If Mawson goes tomorrow then the club are going to get an absolute earful - people will assume the 'injured' line was a lie until he debuts for his new team, because what else are they supposed to believe?
On the release clause (if true) as ReturnToSenda pointed out I think we have to put ourselves in the club’s shoes a bit here. He was out of contract at the end of the season and we could have lost him to anyone for a relatively small amount of compensation (or nothing if he’d moved abroad).
We got him to sign a contract and Anis and his agent were no doubt able to negotiate a hard bargain which (may have) included a release clause. To some extent club were over a barrel and hung in there and got another year of a great player and £1m (allegedly). Not the worst bit of work.
I haven’t seen a rumour on Stryjek. However, the words of Rosenior haunt me. He’s been one of the best keepers in the league - there’s no way he’s flying under the radar. How often does Ainsworth operate with two first team goalkeepers? He doesn’t. Only once. And that was when Stocko was paying his own wage to be at Wycombe.
The weird thing about Mawson is how long he has been out. I understand holding someone out for a game or two if a transfer is imminent, but a month? Unless it was supposed to be done early doors and dragged on because he Googled Luton.
@JohnnyAllAlone a minor arm or hand injury as I recall. It certainly didn’t look a good deal at the time. Naive amateur outsmarted I’m afraid. Anyway water long under the bridge now.
Mawson was surely only ever here while he proved form and fitness on his way back to higher levels. Imagine any release fee will be pretty small if he has received a desirable offer.
I’m happy for Anis to get a chance to play in the championship every week and continue his development. He won’t be there long if he continues on a similar trajectory.
The Phil Alexander link stinks, there’s no getting around it. And if Alfie and Max leave tomorrow I won’t know what to think.
I’ve been told by someone who is right about just over half of the time that Stryjek is off. They do have contacts within the club but I don’t tend to put much weight to it until I hear it elsewhere as well. Having brought in another ‘keeper who’s clearly expecting to play games I do worry though.
In a similar vein, one poster has said they’re aware of a £1m buy out clause for Mehmeti and everyone has jumped on it. Hopefully it’s not true. That said, if it is, it would certainly continue a very long trend of poor outgoing transfer dealings on the club’s part.
Gutting if Mehmeti does go but I guess hardly unexpected. Baring some positive activity tomorrow what a rubbish January window this has been (again).
If Anis, Alfie and Max somehow all go, that would be Player of the Season sewn up for Scowen. It would be crazy to lose three of our best four performers halfway through the campaign!
But all of the time that Ainsworth has been operating with one goalkeeper, he has always been able to get an emergency loan in. He doesn’t have that luxury after the number of games that Tyla played at the start of the season.
Can't make any sense of Mawson sitting out a month with the window open to be ready for a transfer , makes no sense for us, him or the supposed buyer. Surely. Hopefully. Please.
As for Max , surely that is 2+2=5 stuff as we've been asked to look after a loanee.
Sure both Chem and the goalie, and any rumoured CB on loan will be decent prospects btw but no guarantees at all that they'd settle quickly, we've had great loaneees before, and plenty that didn't cut it.
The loanee sounds a great bit of fire fighting. Although you do wonder if Kaikai being off is wise now we're a definite starter down and no guarantee how the néw guy fits in.
Hopefully Hanlan steps up as he will cometo the fore now after a difficult first half of the season.
If Anis feels he can’t do better than Bristol City then I believe in him more than he does himself.
I’d actually be disappointed in him more than anybody else to be completely honest.
Not surprised there is a low minimum buy out clause as his contract was running down previously. However, Gareth’s 5-7 million will now be the ultimate football manager meme I fear.
From an emotional viewpoint I’ll be gutted to see any of those three leave.
However, given our financial state (up to 3M loss this season) then so be it.
Realistically, I don’t think Anis is worth more than £1-1.5M. If we were
to get £2M that would be something. I think Twine going for £4M has just exacerbated the issue. He does have the potential to keep improving. I wish him all the best.
Looking at BBC then every single transfer this month except two or three are undisclosed below £10M. So not sure we get a good comparison of what others are going for.
It looks like we are trying to erase the debt either because the Couhigs are sticking to their word OR we are being lined up for a sale. Could be both.
Its been fun whilst it lasted but we cannot sustain this level of wages without becoming a billionaires play thing.
Comments
Stryjek and Mawson is still conjecture as far as I’m aware. I haven’t seen any credible sources.
@thecatwwfc now counts as credible!
@DevC If I remember correctly, Phillips was injured at the time so cash Vs nothing looked like a good deal at the time.
Of course, the other team would not have been economical with the truth, surely ?
If Mawson goes tomorrow then the club are going to get an absolute earful - people will assume the 'injured' line was a lie until he debuts for his new team, because what else are they supposed to believe?
On the release clause (if true) as ReturnToSenda pointed out I think we have to put ourselves in the club’s shoes a bit here. He was out of contract at the end of the season and we could have lost him to anyone for a relatively small amount of compensation (or nothing if he’d moved abroad).
We got him to sign a contract and Anis and his agent were no doubt able to negotiate a hard bargain which (may have) included a release clause. To some extent club were over a barrel and hung in there and got another year of a great player and £1m (allegedly). Not the worst bit of work.
I haven’t seen a rumour on Stryjek. However, the words of Rosenior haunt me. He’s been one of the best keepers in the league - there’s no way he’s flying under the radar. How often does Ainsworth operate with two first team goalkeepers? He doesn’t. Only once. And that was when Stocko was paying his own wage to be at Wycombe.
The weird thing about Mawson is how long he has been out. I understand holding someone out for a game or two if a transfer is imminent, but a month? Unless it was supposed to be done early doors and dragged on because he Googled Luton.
@JohnnyAllAlone a minor arm or hand injury as I recall. It certainly didn’t look a good deal at the time. Naive amateur outsmarted I’m afraid. Anyway water long under the bridge now.
Mawson was surely only ever here while he proved form and fitness on his way back to higher levels. Imagine any release fee will be pretty small if he has received a desirable offer.
Well that was a fine bit of crystal ballery from Bristol City’s forum back in December:
https://www.otib.co.uk/index.php?/topic/219111-phil-alexander/page/4/#comment-4504384
He was near the end of his contract too and could easily have gone for nothing.
Easy to call everyone amateur but small clubs with limited funds get screwed over regularly, that's kind of how it works.
If he stayed injury free, Mawson was unlikely to be here beyond this season, but this would be quite extraordinary...
The thought of Anis Mehmeti being managed by Nigel Pearson genuinely makes me feel sick
I’m happy for Anis to get a chance to play in the championship every week and continue his development. He won’t be there long if he continues on a similar trajectory.
The Phil Alexander link stinks, there’s no getting around it. And if Alfie and Max leave tomorrow I won’t know what to think.
I’ve been told by someone who is right about just over half of the time that Stryjek is off. They do have contacts within the club but I don’t tend to put much weight to it until I hear it elsewhere as well. Having brought in another ‘keeper who’s clearly expecting to play games I do worry though.
In a similar vein, one poster has said they’re aware of a £1m buy out clause for Mehmeti and everyone has jumped on it. Hopefully it’s not true. That said, if it is, it would certainly continue a very long trend of poor outgoing transfer dealings on the club’s part.
Gutting if Mehmeti does go but I guess hardly unexpected. Baring some positive activity tomorrow what a rubbish January window this has been (again).
Hopefully Chelsea will buy him for £200million in August and our 1% sell-on clause will wipe out the club debt.
Christ alive not Stryjek too. If you don’t laugh you’ll cry
If Anis, Alfie and Max somehow all go, that would be Player of the Season sewn up for Scowen. It would be crazy to lose three of our best four performers halfway through the campaign!
I think our debt only being £2m in August might be the least likely part of that.
1 million for Mehmeti !! Ffs, we've bent over for someone again, some things never change !
Also, if Mawson goes, I'm not sure I'll actually believe anything Gareth says again.
Was desperately hoping they'd both stay til the end of the season which is when I expected them to leave
Please not Max as well, he's been fantastic
Consolation thought: In Mehmeti's last game, he tormented Oxford, assisting and then scoring beautifully. Not a bad way to go out!
If there is money to spend, now is the time! I hope everyone at the club is working overtime to get more player coming IN rather than going out!
Only you could make the already woeful scenario of Mehmeti and Mawson going worse with the keeper thrown in too.
Think someone said it ages back up this thread, but we no doubt had to keep any clause realistic or Mehmeti wouldn't have signed long term.
But all of the time that Ainsworth has been operating with one goalkeeper, he has always been able to get an emergency loan in. He doesn’t have that luxury after the number of games that Tyla played at the start of the season.
The club have been teetering on the brink for a while with all their undisclosed fees and unspecific injury updates.
But if Mawson did go it would be the ultimate BS merchantry of why he wasn't playing.
Unless he legitimately had 4 or 5 weeks injured, was just ready to play last game, then this bid came in? Seems unlikely though.
But hopefully this one has nothing in it.
Will today go down in history as 'The day of the short knives'? We'll find out in a few hours.
Can't make any sense of Mawson sitting out a month with the window open to be ready for a transfer , makes no sense for us, him or the supposed buyer. Surely. Hopefully. Please.
As for Max , surely that is 2+2=5 stuff as we've been asked to look after a loanee.
Sure both Chem and the goalie, and any rumoured CB on loan will be decent prospects btw but no guarantees at all that they'd settle quickly, we've had great loaneees before, and plenty that didn't cut it.
The loanee sounds a great bit of fire fighting. Although you do wonder if Kaikai being off is wise now we're a definite starter down and no guarantee how the néw guy fits in.
Hopefully Hanlan steps up as he will cometo the fore now after a difficult first half of the season.
If Anis feels he can’t do better than Bristol City then I believe in him more than he does himself.
I’d actually be disappointed in him more than anybody else to be completely honest.
Not surprised there is a low minimum buy out clause as his contract was running down previously. However, Gareth’s 5-7 million will now be the ultimate football manager meme I fear.
From an emotional viewpoint I’ll be gutted to see any of those three leave.
However, given our financial state (up to 3M loss this season) then so be it.
Realistically, I don’t think Anis is worth more than £1-1.5M. If we were
to get £2M that would be something. I think Twine going for £4M has just exacerbated the issue. He does have the potential to keep improving. I wish him all the best.
Looking at BBC then every single transfer this month except two or three are undisclosed below £10M. So not sure we get a good comparison of what others are going for.
It looks like we are trying to erase the debt either because the Couhigs are sticking to their word OR we are being lined up for a sale. Could be both.
Its been fun whilst it lasted but we cannot sustain this level of wages without becoming a billionaires play thing.
Gaz and Dobbo will continue to work miracles.