MacDonald to Cheltenham?

[Neal]

I agree Jack. Smith is a far better player all round.

Richards should be captain, he was the one on Saturday actually motivating and directing.

[CP Gull]

Exactly what we don't need at the moment would be someone young, hungry or "new". This is a relegation scrap. If MacDonald leaves we need to get a Guy Branston MkII in to replace him.

Selling MacDonald for anything less than the amount it would cost to get the above player + one other is the asking price. Nicholson and the board should know how much that is, but as we've only got half ans aeon left I would say that's probably £30,000. If it's less than that, then what's the point? We may as well keep him.

Should MacDonald go, then looking around at a possible replacement that might fit the bill, I came up with Matt Taylor. That's the former Exeter and Bradford centre half, not the "other" one - he's getting on a bit now (relatively speaking, of course ) and may well not be the players he once was,but he was certainly decent enough a few years back. He's barely getting a kick at Newport after being signed by Terry Butcher in the summer, so could well be surplus to requirements. No doubt wages might be a sticking point, but if a permanent switch isn't an option, perhaps a loan deal with Newport still paying some of his wages could be? He also knows the area well.

Purely guesswork on my part,I might add, but he would bet he sort of player I think we should look at. Whilst young Smith has been excellent in the main for us this season, I'm not sure having another "kid from an Academy" playing alongside him would work too well in our current predicament.

[Jack]

I can't imagine that Cheltenham would want to pay more than £10k for a "stop gap" signing to cover injury. If they did sign him and got promoted I would expect them to offload him pretty quickly because I don't think he would be a regular in League 2.

If he does go perhaps we should offer Gary Monk some game time. He must still be fit enough to play Conference football and it would be a great publicity stunt both for him and us. He isn't cup tied either!

[Jerry]

Would love to think we might get £30k never mind £50k - in reality, I wouldn't expect us to get much more than £10k, perhaps £15k at best. Not sure how much we got for Ryan Bowman but I don't reckon it was much more than those sort of figures and he is someone who pretty much guarantees you 15-20 goals per season, at this level.

The reality is that MacDonald is out of contract in the summer and is therefore free to leave, as he is under 24 (he will be in October) we are entitled to some compensation - that is, of course assuming we can offer him the same money on a new contract - which may well be unlikely if we do indeed drop down to the part time league. Even if we could match his wages, his fee would then be decided by a tribunal who are unlikely , I would suggest based on past performances, to offer much more than the above. Cheltenham will know all this and so our bargaining position isn't exactly a strong one!

My understanding is that we have already turned down their "first" offer, I guess it all depends now whether they comeback with an acceptable higher offer.

It has been regularly stated on BTPIR that Thea Bristow gets 50% of any transfer income, if this is indeed the case then we are not going to have the funds to sign a sufficient replacement. So we're better off keeping him than leaving ourselves short.

[ferrarilover]

Unfortunately, your analogy falls down because your Jag doesn't stop working and get resentful if you refuse to sell it to someone who offers six grand for it.

Cases like Saido Berahino where the club manages to hold out are few and far between, and West Brom have a big advantage over us in that they can financially and tactically afford to have a disaffected player stewing on the bench or in the reserves. Yeah, it's crap, but that's the harsh reality of the situation.

Nor do footballers. Certainly not at our level. Angus Mac already has a sideline flogging cars, you think he'll risk half his salary and any future move by acting up for 6 months?
You don't think football is a tiny little world where everyone knows everyone and if you get a poor reputation without the talent to match, you're ****?

If signing players for peanuts is so easy, then I think we do let him go. Then we just sign John Terry as cover and win the league. Easy this football lark, innit.

Matt.

[Southampton Gull]

Exactly what we don't need at the moment would be someone young, hungry or "new". This is a relegation scrap. If MacDonald leaves we need to get a Guy Branston MkII in to replace him.

Selling MacDonald for anything less than the amount it would cost to get the above player + one other is the asking price. Nicholson and the board should know how much that is, but as we've only got half ans aeon left I would say that's probably £30,000. If it's less than that, then what's the point? We may as well keep him.

I was making the point that there are alternatives to tbe scenario rather than promoting it as the way to go but talk of £30k to £50k is so far wide of the mark. We'd be lucky to get £5k for him

[Richinns]

I was making the point that there are alternatives to tbe scenario rather than promoting it as the way to go but talk of £30k to £50k is so far wide of the mark. We'd be lucky to get £5k for him

6 months left on a contract whilst playing at a club who are second from bottom and have the worst goal difference in the whole league they play in....... we would be lucky to get 5 quid!

[Jack]

We are talking realistic money now - I was beginning to think that I was missing something but watching Angus on Saturday I thought that he was quite slow thinking and didn't anticipate what was going to happen unlike Smith and Nico who display really good anticipation (Nico has to because as Martin Ling once remarked "you can't lose what you haven't got and Kevin has never had any speed"). Angus gets away with it to some extent in Conference football but he would be run ragged at a higher level where the game is faster.
Our old friend Yellow suggested on the South Devon Forum about a week ago that Angus was going to Blackpool the next day for £6k which seemed like a reasonable deal. He also suggested that the midfielder we had missed out on was Nicky Wroe who had just signed a contract for the season with Halifax.

[SenorDingDong]

Pretty galling if it's got to the stage where we're exchanging our best young players for pocket money... which it appears it has!

McDonald is far from one of our best young players. In fact we barely have any 'best young players' outside of Ajala and maybe on his day Marsh.

[Burnhamgull]

He also suggested that the midfielder we had missed out on was Nicky Wroe who had just signed a contract for the season with Halifax.

I was wondering when somebody would mention Wroe. I can't believe he was available and went to Halifax. Did we make any attempt to sign him? He was a decent player for us in our promoton campaign last time we were at this level.

[Dazza]

I do genuinely wonder about this cry - but we will have to go part time next year and no one will want to come down here- most of the squad seem to be flogging something already. !

[nickbrod]

On the 'other' site it would appear we have 'lost' a player today but not MacDonald.

[Jeff]

On the 'other' site it would appear we have 'lost' a player today but not MacDonald.

Is that definitely lost as in an existing player departed, or lost as in missed out on a new signing?

[nickbrod]

Is that definitely lost as in an existing player departed, or lost as in missed out on a new signing?

Lost as in a player departed; speculation being it's Tyrone Marsh.

[MF68]

That would be a terrible move if true but all Clubs know our League and financial position.