Am I right I thinking Zeli only signed for 1 season?
Is there an option in the club’s favour to extend his contract?
Only 3 games in but we cannot afford a Sawyers, Ozzy and Etheridge situation.
Get him signed for longer.
There’s an option for a second year in the club’s favour, thankfully!
This is one of the most frustrating things about being a walsall supporter. We all know there is a pay structure in place but when we have a real gem surely we can put things in place to make sure we get what they are worth when they do go. You have to speculate to accumulate, saywers was by far the best player in league one a couple of years ago and should have been offered a long deal on good money with a release clause for what we valued him at. We now have possibly 3 or 4 players who could make the club a lot of money if their contracts are handled correctly. Obviously I would sooner these players be playing for us but to let them just walk at the end of their contract is ridiculous.
Gladly Keates’ signings have come on 2 year deals (3 years in Gordon’s case) or 1 year deals with the option to extend rather than the flat 1 year deals we used to offer
Hopefully the club has learnt from the past and negotiates new deals sooner rather than later into these contracts
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I understand that Sawyers was offered numerous extensions to his contract but turned them all down . Sometimes the Clubs are unable to tie players down and it happens at all levels of the game.Of the new players I think only Ginnelly is on a 1 year deal…I would hope that if his current form continues we can negotiate an extension before Christmas.
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If by oct/nov and Ginelly continues how he has then he needs to be tied down for longer.
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What if he didn’t want to sign for longer though. It’s okay to offer longer contracts but the player himself has to want the same before signing - can’t always blame the club for that.
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Noone has blamed the club, most level headed ppl will realise you cannot force a player to sign any old contract.
I just asked the length of contract and that we need to the him down for longer if possible.
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I don’t doubt sawyers was offered a contract extention but what were the terms? In the martin O’connor interview he says he really wanted to stay at Walsall but the money they were offering was poor. I am also told that when contract negotiations began with otzumer, they offered him a pay cut! Is that the way to treat your prized asset?
Can’t see the club being this stupid to think he’d accept such terms unless that was the idea… surely not
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If you believe that you will believe anything. Absolutely no way would we have offered Oztumer less.
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Long length contracts and lofty release clauses are often the reason why players at our left don’t sign contracts. When in the situation of players like Sawyers, Bradshaw, Oztumer etc, they know that there will be interest elsewhere. With a year left on a deal, signing, lets say, a three year contract extension with £1,000,000 release clause would more than likely put off any interest in the player, which, from a club perspective, is exactly what they want. The player on the other hand, particularly with our wage structure, would rather let his contract run down, see what other options are out there, and then use us as a last resort if nobody else comes in for them
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