Downes agrees 2-year deal

royalgull · Post by **royalgull** » 19 Jun 2013, 10:45

PhilGull wrote: This was exactly the point I was trying to make in my 'Contracts' thread, although I mistaking used some bad examples to show my point.
Two years contracts are fine but for our best players we should be looking to renew them 12 months before they expire.

Oh and good news re Downes, cracking player. Here's hoping to another injury free season...

But what can you do if said players don't want to sign them? This is our issue with both Saah and Howe. They wouldn't have signed them a year ago and there obviously hasn't been interest in them from clubs in higher levels with dosh to spend.

It hasn't been Torquay policy to let our best players leave for nothing, Olejnik, O'Kane, Benyon have all left for fees when it was clear they wouldn't sign extensions beyond their current deals. The club can't be blamed for either situation here, we got 2 good years out of both now we need to hope we get some good players in.

Not really one to panic but we are towards the back end of June, players are being snapped up fairly regularly by other clubs and we do seem to be a bit behind. We've got a massive rebuild job to do this summer to make sure we aren't one of the worst teams in this league next year.

brucie · Post by **brucie** » 19 Jun 2013, 11:59

Saah is brilliant - you are having a laugh surely - This bloke was part of a defence which played in matches against the likes of Wycombe,Oxford and Bradford at home. He was hardly "brilliant" . Two cows grazing would probably have been more effective then the central members of our back four during these games.

royalgull · Post by **royalgull** » 19 Jun 2013, 12:20

nice use of a phantom quoted word mate.

Good - Brilliant. Little bit different, in the main of Saah's 80 odd games for us I'd say he's been good. A definite loss for us.

Post by **Dave** » 19 Jun 2013, 13:30

Martin Ling clearly states in this interview in his (LIngy's) opinion he thought Rene Howe was coming into their end of season meeting expecting a new contract offer. If there at that point had been a new contract offer put to Rene Howe it suggests he more than likely would have signed it, and the club would not be getting a fee for Rene.

http://www.thisissouthdevon.co.uk/Torqu ... z2WfEP8rrZ

royalgull · Post by **royalgull** » 19 Jun 2013, 13:38

Only thing i'd say about that is a manager isn't very likely to say, well Rene has decided this is his last season for us.

Pretty sure if Rene at the time had been that keen to sign something they'd have given him a years extension at the very least.

Post by **Dave** » 19 Jun 2013, 13:51

Maybe, maybe not Ian, we will never know because an improved contract offer was not given to Rene Howe at that time. At the end of his first season Rene Howe himself spoke about for the first time in a long time in his career feeling happy and at home here at Torquay.

Had such an offer been made I think Rene would have signed it, I think martin Ling played the good old man management game with Rene Howe a decision that back fired, however I will say I think it was the correct decision. In his first season things had gone well for the club and on a personal front that picture changed big style last season both for the club and Rene personaly and why he has now opted to move on.

Modgull · Post by **Modgull** » 19 Jun 2013, 14:16

Downes is an excellent CB IMO so really welcome this news.

Sunnysideup · Post by **Sunnysideup** » 19 Jun 2013, 17:27

forevertufc wrote:Maybe, maybe not Ian, we will never know because an improved contract offer was not given to Rene Howe at that time. At the end of his first season Rene Howe himself spoke about for the first time in a long time in his career feeling happy and at home here at Torquay.

Had such an offer been made I think Rene would have signed it, I think martin Ling played the good old man management game with Rene Howe a decision that back fired, however I will say I think it was the correct decision. In his first season things had gone well for the club and on a personal front that picture changed big style last season both for the club and Rene personaly and why he has now opted to move on.

I though he had a contract extension offer on the table from November/December time but decided not to sign it then? Cant remember exactly where and cant be bothered to search the OS though.

Post by **Dave** » 19 Jun 2013, 18:14

You are correct sunnysideup, I do believe a contract extension was offer around Dec/Jan to Rene Howe however the picture had changed, there was a great deal of uncertainty around the manager and the club etc.

I am merely speculating that if a contract extension had been offered back in July when Rene Howe appeared to very happy and settled at the club he may well have signed it, and the club would now be on for a nice little fee.

Sunnysideup · Post by **Sunnysideup** » 19 Jun 2013, 23:01

forevertufc wrote:You are correct sunnysideup, I do believe a contract extension was offer around Dec/Jan to Rene Howe however the picture had changed, there was a great deal of uncertainty around the manager and the club etc.

I seem to remember the contract extension was announced by our former manager which would indicate it was before the "uncertainty" took place.

forevertufc wrote: I am merely speculating that if a contract extension had been offered back in July when Rene Howe appeared to very happy and settled at the club he may well have signed it, and the club would now be on for a nice little fee.

Its all speculation on here.
That is though another question I suspect (or speculate). Would other clubs be trying to sign him if they had to pay a transfer fee on top of his (no doubt) wage increase?
I would suggest not because if that was the case there would have been clubs after him in January (when most clubs are trying to find a scorer) when his goal ratio looked a lot better than it did by the season end.

Post by **Dave** » 20 Jun 2013, 00:50

Martin Ling said on 19th October 2012, some thing along the lines of, it's far to early to worry about offering new contracts to players I won't lose any sleep over out of contract players at this stage of the season. If memory serves me right Lingy confirmed he offered a new contract to Howe in December, Martin Ling went sick 'less than a month later' just after our home game with Exeter on Jan 16th, results ,confidence, performances had already nosedived and the club at stage were not prepared to release funds to bring new players in, thats why I suggest the uncertainty was already there.

You know aswell as I do, little or no permanent transfer buisness is done at our level in January, you also know aswell as I do that an out of contract player does not come that much cheaper to a buying club, an out of contract player demands/gets a much larger signing on fee, and if agent fee's are involved they can be larger when peddling an out of contract player.

But we both agree it is all speculation, however my belief does not change, if had been offered a contract last July he would signed it, he still would have wanted away, and of course a number of clubs trying to sign him would still be after him, any transfer fee would have been very small though.

SteveDeckchair · Post by **SteveDeckchair** » 20 Jun 2013, 12:49

There is a thread for Howe elsewhere, so please don't detract from this one, which concerns the very good news that Downes has agreed to play for us for the next two season!

Plymouth Gull · Post by **Plymouth Gull** » 01 Jul 2013, 13:13

Deal now signed according to the HE.

EDIT: here you go Bix!

http://www.torquayheraldexpress.co.uk/A ... story.html

Torquay United Fans Forum