To bounce back to the original thread, Birmingham seem to be asking a player in the dusk
( if not twilight) of his career to walk away from a contract both parties in good faith agreed that still has £2,000,000 plus to be paid to him. That will set his family up for life, he can play lower level football for another 5 years after the contract ends if he feels so motivated. Of course he will tough it out. Birmingham are fools, and Monk the biggest of them not to be utilising what we saw on Tuesday is still a fine keeper.
If Birmingham had any financial sense they would offer Stockdale £1,000,000 to leave now, he could then sign a long term contract with another club (Leeds?) whereunder he could probably make up the money he lost, plus perhaps, get regular game time. Everybody is a winner, well sort of.
from wikipedia: Stockdale chose to reject Brighton's offer of a new contract and instead signed for three years with Birmingham City of the Championship.[78] He said afterwards that he needed a longer deal because he did not want to disrupt his daughter's education by uprooting the family as often as had happened in the past.
Goes some way to explain it although I think @mooneyman 's million would help him find a nice school elsewhere.
@Wendoverman , sounds reasonable, but it does always rankle a bit when you hear, usually even higher level players, on insane money saying stuff like they have to "look after their family", as if £50k a week wouldn't already do more than that!
I dare Birmingham will eventually come up with a deal to pay him off to some extent. I doubt they'll want to pony up £1m though.
Like @Wendoverman, I’d forgotten all about him. He will surely depart in January but I hope without too much of the customary words of gratitude “for all he’s done for the club”. Unless of course I’ve overlooked some selfless contribution he may have made. From the second minute of that play-off final all those years ago I find it hard to think of anything memorable apart from a superbly curving free-kick against Leatherhead.
It was him, wasn’t it?
First time round Saunders was a terrific player - a game changer.
Clearly, if he'd stayed that level, we arguably wouldn't have been able to bring him in, but alas, second time round, he's either struggled with injuries, or has just lost that something extra he had.
On another note, he started looking a bit like Gareth at one stage. And every so often Gape to me looks a bit Saunders esque - a strange sort of player evolution!
With respect, that's nonsense. He looked fit and sharp pre-season and raring to go. For some extraordinary reason he then never got a look-in when the season started, despite our mediocre start. If Gareth Ainsworth planned on relegating him to behind Bloomfield, Bean and a loanee in the pecking order for central midfield, even after O'Nien left, why on earth did he offer a new contract in the summer?! Saunders will not have come cheap. If I'm not mistaken it's a two-year contract too? It certainly makes no sense to me.
@aloysius - To me, you are mistaken on both your beliefs there. One is an opinion, but one is certainly wrong - it was a 1 year deal.
He's nearing the end of his career, and when you're out of contract, you can't be too picky if you want to carry on. His last club where he was reportedly on 8k a week paid him off a chunk, and he has his business too, so he won't be too badly off.
Just a shame for him it hasn't worked at all this year. It happens.
You do get some headscratchers. Like Lewis being captain one season, and then barely getting off the bench the next...
He obviously shouldn't be behind Bean in quality terms, but it'll be because we need a different type of player that Bean gets in over Saunders.
Now Thompson is here, Bean is totally a backup option. Until January...
Comments
I must admit I had forgotten about him @perfidious_albion but now I am outraged!
To bounce back to the original thread, Birmingham seem to be asking a player in the dusk
( if not twilight) of his career to walk away from a contract both parties in good faith agreed that still has £2,000,000 plus to be paid to him. That will set his family up for life, he can play lower level football for another 5 years after the contract ends if he feels so motivated. Of course he will tough it out. Birmingham are fools, and Monk the biggest of them not to be utilising what we saw on Tuesday is still a fine keeper.
If Birmingham had any financial sense they would offer Stockdale £1,000,000 to leave now, he could then sign a long term contract with another club (Leeds?) whereunder he could probably make up the money he lost, plus perhaps, get regular game time. Everybody is a winner, well sort of.
from wikipedia: Stockdale chose to reject Brighton's offer of a new contract and instead signed for three years with Birmingham City of the Championship.[78] He said afterwards that he needed a longer deal because he did not want to disrupt his daughter's education by uprooting the family as often as had happened in the past.
Goes some way to explain it although I think @mooneyman 's million would help him find a nice school elsewhere.
Saunders is having little trips to Dubai in the middle of the season? That probably says it all!
@Wendoverman , sounds reasonable, but it does always rankle a bit when you hear, usually even higher level players, on insane money saying stuff like they have to "look after their family", as if £50k a week wouldn't already do more than that!
I dare Birmingham will eventually come up with a deal to pay him off to some extent. I doubt they'll want to pony up £1m though.
Like @Wendoverman, I’d forgotten all about him. He will surely depart in January but I hope without too much of the customary words of gratitude “for all he’s done for the club”. Unless of course I’ve overlooked some selfless contribution he may have made. From the second minute of that play-off final all those years ago I find it hard to think of anything memorable apart from a superbly curving free-kick against Leatherhead.
It was him, wasn’t it?
He was 'the missing link in midfield' and 'the man who would make all the difference' when he wasn't playing.
First time round Saunders was a terrific player - a game changer.
Clearly, if he'd stayed that level, we arguably wouldn't have been able to bring him in, but alas, second time round, he's either struggled with injuries, or has just lost that something extra he had.
On another note, he started looking a bit like Gareth at one stage. And every so often Gape to me looks a bit Saunders esque - a strange sort of player evolution!
With respect, that's nonsense. He looked fit and sharp pre-season and raring to go. For some extraordinary reason he then never got a look-in when the season started, despite our mediocre start. If Gareth Ainsworth planned on relegating him to behind Bloomfield, Bean and a loanee in the pecking order for central midfield, even after O'Nien left, why on earth did he offer a new contract in the summer?! Saunders will not have come cheap. If I'm not mistaken it's a two-year contract too? It certainly makes no sense to me.
Sam saunders will leave in Jan, fell out with GA and been told to stay away ... hence being in Dubai etc !!!
@aloysius - To me, you are mistaken on both your beliefs there. One is an opinion, but one is certainly wrong - it was a 1 year deal.
He's nearing the end of his career, and when you're out of contract, you can't be too picky if you want to carry on. His last club where he was reportedly on 8k a week paid him off a chunk, and he has his business too, so he won't be too badly off.
Just a shame for him it hasn't worked at all this year. It happens.
You do get some headscratchers. Like Lewis being captain one season, and then barely getting off the bench the next...
He obviously shouldn't be behind Bean in quality terms, but it'll be because we need a different type of player that Bean gets in over Saunders.
Now Thompson is here, Bean is totally a backup option. Until January...