the odd one or 2 for profit and reinvesting that in more talented youngsters. Over a few years we have a much better squad, whilst still being in a sound financial state. We WILL NOT, and rightly so in my opinion, break our wage structure for players otherwise the whole model is fucked. As soon as you break it for 1 player, others will expect the same.

I'm a big fan of the way the club is being run right now and hope it continues. If Clarke goes, I'll be gutted, but will trust the club to reinvest wisely.
 
LukeJH96 said:
Aye that old one

Did I say Clarke wants to move on? He doesn't. But all of this talk is coming from somewhere isn't it.
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You literally just said Harte wants him to move on. So my question was regarding Harte saying to the press Clarke is happy etc etc, but then he's running round Wynyard telling people he wants Clarke to move on?

All of this talk is coming largely from baseless rumours such as this
 
LukeJH96 said:
Aye that old one

Did I say Clarke wants to move on? He doesn't. But all of this talk is coming from somewhere isn't it.
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Meaning Ian Harte.
Disco_Pants93 said:
You literally just said Harte wants him to move on. So my question was regarding Harte saying to the press Clarke is happy etc etc, but then he's running round Wynyard telling people he wants Clarke to move on?

All of this talk is coming largely from baseless rumours such as this
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I have not said that Clarke wants to move on you tit. I have literally said the opposite.
LukeJH96 said:
Meaning Ian Harte.

I have not said that Clarke wants to move on you tit. I have literally said the opposite.
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Harte also said to the press every player has a price. But you are not mentioning that bit.
 
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