Matty James

[The whole world smiles]

4 hours ago, Col city fan said:

Ffs! LCFC is a football club, not a charity!

Giving Matt James his last contract has turned out to be huge error financially. 
That’s 32 thousand pounds, every WEEK to a player who was knackered after his big injury.

It’s a good job we can afford it. 

Giving matty james his contract extension wasn't charity it was a cold hard business decision.

 

We thought he had fully recoverd from his acl as he had just played 20+ games for Barnsley on loan and impressed at City in pre season. He had less than a year left on his current deal and the club were worried they were going to lose a saleable asset for nothing or far less than his worth. Derby were heavily linked with a move. 

 

Obviously with hindsight it was a mistake but the club did it to protect the value of its asset. 

 

The only thing I will conceed is 4 years was too long we surely could have got him to agree to 3 years instead of 4 but the wasted year or 1.5 million quid is hardly worth crying about for all these years. 

[filthyfox]

3 hours ago, The whole world smiles said:

the wasted year or 1.5 million quid is hardly worth crying about for all these years. 

i wish I could get 1.5m for doing absolutely bugger all!

[volpeazzurro]

11 hours ago, sacreblueits442 said:

....it is not as if the club has taken out a full page advertisement to say "Matty James is bleading us dry"..!!!

The generosity of the club in taking care of one of its own is to be commended. I am sure it was not looked at as a commercial undertaking but to give a player the opportunity to rehabilitate and if in some way contribute back to the club, would have been the main concern.

Absolutely, isn't it odd that some criticise the club for being very decent employers. Wouldn't we want the same for ourselves and family wherever we work and complain bitterly if we weren't dealt with fairly and with respect. It's the owners money and if that's how they want to spend their money and run their business its ultimately up to them. I remember my boss being very good to me on a couple of occasions due a bereavement and an illness however, it was a two way street as I'd always been there above and beyond when needed and gave my best. It's the way forward and that Leicester City are decent employers can only be a good thing when trying to attract new young players.

[Sol thewall Bamba]

10 hours ago, baldeagle said:

Should never have been given the last 4 year contract but  just shows how good our owners are . In nearly 9 years he’s made a total of 101 appearances god knows how many are sub appearances can’t be arsed to look . Hope he does well and gets  himself a permanent so we can eventually get him off our payroll and free up some money and squad space 

If we're "eventually" getting him off the payroll and freeing up space in the squad, why does that show how good the owners are?

[Arriba Los Zorros]

10 minutes ago, Sol thewall Bamba said:

If we're "eventually" getting him off the payroll and freeing up space in the squad, why does that show how good the owners are?

Does it really need explaining ffs. Giving MJ the 4 yr contract when we didn't ultimately need to was a compensation for bad luck ruling him out of an incredible achievement and a reward for staying positive and helping the team in training when he must have felt absolutely low and gutted and would have been easy to spread bile.

 

You can bitch and moan about it being a waste of money but we had money to burn after the title win and wanted to look after one of our own who'd been here a few years and did very well in getting us to the PL and keeping us there in the first year.

 

That treatment of MJ sent a good message out to the rest of the squad ie players like Vardy who were considering leaving, as well as presumably those looking to join, how our owners look out for the players and becomes another selling point for LCFC.

 

There you go but you knew that already.

[baldeagle]

28 minutes ago, Sol thewall Bamba said:

If we're "eventually" getting him off the payroll and freeing up space in the squad, why does that show how good the owners are?

Giving him another 4 year deal when he’d been out for ages injured when most owners would probably have got rid  shows how good they are as they stood buy him . 

Edited 6 January 2021 by baldeagle

[daddylonglegs]

Whenever James has played he has been dependable. I think that was reason enough to keep him around as a squad player. Maybe not a 4 year contract or whatever it was, but who cares? We've done much worse business than support James. 

 

Gray stinking up the place with his 'potential' is a lot worse than us risking giving James another contract after some good performances for us a few years back.

[Mark 'expert' Lawrenson]

We have the best owners in the country.

They know what they’re doing and have clearly helped Matty James through all his injury problems, it’s really refreshing in  what is a cut throat industry.

 

[AjcW]

14 hours ago, sacreblueits442 said:

....it is not as if the club has taken out a full page advertisement to say "Matty James is bleading us dry"..!!!

The generosity of the club in taking care of one of its own is to be commended. I am sure it was not looked at as a commercial undertaking but to give a player the opportunity to rehabilitate and if in some way contribute back to the club, would have been the main concern.

 

4 minutes ago, Mark 'expert' Lawrenson said:

We have the best owners in the country.

They know what they’re doing and have clearly helped Matty James through all his injury problems, it’s really refreshing in  what is a cut throat industry.

 

Just this 100x over

 

If you're signing for a club, do you choose one that released someone on a free when they did their cruciate, or do you sign for the one that have done everything possible to rehabilitate a play and find him loans to try and kickstart his career afterwards.

 

Matty James contract is essentially marketing budget for player recruitment. He'll be 30 when his contract expires. If he has another good loan for the next season and a half, he's all of a sudden an asset for just about every club in the football league for the next 4 or 5 years if he stays fit.

 

We've handled this perfectly, it's not as if we're doing it for ten players is it! There's a massive difference between Matty and the likes of Demi and Slim who just aren't good enough and we can't shift

[Sol thewall Bamba]

42 minutes ago, Arriba Los Zorros said:

Does it really need explaining ffs. Giving MJ the 4 yr contract when we didn't ultimately need to was a compensation for bad luck ruling him out of an incredible achievement and a reward for staying positive and helping the team in training when he must have felt absolutely low and gutted and would have been easy to spread bile.

 

You can bitch and moan about it being a waste of money but we had money to burn after the title win and wanted to look after one of our own who'd been here a few years and did very well in getting us to the PL and keeping us there in the first year.

 

That treatment of MJ sent a good message out to the rest of the squad ie players like Vardy who were considering leaving, as well as presumably those looking to join, how our owners look out for the players and becomes another selling point for LCFC.

 

There you go but you knew that already.

Then we all love a moan about a bloated squad and a wage bill that prevents us from getting the players we need in. Can't have it both ways ffs.

[SkidsFox]

Maybe I've misunderstood how it works, but given he's out on loan much of the time, Leicester are not actually paying his wages - the loan club is?  (I realise the two clubs may negotiate this so Leicester do pay a percentage)

[Gubbins]

7 minutes ago, AjcW said:

 

If you're signing for a club, do you choose one that released someone on a free when they did their cruciate, or do you sign for the one that have done everything possible to rehabilitate a play and find him loans to try and kickstart his career afterwards.

I think any footballer worth having will be more interested in the wage and club prospects when signing. 

'You're offering me 40k a week? Everton are offering me 60!'

'Yeah but look how weve looked after Matt James!'

'Who? See ya later'

35 minutes ago, daddylonglegs said:

Gray stinking up the place with his 'potential' is a lot worse than us risking giving James another contract after some good performances for us a few years back.

The difference is though that regardless of how mediocre hes been, Gray has actually been available and contributed something to the team in the last 5/6 years. Matt James has been paid around 7m pounds to play a dozen games, go on loan, be 'a good influence on the dressing room' or whatever and recover from many, many, injuries. 

That's what annoys people. Hes been paid a fortune to do next to nothing for LCFC. If a guy worked with you and earnt millions for seemingly nothing itd get your back up something awful. It's similar to people slagging off the woman in charge of track and trace getting paid millions for being useless. You need to be seen earning your large wage packet.

 

[Carl the Llama]

26 minutes ago, Gubbins said:

I think any footballer worth having will be more interested in the wage and club prospects when signing. 

'You're offering me 40k a week? Everton are offering me 60!'

'Yeah but look how weve looked after Matt James!'

'Who? See ya later'

There is a bit of truth to this.  I was about to comment that the suggestions Matty's contract doubles as good marketing is probably a little wide of the mark because like you say I can't imagine prospective players/their agents looking into the history of obscure players at the club and their contract status.  More importantly though it will be something picked up on by the guys already here.  It's one of many little things that the club and owners do well to reinforce the general culture and sense of community at the club and that's something you can't really put a price tag on, and that's also how it might affect future transfers because those will be things you can genuinely expect potential players to be looking at.

[wokinghamfox]

21 hours ago, mozartfox said:

Watch a re-run of the Newport Cup defeat and this may get you to delete this post.  Unfortunately, he is no longer up to playing for LCFC.  Great shame, but financially secure no doubt which is good for him.

 His performance against Newport was poor I agree with that but writing him off for that is a bit unfair.

 

He more than proved his pedigree in 2014 2015 and the guy surely deserves one more crack at it. However that looks like it isnt going happen due to the Cov situation. Shame.

[Jobyfox]

10 minutes ago, wokinghamfox said:

 His performance against Newport was poor I agree with that but writing him off for that is a bit unfair.

 

He more than proved his pedigree in 2014 2015 and the guy surely deserves one more crack at it. However that looks like it isnt going happen due to the Cov situation. Shame.

Really?

 

In 2014/15 he was generally first choice in a team that spent most of the season rock bottom of the league. He then started 5 or 6 games in the 10 match ‘great escape’ at the end of the season. 

 

His replacement the following season helped us win the Premier League.

 

Is he really going to get in the side ahead of Tielemans, N’didi, Maddison, Praet or Mendy? I’d even have Hamza in before him. 

 

I think people get blinded by sentiment with Matty James because of his dreadful misfortune with injuries. He just isn’t a top six PL midfielder and that is where we currently sit. He may not even be a top half PL midfielder.

 

As soon as possible he should go with our thanks and best wishes with good memories for his contributions for getting us to the PL and helping us to stay there. 

Edited 6 January 2021 by Jobyfox

[Babylon]

1 hour ago, Gubbins said:

I think any footballer worth having will be more interested in the wage and club prospects when signing. 

'You're offering me 40k a week? Everton are offering me 60!'

'Yeah but look how weve looked after Matt James!'

'Who? See ya later'

The difference is though that regardless of how mediocre hes been, Gray has actually been available and contributed something to the team in the last 5/6 years. Matt James has been paid around 7m pounds to play a dozen games, go on loan, be 'a good influence on the dressing room' or whatever and recover from many, many, injuries. 

That's what annoys people. Hes been paid a fortune to do next to nothing for LCFC. If a guy worked with you and earnt millions for seemingly nothing itd get your back up something awful. It's similar to people slagging off the woman in charge of track and trace getting paid millions for being useless. You need to be seen earning your large wage packet.

 

You don't work for him, you don't pay him and you have no idea what he's been paid. 

[sacreblueits442]

3 hours ago, Sol thewall Bamba said:

If we're "eventually" getting him off the payroll and freeing up space in the squad, why does that show how good the owners are?

...that is not what he is saying!!!

He has acknowledged the altruism of the club but, he personally, is relieved that Matty James's contract is coming to an end, to allow the club more funds to recruit players.

[volpeazzurro]

3 hours ago, Arriba Los Zorros said:

Does it really need explaining ffs. Giving MJ the 4 yr contract when we didn't ultimately need to was a compensation for bad luck ruling him out of an incredible achievement and a reward for staying positive and helping the team in training when he must have felt absolutely low and gutted and would have been easy to spread bile.

 

You can bitch and moan about it being a waste of money but we had money to burn after the title win and wanted to look after one of our own who'd been here a few years and did very well in getting us to the PL and keeping us there in the first year.

 

That treatment of MJ sent a good message out to the rest of the squad ie players like Vardy who were considering leaving, as well as presumably those looking to join, how our owners look out for the players and becomes another selling point for LCFC.

 

There you go but you knew that already.

Well said.

[Fox92]

2 hours ago, SkidsFox said:

Maybe I've misunderstood how it works, but given he's out on loan much of the time, Leicester are not actually paying his wages - the loan club is?  (I realise the two clubs may negotiate this so Leicester do pay a percentage)

Depends what's been agreed. We might still pay full wages despite him being on loan elsewhere.

[5waller5]

2 hours ago, Gubbins said:

If a guy worked with you and earnt millions for seemingly nothing itd get your back up something awful

 

OR

 

If a guy you worked with suffered an injury giving his best efforts at work, and those injuries, despite his best efforts to recover virtually ended his career and you saw your employer discard him at the first opportunity .... would you still give it your all for that employer? Would you recommend them to your elite professional mates that you mix with at a higher level? 
 

 

 

Edited 6 January 2021 by 5waller5

[Sol thewall Bamba]

48 minutes ago, sacreblueits442 said:

...that is not what he is saying!!!

He has acknowledged the altruism of the club but, he personally, is relieved that Matty James's contract is coming to an end, to allow the club more funds to recruit players.

That's not the point I challenged but ok. 

 

A 4 year contract at the time was pretty crazy, a lot of people said it at the time. If we weren't doing so well on the pitch currently I have a feeling a lot of people wouldn't be so accommodating.

[UpTheLeagueFox]

 

[5waller5]

Having considered all of the above regarding good feeling for the club for treating someone right, and the associated risk of over-paying through loyalty. We could have probably achieved the same level of "They're a great club and treat people right" with a two year contract given his injury record!

[Tuna]

He's playing for a new contract for next season, so hope his move with Cov works out.

[The People's Hero]

My Barnsley supporting mate reckons he was brilliant for them. Reckons that moon lad is alright as well (released by us as a youth)