This Contract Situation

[The Quick Brown Fox]

Like someone said a few weeks back, why can't we offer 2 contracts? 1 if we stay in the championship and 1 if we get promoted?

[Babylon]

Surprised we haven't offered our key players contracts along the lines of:

(a) if we get promoted they get a rise of X% on what they're currently on;

(b) if we don't go up, the player can stay but on X% less than what they're currently on (FFP); and

© if we don't go up, the player can walk away if he thinks he can get more than the number in (b).

End of the day, you can have a contract say whatever you want and getting them signed up on conditions gives safety to the club and the player that they're wanted.

And what if we can only afford to offer a couple of them contracts? Do you leave them all in the same boat, or split the squad by basically letting some of them know they won't be here next year.

[_Fatboyslow_]

Like someone said a few weeks back, why can't we offer 2 contracts? 1 if we stay in the championship and 1 if we get promoted?

Maybe that's the issue, they don't like what's on offer

[The Quick Brown Fox]

Maybe that's the issue, they don't like what's on offer

But he's saying there isn't any talks?

[Babylon]

I know you have been saying this for a while and now you're putting figures out there so will treat them with respect, my guessamat was around £2 to £3 this season which leaves wiggle room, but if your correct it not good,

Opps misread that the figures are the FFP ONES not the clubs

Yes they are FFP figures, but I'd imagine we will come pretty close judging by the "cushion" the owners added to the debt equity swap and what Pearson has said about shipping players out to bring players in so we are under FFP.

All guess work and reading between the lines obviously.

[Benji]

And what if we can only afford to offer a couple of them contracts? Do you leave them all in the same boat, or split the squad by basically letting some of them know they won't be here next year.

 

I'd leave it to the commercial guys paid six figure salaries to make a decision 

 

Although there's no reason why that doesn't work for all of them, except those you know full well you don't want to renew.

 

I'm not sure how many run out in the Summer, but as a risk I'd rather we sorted Morgan, Schmeichel and Nugent for the second half of the season (and get promoted) at the risk of a couple of squad players walking.  I personally feel like we could be the makers of our own downfall with this situation when there are ways around it.  Don't get me wrong I hate how the profession is so detached from the rest of the world.  In my profession you spend two years working your arse off 15+ hour days with no job security whatsoever until finding out your future just before the end.  Unfortunately the power is with the players and agents these days.

[davieG]

I'd leave it to the commercial guys paid six figure salaries to make a decision 

 

Although there's no reason why that doesn't work for all of them, except those you know full well you don't want to renew.

 

I'm not sure how many run out in the Summer, but as a risk I'd rather we sorted Morgan, Schmeichel and Nugent for the second half of the season (and get promoted) at the risk of a couple of squad players walking.  I personally feel like we could be the makers of our own downfall with this situation when there are ways around it.  Don't get me wrong I hate how the profession is so detached from the rest of the world.  In my profession you spend two years working your arse off 15+ hour days with no job security whatsoever until finding out your future just before the end.  Unfortunately the power is with the players and agents these days.

FFP is surely changing that.

 

Ironically the wages that Sven put them all on is what's keeping them here and giving the club a few extra cards in their hands in the /stand off negotiating stakes.

[_Fatboyslow_]

But he's saying there isn't any talks?

But they do know, or most likely, what other players have been signed on which would indicate the types of deal likely/pay structure the clubs is using

[Benji]

FFP is surely changing that.

 

Ironically the wages that Sven put them all on is what's keeping them here and giving the club a few extra cards in their hands in the /stand off negotiating stakes.

 

I guess it depends how important the player is.  If he's wanted by clubs in the Prem / with a decent P&L then there's still the bargaining power of "well if you don't pay me X I'm off".  Clearly the FFP limit will mean clubs will just have to say "sorry, we're at our limit now so with regret you'll have to go".  However in our situation, where we have a good chance of promotion and an income of millions of TV money next season players know the money's there if they're really wanted.

[Lionator]

On one hand Liam, Was and Miquel could do a good enough job anyway to get us up.

 

But isn't it time us fans started getting involved with a few 'sign em up' chants? Nothing nasty, just a cough in the ear to the people who sort out contracts.

[Bert]

The club are "well on track" to meet FFP requirements.

[davieG]

I guess it depends how important the player is.  If he's wanted by clubs in the Prem / with a decent P&L then there's still the bargaining power of "well if you don't pay me X I'm off".  Clearly the FFP limit will mean clubs will just have to say "sorry, we're at our limit now so with regret you'll have to go".  However in our situation, where we have a good chance of promotion and an income of millions of TV money next season players know the money's there if they're really wanted.

I doubt there's many that would be wanted by PL team and a good chance of promotion is just that, a chance. the club cannot speculate on that and the players should know that if they want a chance of getting some of that promotion money then we need to get promoted first and that is almost entirely in their hands.

 

I suspect those that are making the most noise are the ones that don't have sufficient confidence in themselves being retained by a promoted LCFC.

[Lobsterboyuk]

Not correct behaviour for the club captain, starting to piss me off now that the players don't keep their heads down and get on with it. Obviously I like having Wes in our team but he's not been on fire this season.

[GingerrrFox]

It's only Wes and Nugent that are bothered by this in reality. That's why they keep banging on about it. Kasper is making big cash either way. Konchesky will move closer to home and knows he's done here anyway as we tried to offload him to Brighton. Dyer is playing out of his skin and the rest aren't involved enough as is and will move on to pastures new (Waghorn, Whitbread, Danns etc).

It's only Wes and Nugent that are bothered by this in reality. That's why they keep banging on about it. Kasper is making big cash either way. Konchesky will move closer to home and knows he's done here anyway as we tried to offload him to Brighton. Dyer is playing out of his skin and the rest aren't involved enough as is and will move on to pastures new (Waghorn, Whitbread, Danns etc).

[Benji]

I doubt there's many that would be wanted by PL team and a good chance of promotion is just that, a chance. the club cannot speculate on that and the players should know that if they want a chance of getting some of that promotion money then we need to get promoted first and that is almost entirely in their hands.

 

I suspect those that are making the most noise are the ones that don't have sufficient confidence in themselves being retained by a promoted LCFC.

 

Completely agree but in reality, pen to paper gives individuals in any walk of life so much comfort.  A conditionality contract accommodates speculation - it's saying if we do A happens, if we don't B happens.  It gives the club comfort that the player isn't going to walk in January (if they're wanted) and the player comfort that he'll be employed at the end of the year in one capacity or the other.  No upfront cost for the club either.

 

At the end of the day, whatever we as fans believe the morality or professionalism route to be, everyone will be looking after number 1 and you're taking a risk if you don't at least try to accommodate people's concerns in some shape or form.

[RowlattsFox]

I do worry about someone bidding for a key player late into the transfer window. It's a tough one but there does need to be agreement between players and management that talks will happen in the summer.

[Captain...]

Ah I knew we were all itching to have a moan.

 

I think people mis-understand how the press works, they ask questions, if Wes phoned them up and started crying about the situation then fair enough, he's being unprofessional. What actually happened was he was asked questions and answered them honestly. I would rather he did that than give false platitude, or said we are all cool about this situation, I would never leave Leicester I love this club and I will play for free for the rest of my life, then fvck off at the first opportunity.

 

It is a tough situation to be in, and the club shouldn't have let it get to this stage, and Wes saying he has his family to think about is no different to the club saying they have FFP to think about.

 

I also think there is an underlying issue here that not all of the out of contract first teamers will get a new contract, so to offer some now and not others would cause tensions, and the priority is promotion. I do think the club should offer 6 month extensions on the same terms, but with a healthy promotion bonus included and a guarantee of contract re-negotiations at the end of the season, or allowing them to leave on a free. So for the ones we don't want we are only tied into an extra 6 months commitment, but it gives players short term security and motivation to continue the promotion push.

 

Or the club should say they will start contract negotiations after January when we might have lightened the load. It will make it difficult to bring players in on long term contracts if we are not offering established players and the manager contracts. The club need to make a statement, because we don't need this distraction...

 

...although the fact that NP is one of them does mean there won't be any tension in the dressing room, only with them upstairs. I still think it is a dangerous game they are playing, and maybe they still don't fully understand how football works.

[fazzyfox]

Whilst suggestions of two tier contracts which would change upon promotion are a decent idea what about the scenario of finding yourself giving out 2-3 year contracts on quite decent money to players who upon achieving promotion are with all due respect not Premier League players.

Even with The massive revenue increase that comes with being in the PL our problem is in not knowing which division we will be in and therefore whether each individual player would be involved next season and to what degree. If promoted we might not just be looking at survival, the board will have ambitions of doing a Southampton or Swansea so that could be the level our players would need to be at to be involved. Having said that, my opinion of their ability to play at PL level changes for the better as each game passes at the moment and the cohesion and work ethic of the current group of players is not something you'd want to put a sledgehammer to.

Would getting the most desirable 4-5 signed and sealed upset the apple cart of the remaining players for worse or for better i.e. if you suggest a player will not remain with the club if we are promoted will this affect his desire?

[Fox92]

I like the idea of offering two contracts which has been mentioned previously. One for this division, one should we win promotion. The only problem I've got is the fact I'm guessing the likes of Kasper and Nugent will be required to drop their wages, and are they going to do that?

 

I get the fact we should 'chill out' as fans, but it only takes a few bids by a club (say Nottingham Forest for Morgan, for example) to unsettle our player(s) further, regardless of whether they actually want to sign the player or not. I wish we could get rid of the likes of Danns and Gallagher permanently just to get their wages off the books.

[teblin]

If we go up most of them will get decent contracts.

Professional footballers need a reality check nugent wes etc.. Aren't going to get the silly weekly wages they get now. They surely can't be stupid enough that they don't understand that.

If we sign 2 or 3 players on long contracts this window then they will have right to be a bit pissed off. Though if we do I'd guess they would be on a lot less than the players out of contact.

[FoxTrott]

Wow, incredibly poor from the boardroom for allowing it to get to the stage where a player and a manager is saying they don't know about their future. Especially when we are doing so well.

[norfolk-fox]

Not sure if been mentioned but could it be that the club know if they go up they will need to invest in better players and think certain players won't be good enough. I can't see it myself as think kasper and morgan for example are good enough for prem but makes me think especially with FFP

[_Fatboyslow_]

Not sure if been mentioned but could it be that the club know if they go up they will need to invest in better players and think certain players won't be good enough. I can't see it myself as think kasper and morgan for example are good enough for prem but makes me think especially with FFP

Your point is valid but I would doubt you judgement

[coatsworthstache]

Oh **** off Wes giving the 'I have to think about my family' line. They're hardly going to go without

I guess they would argue that you're only one bad tackle/bad fall/slip/turn from a career ending injury. So whilst running down a contract you and your families future is slightly more precarious.

[Bryn]

The main thing for me is to sign Pearson up. It wouldn't altogether surprise me if Pearson already knew what he's working towards, i.e. there has been a conversation between him the owners about what he will get if he goes up compared to what they'll offer if we don't.

 

The reason this isn't an emergency is because everyone concerned is in a strong position. LCFC is currently looking very stable and a good prospect to go up, the manager and players want to be here and want to go up with Leicester as this is the best way to maximise their own worth whether they stay here or not, not to mention that I feel it is a good place to ply your trade at this moment in time. If we go up, they either get a new contract on equal/more money, or another club takes them. If they don't go up, they probably have a contract here safe but on lower money, or again, another club takes them.

 

Even if these players leave, we are in a position to bring in strong replacements whether we go up or not. For me the big loss is Pearson but I think he is happy doing what he is doing until summer because he knows he is wanted.