Pat Baldwin unsure on future

[EastStandBlue]

I would hope they'd be a quality defender if they where on that much in League 2. That's how much things cost now days I guess.

Well, BarnaBlue did say leading League Two defender... And that's the maximum we can pay per professional if we're looking to have a squad of 18.

 

[mfurok]

Well, BarnaBlue did say leading League Two defender... And that's the maximum we can pay per professional if we're looking to have a squad of 18.

So according to you the maximum wage bill for players next season is £1.2m....................and where did you come by this information?

 

[EastStandBlue]

So according to you the maximum wage bill for players next season is £1.2m....................and where did you come by this information?

Read any one of Firestorm's excellent posts on the situation in the Finances forum.

EDIT: There have also been a handful of posts by people claiming to be in the know that our wage cap next season will fall around the £1.4m mark. This is for playing staff only, mind.

 

[Beefy]

Edited for accuracy.

We "invest" in players' wages. The more we pay, the bigger the "investment", so wouldn't it have been bad to reduce that "investment"? We "invest" far more than Yeovil (who aren't even in the same league as us) and Morecambe (who won't be in the same league as us by the time the new stadium is built).

Seriously, I absolutely agree. The only reason relegation from the Championship would have cost us £2.4m was if we didn't future-proof the players' contracts so that they get paid according to the division they're in (promotion = automatic performance-related pay rise; relegation = automatic performance-related reduction).

You'd have thought we'd have learnt from the mistakes in the late 90s. And if not then you'd have hoped we'd have learnt from the financial mistakes from the relatively recent Championship relegation this time round when it comes to financial planning for the club's long-term future after a possible relegation. However, that assumes you actually realised a mistake had been made over planning for possible relegation, and also you don't assume we're too good to go down in a season in which players aren't paid on time, there's a tiny squad, players have to be played out of position, you rely on the revolving door of loanees, the assistant manager is dispatched to be replaced by an absent assistant to the manager, the manager's hands are tied behind his back, the best player is sold and not replaced, there are transfer embargoes, uncertainty hangs over the club's future, and unhelpful public statements are made about the squad.

The easy answer for having a proper business plan for the club to be self-sufficient rather than continue to lose more and more money it doesn't have: plan for a possible relegation so that the club can survive and live within its means if the club does go down, and have a proper consistent squad of its own players that are paid what the club can afford to pay them in full on time every month.

I agree and failing to build clauses into contracts enforcing wage decreases in the event of relegation (which was always likely to happen) is the single biggest error that Ron Martin has made.

However, I guess none of us know how easy/difficult signing players in that situation would have been and insisting that players take a wage cut in the event of relegation could have been the difference between getting the players that the manager wanted and not getting them. Players at League level want security, particularly if they are going to be relocating from one area to another.

 

[Richard_Cadette]

What I find interesting on this whole topic is why people seem to think he will have high wage demands, and we couldn't afford him.

He is, at best, a mediocre League Two centre half, at worst, not even that, and why everyons ie getting excited about the prospect of him signing is a strange one. I'm not saying we're in a position to be able to afford much more than him, but if we're aiming for players like Pat Baldwin, and we seem to think they're out of our league, then next season may prove to be more of a struggle than the one just finished!!

The one thing we need to have in League Two is at least one tall/commanding presence in the back line - Barrett and Baldwin together are about as soft as they come, and we would be exploited time, and time again at set pieces, or general aerial threats.... So much so that even a centre half with less footballing ability than either of these, but who has a physical presence, would be a better option.

I know we're desperate for players next season, but I hope we don't just look at signing anyone for the sake of it - the way in which we managed to get relegated should tell everyone that our defence was simply woeful and would be equally so in League Two!

 

[Beefy]

What I find interesting on this whole topic is why people seem to think he will have high wage demands, and we couldn't afford him.

Because he's on very good money at Colchester and has two years left on his contract there.

 

[Richard_Cadette]

Then it's all about integrity - if he is happy to pick up his wages for two years, and play for the reserves/on loan, then all well and good - if he wants to pursue a career, he knows he will have to reduce his wages. He simply is not worth a lot.

 

[Tangled up in Blue]

A reasonable wage for a League Two defender, as far as I'm concerned, would be approximately 1.3kp/w based on having 18 professionals that fit within our designated wage bracket for next season.

Well I can't see AB being prepared to take a more than 50% salary cut or us playing hardball and farming him out(pun intended) or playing him in our (now) non-existent reserve team, so the good news is that the Captain will almost certainly still be with us next season.:clap:

 

[Jam_Man]

Then it's all about integrity - if he is happy to pick up his wages for two years, and play for the reserves/on loan, then all well and good - if he wants to pursue a career, he knows he will have to reduce his wages. He simply is not worth a lot.

Alternatively he can stay there, pick up his wages and get loaned out and get first team football AND get paid...

 

[fredheim_holm]

Then it's all about integrity - if he is happy to pick up his wages for two years, and play for the reserves/on loan, then all well and good - if he wants to pursue a career, he knows he will have to reduce his wages. He simply is not worth a lot.

How you got the opinion that he's simply not worth a lot startles me. For me if it's a straight choice between Barrett and Baldwin I'd rather Baldwin, despite Barrett's heart I think Baldwin would be the better option.

I'd be very surprised if he failed to find a league one club to take him on, if he comes here I don't think it will be through lack of other choices, but rather preference.

 

[Winkle]

despite Barrett's heart I think Baldwin would be the better option.

Cannot agree with that one, sorry. Barrett is a high earner but as far as I have heard, he has not made rumblings about leaving the club (Substanciated that is) and from what I have seen, baldwin is not as good a defender as barrett. The thing is no one has asked Barrett what his intentions are this season so for me he is a contracted player, regardless of the speculation about his supposed income. It would not surprise me if Baldwin is on high wages as well so given the choice there is no comparisson.

 

[stortford]

Colchester's new manager John Ward has told Baldwin he wants him to stay.

 

[Ayrshire Blue]

Colchester's new manager John Ward has told Baldwin he wants him to stay.

There goes any glimmer of hope we may have had.

http://www.cu-fc.com/page/News/0,,10424~2062283,00.html

 

[Tangled up in Blue]

There goes any glimmer of hope we may have had.

http://www.cu-fc.com/page/News/0,,10424~2062283,00.html

Which really couldn't have been very much in the first place.

 

[Ayrshire Blue]

Which really couldn't have been very much in the first place.

Very true, if he still had no future at Col I don't think he'd find it much of an issue to find another L1 club.

 

[TrueBlue]

Shame I loved having scummers playing for our club

Tala Baldy

I wont miss you

 

[DTS]

Personally not bothered in the slightest.

I thought he was the best of the four players we had on loan from the scum but that dosent say a lot. I felt he was solid enough but he isnt dominant enough in the air and he is fairly poor on the deck.

I would like to think we will be looking for a commading centre back int he Sodje type mould altough I apprecaite he wont be as good as the Sodj.

 

[Tangled up in Blue]

Personally not bothered in the slightest.

I thought he was the best of the four players we had on loan from the scum but that dosent say a lot. I felt he was solid enough but he isnt dominant enough in the air and he is fairly poor on the deck.

I would like to think we will be looking for a commading centre back int he Sodje type mould altough I apprecaite he wont be as good as the Sodj.

Isn't Sodje playing in L2 these days?Just a thought.:)

 

[John Cena]

Personally not bothered in the slightest.

I thought he was the best of the four players we had on loan from the scum but that dosent say a lot. I felt he was solid enough but he isnt dominant enough in the air and he is fairly poor on the deck.

I would like to think we will be looking for a commading centre back int he Sodje type mould altough I apprecaite he wont be as good as the Sodj.

Really? I thought John White was pretty handy.

 

[Tommy2holes]

Shame I loved having scummers playing for our club

Tala Baldy

I wont miss you

Think thats a bit direspectful tbh scott. I agree i dont really want col u's unwanted's but i think all of the col u boys aquitted themselves excellently and proffesionally and i would have anyone of heath baldwin and white in our defence next season.

If anything you should be slating the likes of malone and watt for being poor and having a terrible attitude.