A Depressing Fact

[MC RISK77]

But where are the suitors for these players?? We'll have to see but I see very few offers being made for our in-contract players.

As you say, they are tainted by at least a season's poor performance and subsequent relegation and that won't be lost on other clubs.

SOD is going to be seriously hamstrung next season. I can see, as has happened for the last couple of years, a couple of contracts being paid up in January 2014 to speed up the process of getting the last few wasters out of the club. Maybe even some mutual termination of contracts this summer is the answer?

We have to explore all options in terms of getting that wage bill down and being able to bring in some fresh faces.

exactly most people just think its like championship manager and we can just negotiate a price for thes players, im with you i dont think any of the mentioned players have performed anywhere near good enough, and that includes the "fans darling" adomah, for me he has been ineffective for 75% of this season, and if anyone thinks we will get more than £750k for him then they are deluded.

Clubs will know we are in the shit and need to bail out our high earners, which means unfortunately we do not hold any of the cards in negotiations

[City1970]

"Although everyone in the squad will take a significant reduction in wages in League One, the fact remains that if the new season started tomorrow, our contracted players would account for over 80 per cent of our budget.

High earners such as Sam Baldock, Liam Fontaine, Marvin Elliott and Neil Kilkenny will still be on the books and, unless they attract interest from other clubs and can be sold, it is difficult to see how O'Driscoll can oversee the significant overhaul that will be needed if City are to be successful in the third tier.

A piss poor runned club.

http://www.bristolpost.co.uk/Selling-players-important-Sean-O-Driscoll-s/story-18845116-detail/story.html

I agree it is "a piss poor run club".

However, I don`t understand your facts about 80% of the budget.

League 1 operates a Salary Cost Management Protocol (SCMP). This means the total player salary as a proportion of turnover will have a threshold of 60%.

Turnover is a variable that will change during the season. Players contracts is a constant which is a known value. Therefore the club must work within the worst case scenario i.e. lets say it sells 8k season tickets plus the commercial income. If the club do not comply with the 60% rule then the club will have a transfer embargo.

The SOD and the board need to decide who to keep with reduced contracts. I guess SOD will have scope to strengthen only if players are released.

Keep the good and get rid of the rest.

[David Brent]

Really? I missed that - did he mention LC specifically?

Forgetting personal opinions:

SO'D has chosen not to pick Carey recently - for whatever reason preferring Bates. We don't know how highly SO'D actually rates Carey - but it seems not enough to include him when the chips are down and our most reliable players most needed.

Carey came on for what appeared to be a farewell appearance late on against Huddersfield - certainly it was greeted as such by the fans.

He's only made 14 apps. this season following on from just 22 & 22 in each of the previous 2, so he's very much in decline fitness and appearance wise. He may well still be up to 3rd division football in ability but it seems very likely his availability for selection will decrease even further rather than the opposite.

A new contract just doesn't make sense. City need to build the team around 2 younger and fitter centre backs and need reliable back up should they be unavailable rather than a veteran whose lack of consistent fitness will always make him a doubt to play more than a couple of games at a time - presuming he's actually fit when required.

This season was his 'filling in' season and it's extremely debatable whether he's been worth this contract, let alone another one.

Louis has made 16 appearances this season, and i'd be interested to know how many more games he was available for i.e. on the bench. I think it may be slightly more than you give him credit for but I genuinely don't know.

It is obvious that we have required a new CB pairing for a while and hopefully we can't get those two younger and fitter CBs in for next season. But, those younger CBs may at some stage need that experience that Louis offers. I'd be very happy with Louis as a 4th choice for next season. He still has something to offer, especially in L1.

As you say, his cameo against Huddersfield appeared to a farewell appearance but don't write him off completely. We have a good opportunity to rebuild this squad completely but for what Louis will cost us I think another year is a no brainer.

[Uncle Albert]

I didn't realise, but here's another depressing 'fact': we haven't won since 9th March vs. Boro and have managed 2 points from 8 matches since then we really have gone down without a fight.

[glynriley]

I didn't realise, but here's another depressing 'fact': we haven't won since 9th March vs. Boro and have managed 2 points from 8 matches since then we really have gone down without a fight.

As The Who once said "Meet the new boss , same as the old boss"

[Nogbad the Bad]

Carey's departure is obviously going to be a big wrench for some fans whether it's now or 5 years time.

Maybe this should have been played when he came on against Huddersfield.

[Spike]

Sell and sell. We can sell Albert and possibly Cunningham but the rest with the money they are on? We should be happy just to get them out even though it ment paying 70 per cent of the sallary for the remaining part of the contract.

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I was thinking about this the other day.... I don't think the players with contracts that cripple us will stay even if they can't find another club that'll pay the same because they're bound to know how much the fans will turn on them. Essentially any player who stays to keep a high wage will become a target for fans (and rightfully so), I can't see any player staying where they are hated and so I think most will either take the pay cut or move on to a place where the wage is not so high as what they are on but better than we offer.