Bid for Benyon rejected!

[Fonda]

So, Swindon are replacing a £700,000 player (for example) with a £70,000 player. They must see an awful lot of room for improvement in Benyon. Good luck to the lad, he's v frustrating sometimes, but I'm sure, with the right coaching and a decent pair of boots, he'll be up there with the best.

Have TUFC ever been associated with a £1,000,000 player before?

Matt.

I find those strikers that notch 10 goals before the end of November frustrating too. It's a pain in the arse when they do that.

[Southampton Gull]

Unfortunately, other clubs are aware of our financial state and know it doesn't take much to prise our better players away. 70k is about all we can expect with so little time left on his contract. All those who bemoan the handing out of 2 year contracts might learn a lesson here, if he stil had 18 months left, then his value would be seriously increased.

[Yellow4life]

I realise that NickGull but isn't it best to wait until january to see if another higher bid comes in?! Therefore allowing us more time and for him to score more(putting his price up?)

[Chow Mein]

Would be a complete bummer to lose Benyon now off the back off a brilliant away victory which establishes ourselves as a team pushing for promotion.....also at a relatively low price (Max £70,000 then?) although we can't do a lot more about it.

With Benyon seemingly off, Wroe wanting to leave & the prospect of losing Ellis in January it's very disappointing to see our talented, young squad getting broken up just as our 7 game unbeaten promotion charge is taking shape.

5 o clock I believe is the deadline, no news as of yet? Will certainly miss him but Swindon would definitely be a better move rather than the other two listed club....Please stay Elliot!

[CP Gull]

5 o clock I believe is the deadline, no news as of yet?

It is .... 5pm tomorrow mind!

[Fonda]

If he scores 20 goals this season, a tribunal would set a figure higher than £75k, so the contract running down doesn't work for me. If he scores the goals that take us up, he might want to stay then anyway. It's nonsensical to sell him at this time for that.

[Gulliball]

That's actually a very good point. How many goals is Benyon going to score over the next 6 months? He'll surely get another 10. For a 20+ goal striker, we could surely get £75k from a club without any trouble, before anything even went to tribunal. There's a lot more money flowing in the summer, as opposed to November/January, and we'll get to keep him for another 6 months, possibly firing us into the play-offs.

Unless we desperately need the money, selling him now makes no sense at all.

If he scores the winner on Saturday, he'd pay for £30k of his fee already. Even January 30th would make more sense (with a new striker signed to replace him on the 29th).

[Southampton Gull]

If he scores 20 goals this season, a tribunal would set a figure higher than £75k, so the contract running down doesn't work for me. If he scores the goals that take us up, he might want to stay then anyway. It's nonsensical to sell him at this time for that.

In total agreement with you, Shane.

This is the scenario I alluded to on the thread by Matt regarding the Board. With the Colin Lee saga in my opinion ruining what potentially could be a really successful season it's hard to see anything but a weakening of the squad. I'm not sure what if any investment has been made by the majority of the Board since acquiring the Club but I feel a failure to invest in the playing budget this season could send us back a few years in terms of our progress as a team. If it pans out that we lose the likes of Benyon, Ellis, Wroe, Zebroski and Charnock, how the hell are we going to replace that calibre of player?

People can point to our progress since losing our League status and I'll agree wholeheartedly that we've come a long way, but we haven't come far enough just yet to be able to lose those players without putting us in danger of going back to the BSP. Paul Bristow and his family aside, how much have the other Board members put into the Club since buying it? If they aren't in a position to unite and pay off Colin lee without taking money from the budget, then maybe they should be looking to getting people onboard who can. I expect to get slated by some for my opinion here, but for once I'm pessimistic about what's happening or going to happen with our squad. Keep them together and throw in one maybe two quality additions and the promised land is there.

I don't buy into this idea that we can't compete in League One without risking our future. The added revenue in what is basically a southern biased division, full of clubs who would bring a large following to Plainmoor, it would pay for itself. Sure, Dagenham have found it hard, but their support is smaller than ours and they sold their most valuable players, if we kept our squad together there really is nothing to fear.

Mistakes have been made by the Board and yes they are obliged to pay to put them right, I'm just frustrated that the money for that has had to come out of the playing budget.

If Elliot does indeed go, then I see it as a real step back in our chances, 5 year plan or not, if players leave, they better change that to a 10 year plan.

[Fletch]

That's actually a very good point. How many goals is Benyon going to score over the next 6 months? He'll surely get another 10. For a 20+ goal striker, we could surely get £75k from a club without any trouble, before anything even went to tribunal. There's a lot more money flowing in the summer, as opposed to November/January, and we'll get to keep him for another 6 months, possibly firing us into the play-offs.

Possibly but January is usually panic time for some managers trying to find someone who knows where the back of the net is in an attempt to stay up/get into promotion contention...

[BlueYellow]

Benyon turned town an offer from Swindon himself..........

[sadlad]

Found this on the Walsall site...


http://www.walsall.web-fans.com/index.p ... le&id=1028

[RussianGull]

I'm sorry but that has no merit whatsoever, could very easily have been copied off this board!

I think if anything we'll see him leave in January.

[Scott Brehaut]

I'm not sure what if any investment has been made by the majority of the Board since acquiring the Club but I feel a failure to invest in the playing budget this season could send us back a few years in terms of our progress as a team. If it pans out that we lose the likes of Benyon, Ellis, Wroe, Zebroski and Charnock, how the hell are we going to replace that calibre of player?

Keep them together and throw in one maybe two quality additions and the promised land is there.

....if we kept our squad together there really is nothing to fear.

I'm just frustrated that the money for that has had to come out of the playing budget.

If Elliot does indeed go, then I see it as a real step back in our chances, 5 year plan or not, if players leave, they better change that to a 10 year plan.

Dave, some good points made here mate - my worry with all that is going on is losing Buckle himself. Whilst I realise some will not see this as a great loss, I personally do. He has built this squad from scratch, has got us back into the league at the second time of asking, and has managed to get us (so far) into a play off position in his second season with us in League 2 (and fourth season overall).
The man is clearly ambitious and is still learning his trade, although he has the balls to make decisions and stick to them. Looking at the players he has "got rid of", none of them are really playing at any higher a level than they would be had they stayed with us.
The fact that he may be forced to sell in order to buy may push him over the edge and move to a club that shows greater ambition.
I am not wishing to slate the board, and am thankful for their cash input and backing of Bucks when many were calling for his head, however they now need to, in my opinion, help Bucks by keeping hold of players like Benners etc (unless people throw silly money at us) and, as Dave said, allow Bucks to add a couple of quality additions to the squad and up we go to League one. The financial reward for doing that is surely far greater than being forced to sell and staying in League 2 as a result.

[Southampton Gull]

I had a long conversation with a friend earlier and his assumption was that Paul Buckle is committed to the Club as ever and relishing the chance to have a real crack at this League whilst understanding, if not liking, the position the Club are in. The concensus is that the Colin Lee situation with regards to what it's costing the Club is seriously tightening the purse strings at the Club.

Whether you believe all the rumblings of discontent between the CEO and Manager or not, I find it strange that said CEO was given the kind of contract that he was by Simon Baker. Colin Lee oversaw a lot of good things at Torquay and I credit him for that, even though it's no secret I was no fan of his, but his current course of action is a serious factor in hampering the aspirations of the Club and the Manager. If he's entitled to a certain amount of money then I wouldn't seek to deny him that but I would have hoped he would settle on terms that didn't cripple our Club in the meantime.

[ferrarilover]

I find those strikers that notch 10 goals before the end of November frustrating too. It's a pain in the arse when they do that.

Matt.