Booty and Hodgy

[Guest]

Am I missing something.

Why on earth were two players of their calibre not on contracts. I dont blame them for one minute of wanting to better themselves but Slough are the losers as they could have demanded big money to pay for replacements.

Have we got any players on contract? If not the likes of Hakki are bound to get offers from bigger clubs. It is a shame as the team could be broken up overnight, it is O.K people saying Eddie will bring people in but it will not be easy to replace the quality players he may yet lose.

[BFR]

At our level getting players on contract is not always possible. Hodgey did want to be under contract at Slough due to problems at previous clubs and Tony came back to us in the summer after unsuccesdul trials elsewhere. Yes, in an ideal world we would have got them under some sort of contract, but at the end of the day, if they don't want to play under contract then what would you prefer the club to do - let them go at the start of the season and not have a 65 goal partnership? Even if we had secured 'big money' for Ian and Tony, I doubt we would use money to 'pay for replacements'.

 

As for Veli Hakki, due to the ban he was given from football grounds from the conference upwards, I would assume that with the extension of the conference to three divisions that he can not play above Ryman Premier level, and as such there won't be bigger clubs coming in for him as he is already at the highest level he is permitted to play at.

 

 

[Guest]

Boot & Hodges are amoungst the best players in this leauge and if they are not on contracts either Deaner or Denton (or both) need to look at what they are doing.

 

What would be the situation if a big club came in?

 

We would get b*gger all!!!

 

If they were on contract we would get say £25K

 

MR DEANER THAT IS 1 YEARS RENT!!!!!!!

 

With the Bosman ruling this allows players the freedom to move even if on contract.

 

If we want to grow the club and have the resources to survive at level 3 or above, we need to ensure that money is comming into the club. We are good at bringing young players through - so why not make some money from it!

 

Whilst the club is run in this haphazard way it will continue to strugle.

[Matt]

Well, Staines Rebel, Boot has already left the club - he joined Dagenham on Wednesday. And Hodges played for Oxford Reserves today. I agree with BFR, Hodges said he didn't want to be on contract and probably neither did Boot. I can't blame them. In an ideal world we would have had the likes of Boot, Hodges, Harris and others on contract, but a) the club would probably have to offer a lot more money and the players wouldn't want to because then potential moves to bigger clubs would be restricted. Sure, we would probably have got £20,000 + for Hodges but guys like him and Boot are only 21 and are ambitious. They won't be playing non-league football for very much longer.

[Guest]

My point exactly

 

What have we got for them both going?

 

Nothing!!!!

 

We are now back to where we were last season

 

No money to buy players

 

Deaner will need to cough up £25K out of his own pocket for rent, when we could have had another team pay that with the fees for Boot or Hodges

 

I have no problem with them wanting to better themselves, but what I do have a problem with is the lack of forward thinking of the club.

 

The sooner the Supporters Trust is running the club the better.

[GarySTFC]

There are two players at the club who are on contract which is Miller & Steer.

 

£25,000??? There's not that much money in football now for the clubs who are looking at non-league players. We'd be lucky to get that much for about 10 players in this day an age. You would get a set time of friendlies, perhaps a sell on clause and maybe a small fee, but we'd be very, very lucky to get above £5,000 for a player at our level. Let's not forget, we're at level three in the pyramid, we're not in the Conference still.

[Paul Stephens]

Quite agree Gary. With League clubs tightening their belts, and more and more players with league experience becoming avalable who is going to pay money to sign a non league player? The reality is that clubs can pick and choose, so given a choice will sign a ex league player on a free, (with a small sign on fee possibly) or a non league player on trial. Boot and Hodges wont be the only players on trial and if it was a choice between Hodges (say) at 10,000 or another non league player of similar quality free what would you do?