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Have I missed an announcement on this somewhere?

The club were very quick to release those who had been placed on the Transfer List and have been made available (who are under contract for next year) but it seems to be taking an age for information about those out of contract?

I would have thought some would have been released without an offer whilst some would have been offered a contract (albeit it likely to be on reduced wages)?

This is something all/most clubs have announced so why the delay?

It is because they are waiting to see if Danny Stevens will accept an enhanced five year contract.

It is true that most of the League 2 clubs and indeed the Conference National have released their retained lists by now, with the exception of course of those involved in the end of season play offs.

It's got me thinking as to whether we will actually be retaining anybody, or perhaps more accurately may be the two or three who we might have re-engaged are being courted by other teams.

Given Greavesie's pretty scathing comments post the Wycombe game it does make you wonder whether anyone will get an offer. You might have expected the likes of Lathrope to get an offer, but there are rumours of him being sought by others. Martin Rice, if you believe the rumours on Exeweb, might be on his way back there! Other than those two, young Yeoman might get a new deal although I do wonder whether his fairly abject performance against Wycombe might have even changed Hargreaves mind on him too. No doubt Bodin will get some sort of offer to protect our investment while he is recovering from injury. Of the rest I can only think of Mansell who might get some sort of (vastly reduced, I would imagine!) contract offer but that is certainly not guaranteed.

I would be surprised if Poke, Labadie, Cruise, Stevens or Thompson got offered anything ... but you never know.

Either way, surely we should expect to hear some sort of confirmation over the course of the next day or two!

If I'm honest if all the out of contracted players left I wouldn't be disappointed!

PlainmoorRoar wrote:If I'm honest if all the out of contracted players left I wouldn't be disappointed!

I think Rice deserves a contract. I still have hope that Thompson has something worth while and would be happy to see Lathrope back.

Richinns wrote: I think Rice deserves a contract. I still have hope that Thompson has something worth while and would be happy to see Lathrope back.

I think Rice is okay, he was chosen to come into the team because of his kicking but even that hasn't been great. I think we could find an adequate, younger keeper to develop.

The problem with Lathrope is With Harding under contract I don't see the point of another similar player, we painfully lacked creativity last season, the midfield needs an overhaul!

Thompson unfortunately doesn't look like he's developed well enough and we can't afford money on people who aren't going to be playing

OR is CH trying to retain them all.....................!!!

If Exeter want Rice - good luck to them, let him carry on. Lathrope is wanted by other clubs? - he is midfielder who has never scored a goal and plays in his own half all game. If another team wants him then good luck to him.
Its a damning indictment but if any of our out of contract players leave/or refuse a contract I don't really think anybody would be at all bothered. Thats how bad they are.

brucie wrote:If Exeter want Rice - good luck to them, let him carry on. Lathrope is wanted by other clubs? - he is midfielder who has never scored a goal and plays in his own half all game. If another team wants him then good luck to him.
Its a damning indictment but if any of our out of contract players leave/or refuse a contract I don't really think anybody would be at all bothered. Thats how bad they are.

Strongly disagree with Brucie on this one. (a) Martin Rice has proved himself a very capable keeper at Div 2 level. Okay - he isn't Joe Hart but he is one of the few players who came through with a bit of credit last season and showed commitment. (b) Damon Lathrope proved his worth under Martin Ling two seasons ago when O'Kane and Mansell were able to go forward leaving Damon as the defensive midfielder. He does that job well and since Hargreaves brought him back from Hereford (where he was highly rated by the way) he has been up there in the fans 'top five' players most weeks. It would be good if he could get a goal now and then but I'm sure Forum members can point to other good defensive midfield players who don't get amongst the goals. One that springs to my mind is Nobby Stiles (maybe a bit before Brucie's time !) - I don't remember him scoring many goals, but he would never be left out of the Man Utd or England side in the sixties. I hope Lathrope will be at Plainmoor next season but I suspect there are already league sides hovering around.

Both players are more than replaceable - Rice had a good season but he is hopeless on the cross ball. He would be no loss.
As for Lathrope, it amazes me how people think how good he is when he doesn't actually do anything. He has actually been left out the squad a couple of times by Hargreaves so it doesn't appear that he rates him that highly.
Its amazing that we havn't had any news of who is going and who is staying.

tomogull wrote:Lathrope proved his worth under Martin Ling two seasons ago when O'Kane and Mansell were able to go forward leaving Damon as the defensive midfielder.

Yes he did that job well but I suspect it will all depend on what formation the manager decides to go with as a plan A.
Should a manager look at the players and then decide what tactics to employ?
Or should he decide what plan he intends to use and then look at players who can fit into his plan.
I would guess the latter choice is most likely.

brucie wrote:Both players are more than replaceable - Rice had a good season but he is hopeless on the cross ball.

I think it's clear from this season that Poke isnt exactly commanding when it comes to high crosses either. I think Ricey has shown he has enough to his all round game to be considered a starter.

So we've released just Stevens and Nicholson...

OllieGull wrote:So we've released just Stevens and Nicholson...

Well when you put it like that ..... YES! Although, I suppose we should really add Cruise to that list as he is only in effect being offered a "trial" in pre season with no guarantee of a contract offer.

With the likes of Benyon and Harding now added to the "not wanted" list the number of players who have been "listed" has now risen to an unhealthy EIGHT.

What does seem unfortunate is that there is a clear imbalance in the squad in that of those under contract only FOUR out of the TWELVE are deemed as wanted i.e. Pearce and Cameron, together with the youngsters Sullivan and Hutchings. Whilst of those out of contract, we wish to keep as many as SEVEN (Poke, Rice, Mansell, Lathrope, Bodin, Yeoman and Thompson) whilst only releasing TWO for definite (Nicholson and Stevens) or THREE (if you include Cruise) and probably FOUR (if you include Labadie).

It would clearly be far preferable if the MAJORITY of players that were under contract were in the Manager's plans and the MAJORITY of players who were out of contract were not! Unfortunately it is the reverse in both cases, which means that we have an awful lot of players on the transfer list, so much so that I cannot recall a time in recent memory where so many contracted players have been made available. In an ideal world, of course, all those players that Greavsie doesn't want will move on in the summer and all those players who he has offered new deals to will sign up .... but as we know, it is never that simple and I fully expect us to have a fair sprinkling of unhappy, unwanted players back next season whilst at the same time losing one or two of those we wanted to keep.

It is certainly going to be an interesting summer!

brucie wrote:Both players are more than replaceable - Rice had a good season but he is hopeless on the cross ball. He would be no loss.
As for Lathrope, it amazes me how people think how good he is when he doesn't actually do anything. He has actually been left out the squad a couple of times by Hargreaves so it doesn't appear that he rates him that highly.
Its amazing that we havn't had any news of who is going and who is staying.

Well, well .... seems that Mr Hargreaves rates Ricey and Damon more than you do, Brucie, and I just somehow get the feeling that he knows a tad more about football than you do. I am sat here gobsmacked when I read your posting that Lathrope 'doesn't actually do anything'. I reckon Forum members on here who have played football at a reasonable level such as Arcadia and Stefano will recognise Lathrope's worth to the team. I suspect that both Rice and Lathrope will be playing for league sides next season. And when you talk about players being replaceable, that's what was said about Joe Oastler last season ...... and look at the right back we ended up with in his place !! Sometimes it's better the devil you know than the one you don't !