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MacDonald expects Caddis in pre-season
           
           


  SWINDON Town expect Paul Caddis to return to the County Ground for pre-season training with the rest of the Robins’ squad on Monday.

           

http://www.thisisswindontownfc.co.uk/news/headlines/10494725.MacDonald_expects_Caddis_in_pre_season/?ref=rss
           
           
           

If we do keep Caddis then he'll be like having a new signing. I'd love to see him and Thompson in tandem on the right.

Would be very surprised if Caddis is still here at the start of the season. Pleasantly, but very.

Great news if he actually stays but I reckon he will be loaned out to Birmingham again with them paying all his wages to get him off our wage bill.... The other question is will Adam Rooney be turning up? I'd assume so as we admitted he had a contract just werent happy with the money but who knows???

Which would make not one iota of sense considering we rejected a bid(s) for him from them.

But maybe, the rejection of bids was a gambit to up the price, sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. As I said before maybe Brum are gambling on no-one else wanting him and us not wanting a disaffected high earner.

If the club asked for more, Birmingham refused, and were that desperate to get him off the wage bill we would have just accepted their original offer.

Somewhere between Reg and Flashheart lies a compromise...

Depressive Optimism.

I would expect a player who was contracted to the club to turn up for pre-season training too. If he doesn't, surely he will be in breach of contract? Presumably, the club could then refuse to pay him or fine him or hold on to his registration for a year to stop him playing elsewhere.

This doesn't mean that he will be playing for us again.

Optimism?

Just pointing out the logic fail in effectively letting a player go for free after refusing bids for him. I'm not trying to say he'll stay as I expect there will be interest from somewhere else.

If he's not sold by the start of August expect a transfer request.

You could well be right.

I think the " depressive" is what Dosser has down for you

We could have got a mill for Ritchie at one time....it's the nature of dealing, win some, lose some.

All I ever do is try to call it as a I see it...so for example there are those who take exception to comments like...all our players are available for transfer, based on the fact that the club sent round an e-mail to that effect.

No they say...Reg you're just an old fart who should be stabbed...yet here we have no less than KMac saying....“Again, though, if the club gets the right offer for anybody I think anybody’s for sale."

consider yourself daggered

Thanks Ron...it means a lot.

Reg, you 'call it as you see it' based on very selective quotes.

Some like to make out as though we are paupers while seemingly ignoring that 2.4M is a very, very respectable budget for this level. Some like to make out that everything that isn't nailed down is for sale while choosing to ignore the bids we rejected for Caddis and that Flint put in a transfer request before his move..... why would he need to do that if the club were trying to sell him anyway? You are also choosing to ignore that we are apparently trying to not only keep Wes but to extend his contract.

These things don't add up to a club that is selling 'all' of it's players. We are cutting down the wage bill yes but that doesn't mean we will be left with nothing as we will still have a spending power that some other clubs in this league will envy, especially with high earners like Roberts off the payroll.

The fax to clubs saying all players for sale has been well documented along with the reasons for it...... you seem to be selectively ignoring the reasons given. Saying that all players are for sale at the right price is also just a common footballing cliche that applies to the vast majority of clubs and players throughout the country, but then I'm quite sure you know that already,

Things aren't as Rosy as they were this time last year, that much is without question. Providing that Jed et al are who they say they are, however, it does not mean the club is fucked. Far from it.

Excellent post FH, thats hit the nail on the head for me. No need for the utter negativity and doom and gloom, yes its not as good as it was this time last season but we are far from being the League paupers that many of our fans (and those of other clubs who have picked up the negative vibes from Swindon fans) make us out to be.

Cannot disagree with any of that.

Whilst not being paupers, because the last Board wrote off £10 mill of debt, we do have a top heavy wage bill which needs to be cut..I'd have thought even the most happy of happy clappers would realise that means a few more out of the door, before KMac can start having a good look at what he can play with for the season.

Who has said that more players won't be leaving?

KMAC and Jed have both said that more will depart and nobody is saying otherwise. Many are even welcoming further departures to free up the budget a bit, so just what is your point exactly Reg?

This 'happy-clapping' shite has to stop as well.

As does the shouting down people get when they suggest anything other than 'we're going to walk the league'.

...and the 'apologists' are born!

:)

I agree Chang.

It has to stop from both sides but that doesn't mean people shouldn't be allowed to disagree with each other. It's the goading/trolling that gets under my skin as well as others and I happen to know that more than a few valued posters are reluctant to contribute on here because of it (among other things)

I've got more buttons to play with on the TEF now and my inner Nazi is twitching to use them.

Mwahahahaha

Ha

Ok, we're in agreement here...my point goes back to the poster Doctor, getting slagged off for suggesting that Caddis might go on a season long loan, which given the above admission, seems eminently reasonable.

He wasn't slagged off in the slightest.

Suggesting his opinion made "not one iota of sense" sounds like dismisssing an opinion without giving it due consideration, I wouldn't be happy to be to be treated so brusquely.

Well then I apologise for suggesting somebody's opinion makes no sense.

 ::)

In other news Lee Cox is also expected at training :)

That makes not one iota of sense ;)

if people are that touchy then that's their business. Where is the goading and trolling? Bit ott innit?

Anyway, 2.4 million keeps being mentioned. What signs are there that sort of money is available?

There would be no point in sending Caddis on a season long loan with other club picking up all his wages.  In that case we might as well give him a free transfer.

I would be very surprised if no club makes a decent offer to buy Caddis. He's proven himself as a very capable championship player, and if Aden Flint is worth £350k, Caddis as a more experienced and complete player must be able to attract bids approaching that level.
 
And as to the quote about any player being for sale, when is that ever not the case for clubs in this league?

Fucking Scummer

Cox is injured for a couple of months

More than that if we send ward and Roberts packing

Your final sentence is spot-on, of course, but I think our problem is a lack of clarity regarding the club's transfer policy, apart from needing to reduce the outgoings, for instance, how far has this been achieved? It seems like the manager expects the current players to be available for transfer. If this is the case, how/when can he start planning for replacements? Are there at least some current squad members who are integral to next season's team but will be sold if a sizeable offer is received? Early pre-season training is going to have little value if no-one knows what the plan is.

Take Caddis. Does he have to be removed from the wage bill? If yes, he could be sold, but only if someone is willing to buy him (regardless of whether we think he is worth more than Flint). Other clubs are obivously aware that we are desperate to get rid of players. There are even hints that we are willing to get rid of contracted players, who should under normal circumstances command a fee, for free (Roberts, Ward). Does Caddis fall into this category?

I can't work it out at present. The club did well with Flint (aided by his transfer request and City's desire). The 'attempt' to keep Macca was inept. Ferry and Devera let go without any word of offering reduced/affordable terms. Wes to be offered a new/extended contract. The Thompsons signing new deals (but will they be considered for transfer?).

I know it is still early, but it is very noticeable that other clubs are beginning to add to their squads and get existing players to recommit (check out the Pox, for instance). When a new player is added to the squad I might start to think that our £2+ mill budget is actually being activated.

Have we seen anything to prove that, that is indeed our budget? Didnt Jed also at least imply when he took over we'd have similar resources to last season? Plus, we still dont know how much of this 2.4m budget is already taken up.


Every player has their price, nothing new there.

We have no idea what the bids for Caddis even were. We also turned down potentially higher bids for Matt Ritchie, still sold him. Like any form of bidding - you have the option to accept the first offer or you can turn it down and hope someone comes back in with a better bid.

Worked in the case of Flint - could go the other way with Caddis
Flint handed in the transfer request because we extended a contract he didnt want and turned down City's first bid - dont think whether we were going to sell him was ever in doubt, just trying to get the best deal


Did we not extend Charlie Austins contract in November, then sell him in January?


Indeed, you should definitely stop...


Further proof the happy clappers are taking over! Jed will be the next mod on here...




I

Happologists? Sorry if that makes not one iota of sense, but maybe keeps everybody happy and singing from the same hymn sheet.

You call it happy clapping I call it being realistic.We have no sugar daddy to bankroll us and have to basically just deal with it.

No doubt though you will have a hissy and just bring your boots out again and start playing football instead

If people want to argue that the given budget is a lie then I suggest they back it up with something......

Isn't that what I basically said. We have no sugar daddy so we will have to deal with it by seeing players leave whether we've already turned down bids (Caddis) or whether we've offered them extensions (Wes) it's still viable they will be sold.

people just want to see some evidence of the 2.4 million budget that keeps being mentioned. If anything that needs backing up with building a team which is currently decimated

There's no fucking need for it.

I know you're just trolling for a reaction, well I have a lot of time on my hands. It also makes you look like a penis.

Again, did Jed imply when he first arrived that seasons budget would be similar to last seasons? Only for it to be slashed in half?

Either way the point was 2.4m does not necessarily leave us great scope to manoeuvre and bring good players in - if the large majority of that budget is currently taken up, still...

I think DV does make some valid point, particularly none of us knowing how much of the £2.4M is already taken up as things stand (well nobody has admitted to knowing in public).

Caddis, Ward, Wes, Roberts, Roony L, Collins, Williams, J Mac, TAH, maybe even Cox. How does the average cost of those players compare to 10 senior players of teams with budgets similar to ours?

Signing players will be the only real indication of budget we will ever get and it's early days yet. I'll panic in a few weeks if needs be.

Please can people stop throwing around the terms happy clapper and doom monger? All it does is goad people and drag topics away from discussion and into arguments between individuals.

He implied it would remain the same for last season. In the very same article he also mentioned sustainability and spending sensibly. It's no secret that their communication leaves a lot to be desired which could lead to misunderstandings.

And I know what you mean about the remaining budget etc. We just don't know what it stands at now and even the board have said more players still need to leave. That doesn't necessarily mean that everything that isn't nailed down has to go though. We'll be in a better position to comment come the middle of next month.

He said that they would keep that budget for the remainder of last season

Says man who told me my opinion should be on Thisis :)

I think all we can do on this is wait and see how far the cull of players bites...there should be a bottom line. One problem could be that players we want to keep, will seek to leave because they won't fancy playing for a set up with reduced ambitions.

Everyone is a fucking hypocrite. The sooner we all accept that and just realize people post what they are thinking at the time the better.
Goading, trolling, doomongers,happy clappers is all bollocks.

Fence sitter...

It may not bother you but, whether it should do or not, it does bother other people.

Want to help me get these splinters out of my arse?

what might not bother me? What is it?

The very thing you just made a post about. Why be so obtuse?

I'm not being obtuse. Genuine question.

It bothers some people to be labelled as happy clappers, doom mongers, fence sitters or in Batch's case my unfair suggestion he should register for an account on the Adver site (sorry). More often than not it just causes arguments that have little to do with the actual debate.

You've contradicted yourself in your own post.

Everyone's opinion generally falls into category, whether you like it or not. Just the same as an artist playing a different type of music to another will. Humans have been labelling and categorising everything since we could fucking think.

It's pretty obvious where a lot of people stand. Therefore you saying it is bollocks, is in itself bollocks. You may not like it but it doesn't make it any less true. If I were you I'd embrace it and have fun with it!

Well that would bother me too if i was put in a camp for the reasons i posted above( I don't think there are camps to be put in) People just say what they are thinking.

I have no idea what "it" means. Who is goading and trolling??(asked flasheart this last night as he made the comment but got no response)

How have i contradicted myself? I don't think there are catagories,but i accept i'm a hypocrite as every bugger on the planet is.
Peoples stances will change as time goes by but i see your point to a point :)
What i dont get is how people are put off posting. Is this because they feel they've been put in a camp of opinion?
Their self appointed spokesperson does that very thing himself so i don't get it?

Bollocks to all the intrigue about who is leaving and who may be arriving, how we are obviously going to be relegated and Jed will be convicted of devouring babies.

I just want to watch a game of football involving STFC and hope for a win and be entertained some along the way

No, sometimes my comments ARE thisis quality.

Have been reading this thread with some interest and all I can say for certain is

I like Cheese



PS. Does that make me a happy clapper?    :)

What kind of cheese?

Brown cheese.

(http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-JRzliNwDviw/TY7r7pTlfaI/AAAAAAAABKU/EknQWO0vs8E/s1600/DSC_2233.jpg)

I bought some sharp cheddar the other day. It was very moreish.

I'm not keen on soft cheese to be fair, but other than that I'm quite willing to give anything a go.

Have recently been quite partial to some 'Cheddar with caramelised red onion chutney' which is from the cheese counter in the local Tesco.

Things in cheese is a big no. You can have things with cheese but not in cheese.

I'd agree...does that make me a cheesemonger?

Fucking doom clappers

That makes you a cheesemosexual and me a cheesemophobe.

I agree.

Fruit etc. in cheese = not acceptable.
Condiments/relish with/on cheese = ok.

They put chilli in cheese out here.

Mind you, they put chilli in everything out here.

With regards of building the squad I read alot of posts saying it's early days yet etc. I did think that myself until recently but with the squad returning next week I think we are past that stage now.

Summer 2012 by June the 21st (YES I KNOW THAT IS TOMORROW) we had signed - James Collins, Gary Roberts, Andy Williams (18th) Jay McEveley, Tommy Miller, Alan Navarro (21st)

Season before that Joe Devera (17th) Jonathan Smith (21st)

Summer 2010 - no one!
2009 - Gordon Greer (12th of May) David Lucas (2nd)

Not panic stations yet - if I went to the end of June this would look alot different. If we dont get anyone in within the next week and a half - then we will start to lag behind!

I suspect there are plenty of clubs in Div 3, who's finances aren't that good, so will rely mainly on loans. I'd imagine this will be the case with us....maybe pick up a couple freebies from Spurs reserves, and then rest loans, so no real need to worry yet.

Aren't the rules surrounding loans changing this season following Watford's liberal use of the system?

It has but it wont affect 99% of all clubs.


It basically means that teams cannot do what Watford did in having a team that includes 10 loan players from overseas clubs.

The season starts a week earlier this year, so not exactly like for like comparisons. But agree, far too early to be buying boots in the hope of getting a game.

Loans from abroad were different to loans at home....think it's that loop hole that's been closed.

ah right, don't suppose it would have mattered unless Spurs were planning on relocating internationally

Oddly getting loans and freebies from Spurs reserves has a long and honourable tradition....our first loanee Mickey Dillon in 75, came from Spurs, he was shit. Who can forget the late Ray Bunkell...40 odd games of mediocrity, or Ray Clarke's dozen, before finding legendary status at Ajax and Feyenoord.

....not forgetting Shaun Close Reg!

We have got quite strong ties with Spurs: Ardiles and Hoddle, both Spurs legends before cutting their teeth as managers here, Hazard winding his playing days down but still a great player. And Terry Fuckwit......

I'd never forget Shaun, but sadly we paid Bormuff money for him, he did start at Spurs mind. John Moncur would be one of the better imports.  Jamie Slabber  :)

Managers would also include Dave Mackay, who played a few, and Les Allen.

They got Calderwood from us as well.

and don't forget Tony Galvin, in particular the game at West Ham where he and George Parris had a fantastic kick the shit out of each other session

I would say the parallels with 2010 are worrying.

If memory serves me well, John Smith, the little midfield maestro of '69 came from Spurs, too

Smudger was hardly little...he did Spurs, after starting at WHU, even played a few games in the Double winning side.

Small in height - not girth!

If the season starts a week earlier, surely that means it's more of a concern that we haven't brought any new players in?



Indeed.  I will officially begin to worry when we start signing players and DV informs us that they were signed on the same date as those we signed in 2010!

John Gorman was also a former spur. 

Both seasons we'd lost in the play offs. After our play off defeat on the 1st of June 2010 we released; Kurt Hammonds, Mark Marshall and Lloyd Macklin. We lost Billy Paynter on a freebie. Stephen Darby, Danny Danny Ward, Simon Ferry, Frank Nouble and Alan Sheehan all returned to their parent clubs. We also sold Alex Henshall.

Paynter, Ward, Ferry and Sheehan the only regulars and 2 of those had signed come August. We didnt really release any first team regulars like we have done this summer!

We signed Michael Rose on the 29th of June. Prutton and Ball in July. Caddis, Ferry, Dossevi and Sheehan in August.

Obviously July 13th we sold whats his name, that old, past it, injured prone, over rated, gives away silly free kicks on the edge of the box, kung fu kicking, scottish defender who everyone (apart from me!) didnt think we needed anyway...

Thankfully he was easily replaceable and we had better in Cuthbert and Morrison. Oh wait, Morrison wasn't up to it and Cuthbert isn't the player we (I) thought he was...

I think in 2010 there was the expectation we could kick on and build on what we had. The opportunity was there because as you say DV there wasn't a mass exodus. Wilson just got the replacement wrong.

2013 could be massively different. We have a rookie manager that is yet to prove himself in that he is building his first professional league squad,  and although currently we have the nucleolus of a good squad nobody really thinks we'll keep that together before the season start.

Its going to be interesting. And could yet be a whole lot better than 2010. Can't see us challenging though. I don't really have any expectations as such, but not struggling in and around the bottom 4 would be a successful season in my eyes. Anything better would be fantastic.

Are the players supposed to be back in for pre-season next Monday?

If so, the lack of any new players to commence training is worrying

If we're drawing comparisons then in the summer of 2005 we didn't sign anyone before the 1st July.

Indeed he was, I used to watch Spurs regularly back then as I lived in London...saw Hoddle either on debut or very early on score a wonder goal, and knew stright away he was something special...JG, was a bog standard left back, had the moustache and used to wear his shorts Steve White style pulled right up, which always amused me...saw Spurs get relegated then bounce back, next season when finishing third.

On the subject of Hoddle, I'd only ever seen him in a few clips and the 93 PO final on video but spent an hour or two last night looking at all the highlights from 92/93 on youtube - I'd never seen it myself before but there is no way he should have been playing at our level. Shame players don't do that nowadays.

Hoddle if you like sums up English football, always mistrusted because he was so good he made it look easy. Through the 70's 80's and even into the 90's there were always a few like this who defied the general headless nature of English football, now we just don't produce them.

Typical of the time was Mickey Hazard....watch Xavi play, and that was Hazard...he never got anywhere near an England cap.

Matt le Tissier was probably the last of the type...didn't run around like a headless chicken, but capable of fantastic things...just what you need in international football....don't see that Neymar tracking back too much etc.

English football's insularity reached its post 50's zenith after Heysel and the subsequent ban from Europe in the mid/late 80's..Hoddle went and played for Wenger at Monaco, and so fell off the radar...he also got a serious knee injury so nobody was interested in him..Peter Day our then CEO, knew him from Spurs and brought him here.

You are right Reg in fact the list is endless of lost and mistrusted talent, Tony Currie,Stan Bowles,Rodney Marsh,Don Rogers,Frank Worthington,Peter Knowles and many more all had something that is missing nowadays - Flair

Spot on summary that is Reg

It's a well-worn argument and there's certainly truth in it but we've always had footballers. Bell, Francis, Brooking, Beardsley, Gascoigne, Gerrard to name a few. But the corollary of our top division was that only those with sufficient steel alongside the skill made it through. Sadly, with the numbers of foreign 'stars' in their stead these days, we don't even get that so often.

May I add Joe Cole more recently? Horribly wasted talent, continually shoved out on to the wing because he didn't offer enough physically in the centre of midfield. Injuries and Chelsea didn't help but he should have achieved so much more.

When did aljofree leave?

Awesome talent.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=isuqe8IbYnQ

20 Dec 2008 - Yeovil (last game)
1st Feb 2010 - free Oldham