Summer Rumour Mill

[Rich3478]

23 minutes ago, Srg said:

What a disingenuous statement. Actual reasons...

Knight -

• 1 year left on his contract
• Potentially doesn't want to be here
• Wasn't particularly great last season, albeit has consistently been good for Ireland
• We're a league one club, we don't have the option to hold onto players we once had if solid money is offered

Bielik -

• 2 ACL Injuries
• Doesn't want to be here
• We can't afford his wages to keep him here
• 1 year left on his contract

Add this to the backdrop of what has happened to the club as a whole and it's obvious. It's extremely short-sighted to draw a straight line between £1m for Bielik = development is the problem.

Also, sadly seems that we were the only club to ever value bielik at £10m!

Good footballer but we all know his injury issues.

Am not sure knight was ever worth £10m. The £2m expected now seems cheap but would think £4/5m was his highest ever value.

[Srg]

8 minutes ago, Rich3478 said:

Also, sadly seems that we were the only club to ever value bielik at £10m!

Good footballer but we all know his injury issues.

Am not sure knight was ever worth £10m. The £2m expected now seems cheap but would think £4/5m was his highest ever value.

Probably some of that in there too. Very good player but £10m out of league one was silly. 

[Charlie George]

George Byers from Wednesday.

[sage]

6 minutes ago, Charlie George said:

George Byers from Wednesday.

Rumour or suggestion?

Still has a year left on his contract and was doing promo work for their new kit yesterday 

[Caerphilly Ram]

26 minutes ago, sage said:

Rumour or suggestion?

Still has a year left on his contract and was doing promo work for their new kit yesterday 

A lot of people on Twitter likening the Wendies away kit to a Derby home kit and with one or two comments along the lines of “didn’t realise Byers had signed for Derby”.

Possibly a result of that rather than actual rumour? 

Edited June 22, 2023 by Caerphilly Ram

[G STAR RAM]

5 hours ago, Bris Vegas said:

Doesn’t seem too long ago where Bielik and Knight would fetch £20m combined. That we now consider £4m as excellent business shows something has seriously gone wrong in their development.

At no point in time would they ever have fetched £20m...unless it was Derby buying them of course. 

£10m for the pair maximum. 

Not sure anyone considers £4m for the pair excellent either, just a bit of realisation of the situation we are in.

I think you'd struggle to name any League One club that has sold players in excess of £4m.

[vonwright]

We probably took a gamble with Knight by keeping him an extra year because we thought he'd help get us promoted. As a result we are now in a bind because he's only got a year left on his contract. (Also, he didn't exactly rip up any trees last year.) So yes his value is lower than it would have been but I'm personally glad we showed some ambition and kept him.

Bielik is just bad luck. The timing of the injuries, and our relegation, has made a massive difference to what his contribution (and value) might have been. 

[sage]

11 minutes ago, vonwright said:

We probably took a gamble with Knight by keeping him an extra year because we thought he'd help get us promoted. As a result we are now in a bind because he's only got a year left on his contract. (Also, he didn't exactly rip up any trees last year.) So yes his value is lower than it would have been but I'm personally glad we showed some ambition and kept him.

Bielik is just bad luck. The timing of the injuries, and our relegation, has made a massive difference to what his contribution (and value) might have been. 

If we had sold Knight last year, we wouldn't have been able to use the money, also we were never going to sell players last summer, when we only had 5 players. 

[Ambitious]

28 minutes ago, sage said:

If we had sold Knight last year, we wouldn't have been able to use the money, also we were never going to sell players last summer, when we only had 5 players. 

Plus, as I keep banging the drum, we’re well covered with Knight regards to a tribunal - it should be one of the highest ever paid out based on the criteria. If we keep him, we probably are no worse off than selling him this season - it’s just if we want the money upfront and what is on the table. It looks like £1.5-2m which is almost exactly what I expect a tribunal to pay out. I’d imagine Derby and teams have done their homework.

[B4ev6is]

Knight it still easy 10m player and we should be holding out for that.

[MackworthRamIsGod]

4 minutes ago, B4ev6is said:

Knight it still easy 10m player and we should be holding out for that.

A player who failed to make a significant impact at league 1 level is not worth 10 million.

When he broke into the team and went on a run of scoring 6 goals, that player was probably worth a fair few million.

This year he has been a steady player, not poor by any stretch, but he hasn't set the place alight.

I'll be sorry to see him go, the legacy of Mel still haunts us and will for some time. But anything close to a couple of million, under present circumstances cannot be sniffed at.

 

[i-Ram]

24 minutes ago, B4ev6is said:

Knight it still easy 10m player and we should be holding out for that.

How much does an ice cream tub cost at your cinema? I bet you hold out for £30 don’t you, with a flake another tenner on top.

[B4ev6is]

1 hour ago, i-Ram said:

How much does an ice cream tub cost at your cinema? I bet you hold out for £30 don’t you, with a flake another tenner on top.

Not that much no but that is ice cream not a player.

 

Ipwhich town has now entered the race and I think others be bidding too 1.5 to 2m is a joke way to freaking low peanuts.

[B4ev6is]

1 hour ago, MackworthRamIsGod said:

A player who failed to make a significant impact at league 1 level is not worth 10 million.

When he broke into the team and went on a run of scoring 6 goals, that player was probably worth a fair few million.

This year he has been a steady player, not poor by any stretch, but he hasn't set the place alight.

I'll be sorry to see him go, the legacy of Mel still haunts us and will for some time. But anything close to a couple of million, under present circumstances cannot be sniffed at.

 

As of yet number of times for irland been name man of match award and that is not given at international player unless your very very talented player.

[RamsFan10]

I think the whole Knight saga could serve as somewhat of a litmus test for how much money Clowes can/is willing to put into the playing staff. 

Obviously we are still yet to pay a transfer fee under him. If he was trying to run it on a shoestring, Knight would have left for the rumoured 1m or so that’s been bid. If we had bags of cash spare he’d gamble and keep him for a year to see if we can go up and resign the lad. 
 

I suspect his position is somewhere between those two poles and we’re holding out for 2-2.5m bid - which is by no means cheap for a player with one year left and playing below his level. 
 

And that’s by no means a criticism of the new ownership. If anything it sounds sensible, although obviously I’d like to have knight in our team for another year. 

[Chester40]

 

3 hours ago, RamsFan10 said:

I think the whole Knight saga could serve as somewhat of a litmus test for how much money Clowes can/is willing to put into the playing staff. 

Obviously we are still yet to pay a transfer fee under him. If he was trying to run it on a shoestring, Knight would have left for the rumoured 1m or so that’s been bid. If we had bags of cash spare he’d gamble and keep him for a year to see if we can go up and resign the lad. 
 

I suspect his position is somewhere between those two poles and we’re holding out for 2-2.5m bid - which is by no means cheap for a player with one year left and playing below his level. 
 

And that’s by no means a criticism of the new ownership. If anything it sounds sensible, although obviously I’d like to have knight in our team for another year. 

For me, the reality is Knight (or Bird) is not going to be the difference between promotion or not.

We were short of finishers and a decent last ball and have lost the player head and shoulders above the rest of at both.

Getting in players to rectify that is our priority  and if we have to sell to bring in a fee to help us do that then I'm good with that.

Currently I just can't see where any goals are coming from and it definitely isn't from Knight or Bird. As long as we are able to rectify that with 2 or 3 forward looking players then I can take us letting players go to fund that.

Exciting weeks ahead.

[IlsonDerby]

4 hours ago, RamsFan10 said:

I think the whole Knight saga could serve as somewhat of a litmus test for how much money Clowes can/is willing to put into the playing staff. 

Obviously we are still yet to pay a transfer fee under him. If he was trying to run it on a shoestring, Knight would have left for the rumoured 1m or so that’s been bid. If we had bags of cash spare he’d gamble and keep him for a year to see if we can go up and resign the lad. 
 

I suspect his position is somewhere between those two poles and we’re holding out for 2-2.5m bid - which is by no means cheap for a player with one year left and playing below his level. 
 

And that’s by no means a criticism of the new ownership. If anything it sounds sensible, although obviously I’d like to have knight in our team for another year. 

I disagree. I think we’ll still be run on a ‘relative shoe string’ (our shoe string is a lot longer than everyone else’s in the division) but I still think Clowes and Warne won’t sell anyone for the first bid if we want to keep them. 

[Archied]

On 21/06/2023 at 12:12, jimtastic56 said:

Should we take £1.5 mill for Knight or hold out for £2 mill if several clubs are interested? 

For me it’s 2.5 mill / 2 mill at a push if desperate, anything less and it’s better to keep him for promotion push in my view , yes contract length could see us lose a bit if we don’t sell for 1.5 mill but there’s a fair upside to the gamble

[TomTom92]

Good news that Ipswich and Stoke have entered the race for Knight. But can’t see us getting more than £3m.

Also Knight gave us last season to try and help get us up and it failed. Not sure even the most professional players would want to stick around for another year. Especially if your national manager is putting pressure on for a move. 
 
Whilst the smallish fee is regrettable, we are where we are and the transfer market isn’t as strong as it was pre Covid. Let’s take the money and make a couple of smart signings.

[BaianoPOTY98]

I’ve not posted on here for a few years but I totally agree with Chester in that a few attacking players who can get us goals will be far more valuable to us next season than either Knight or Bird. Also regards Knight, does he want to play in Div 1 next year because I think the answer to that is no, so in that case he has to go and we just hold out for the highest bid we can get.