Bayo and Bloomfield
Presuming their current contracts come to an end on Wednesday, it will be interesting to hear if there's an update on either this week. I reckon Bloomfield will be announced as a full time coach but will still be registered as a player for emergency use. Would love to see Bayo transition into some kind of coaching / ambassador role as well but I can see the attraction of giving him another year, especially if we're expecting to lose Uche.
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Blooms isn't out of contract for another year, but I agree he'll probably transition to coach - but we can't afford to waste a squad space on an 'emergency' player.
It's probably too early to know if there is any certainty we will have a full squad, probably depends on ages of new signings. Would agree Blooms is staying as coach anyway and maybe more likely to be filling in cup/Dev games if needed rather than being named in the league squad if numbers are tight. Bayo, if he wants to continue, and crucially, is fit or at least healthy, is likely to be considered as a First team option going on comments and usage towards the end of last season.
If Bayo's knee is up to it and he can manage semi-regular game-time then I'd love to see him play another season - and if not then hopefully we can find another role for him.
I wonder if the extreme lengths Darius has to go to in order to play football might weigh on Bayo's mind. That stretching and exercising regime he went though each day is not for the fainthearted. Would Bayo want to do something similar to protect his knee given he's only likely to play on for one more season anyway, and probably cameo appearances from the bench? If there's any chance of it not holding out I wouldn't want to risk it, personally. A knee is not easily replaced.
It would be a shame if Bayo just faded into the background and left. If any player deserves a send off it is him (well and Darius too).
Bloomers will be at the club. If we are in League 1 it will be player / coach, if we are in the Championship it will be coach I suspect.
Bayo has already said he wants one more season so I can see him signing, if he hasn’t already.
His daily gym workouts are ridiculous anyway, can't see that being an issue, it's more about wether the old legs will still carry him and wether he gets better offers outside of football, would love to see him about the place but maybe not as a fading cameo if he can't have an impact.
I would offer Bayo a pay per game contract with a % fee on shirt sales. Good for ‘www phenomena’ and the odd impact sub performance. Leaves him plenty of time to fully transition to his Beast Mode media profile. Don’t believe he would be much use as a coach.
as opposed to sub appearances where we don't want an impact?
I love Bayo and he's been a fantastic servant to the club. But it seems mad to expect him to sign a contract with his pay dependent on his ability to grow the WW brand globally. That's clearly not a priority for him as he comes up towards retirement.
I think a brand ambassador role would be perfect, but with set pay.
Bayo can definitely do one more year, now we don't expect him to start 40 games a season.
Even more so in league one.
He's such a force of nature he'd probably do much better doing it for himself!
He was popping up on all sorts of sky stuff last season, goes to America at least once a season and could be one of the few total career in the lower league players to become a big pundit success.
Don't get this brand ambassador thing. Bayo is the brand and he plays in a Wycombe shirt. We get brand recognition from that but if he wasn't part of the squad what value can he add?
I think he'll play for us next year and will score a few goals.
Spot on. If he wants to sell Shirts all day he'd probably be selling Beast mode shirts or Jacamo not Wycombe shirts. The role might be perfect for us, probably not for him.
Bayo has been a magnificent player, excellent motivator, positive mentor for young players and a real asset to our club. However and I know I am opening my self up for significant abuse, his playing days are over. One goal last season( a penalty) is a poor return on the pitch. Unfortunately like all great players ( and average ones!!) his age and injuries have finally caught up with him. With limited squad sizes , we cannot afford to carry anyone. It will be a difficult decision but head must rule heart.
One goal, but he still proved very effective and creative - in a division he was playing in for the first time, at the age of 38. If his knee can hold up then he'll still be very effective in League One.
I'll share some of your abuse then @davecz , because I agree with all you said
Let's not forget the championship is a heck of a step up. Our star players from league one existed in the championship but certainly didn't stand out.
That first sentence is reaching although I don't disagree with the conclusion.
I think he probably will play on for another year and we'll know 4 or 5 weeks in if he can get himself into the areas he needs to in order to win the ball and be effective, I'm not expecting him to get up and down the pitch.
To be clear I don’t see him as a ‘brand ambassador’ (whatever that is) his contribution would be to shirt sales (my belief is that globally the club sells more Bayo shirts than the rest of the squad combined.
Oh and @our_frank ’impact sub’ I believe is a widely used and understood phrase.
I suspect Bayo would like the security of a guaranteed salary if he were going to become a shirt salesman, and I'm sure the club would be happy for him to promote his own brand at the same time as it brings fertile cross-marketing potential with it.
I said a few months back that I think the Couhig masterplan is to establish us as a brand in America and sell match passes and merchandise in a country of 500m rather than just tickets, beer and vegan burgers to a town of 50,000. To do that we need 1) to play attractive and passionate football to get the neutral interested 2) have American players and personalities (such as Pete on commentary) to give them some ownership over the product and 3) have a slick marketing campaign that translates and sells what we do to an audience to get them hooked. A brand ambassador who has interest from the American media markets is absolute gold dust for the third part of that strategy. Bayo could be worth far more to club in that role than making cameo appearances in the odd match.
50,000 ???
The Wycombe district population was 174,000 in 2018 !!
Even Hopeless Hancock would struggle to get rid of 124,000 that quickly.
Or maybe not !!
I honestly can't believe people are discussing the idea of Bayo as a full time 'brand ambassador,' for Wycombe Wanderers with a straight face.
Spot on Floyd
The bloke is a footballer, and a bloody good one at that
You have to allow me some artistic license Chas! Though in my defence I did say town, not district. The High Wycombe Town Committee area serves a population of about 80,000.
@aloysius is spot on, in my opinion. Even scratching the surface of international markets could help the club significantly.
I am not sure why Bayo as a brand ambassador seems strange - he seems made for the role to me! It does not necessarily have to be full time. In my view, we agree on a bunch of events to get him into/organize. I am not expecting him to hand out Wycombe Wanderers business cards. He is already very well connected, and has the type of personality that would help us internationally. I don't think he still needs to be playing to do this, any more than the Rock needed to still be wrestling to get movie roles.
We will offer Bayo a contract as a player. It will be his choice whether to sign or not. If he doesn’t sign as a player he will move on to other things and we will be part of his history as he will be ours.
If he does sign on he will still cause problems for defenders at this (League One) level as long as he’s not overused like he was last season.
If he does move on however I do hope the club can organise a proper farewell, as well as some of the others who have left.
I just sort of think, if we are signing players they should be players that will be first teamers that improve the team, better than we have already, not just because they could be a handy sub to be able to bring on
I agree with you @davecz