Ex Player Josh Ruffels

[Jolteon]

Feels like a player who wants to try his hand at the Championship, but perhaps wants to wait and see if we make it there first before committing to another club. Whatever happens, Ruffs has been a standout pro for a good few years now, and if he does leave he goes with my utmost respect.

 

[Coffin dodger]

...or his agent has been 'putting out feelers'?

If he hasn't been he should be sacked

 

[Sarge]

If he hasn't been he should be sacked

indeed

 

[Kamal]

He's 27 and OOC in the Summer. It's probably his last chance to try and get a "big" move to the Championship.

 

[RyanioBirdio]

If only someone had said there was Championship interest in him several weeks ago, we could have braced ourselves for his potential exit.

We could have given him a new deal last summer and chose instead to trigger a single year extension. He publicly asked for a new contract in the local media just two months ago, and for whatever reason it hasn’t happened.

If he goes, it’s because we ultimately allowed him to go. Every player leaves eventually. Apart from that one bloke in Japan who is like 55 and won’t retire.

 

[outsidethebox]

If we fail to go up this season the board will have some big decisions to make in terms of cashing in on players. The back five plus Cam will all attract attention.

 

[TailsWeWin]

If only someone had said there was Championship interest in him several weeks ago, we could have braced ourselves for his potential exit.

We could have given him a new deal last summer and chose instead to trigger a single year extension. He publicly asked for a new contract in the local media just two months ago, and for whatever reason it hasn’t happened.

If he goes, it’s because we ultimately allowed him to go. Every player leaves eventually. Apart from that one bloke in Japan who is like 55 and won’t retire.

That isn’t the Japanese bloke who’s hiding in the jungle, refusing to admit the war is over, is it?

 

[Left Wing Cross]

If we fail to go up this season the board will have some big decisions to make in terms of cashing in on players. The back five plus Cam will all attract attention.

Even if we do go up, similar decisions will have to be made but maybe not as many. The Championship won't solve all our money issues.

 

[werthersoriginal]

If only someone had said there was Championship interest in him several weeks ago, we could have braced ourselves for his potential exit.

We could have given him a new deal last summer and chose instead to trigger a single year extension. He publicly asked for a new contract in the local media just two months ago, and for whatever reason it hasn’t happened.

If he goes, it’s because we ultimately allowed him to go. Every player leaves eventually. Apart from that one bloke in Japan who is like 55 and won’t retire.

But last summer most on here seemed to think he wasn't good enough for League 1. If we'd given him a big new contract there would have been outrage.

Obviously if players are keen to leave we can't stop them but I hope we don't actively tout any of the good players.

 

[RyanioBirdio]

But last summer most on here seemed to think he wasn't good enough for League 1. If we'd given him a big new contract there would have been outrage.

We did technically give him a new contract last summer - we signed him up for another year. I don’t recall many burning buildings.

 

[werthersoriginal]

We did technically give him a new contract last summer - we signed him up for another year. I don’t recall many burning buildings.

I agree we should have given him a proper new contract, it's always felt like 'he'll do but we'd rather have someone better'.

 

[windmill]

If only someone had said there was Championship interest in him several weeks ago, we could have braced ourselves for his potential exit.

We could have given him a new deal last summer and chose instead to trigger a single year extension. He publicly asked for a new contract in the local media just two months ago, and for whatever reason it hasn’t happened.

If he goes, it’s because we ultimately allowed him to go. Every player leaves eventually. Apart from that one bloke in Japan who is like 55 and won’t retire.

Who is " like 55 "? Never heard of him.

 

[RyanioBirdio]

Who is " like 55 "? Never heard of him.

The younger brother of Eiffel 65.

 

[outsidethebox]

Even if we do go up, similar decisions will have to be made but maybe not as many. The Championship won't solve all our money issues.

True but promotion makes us a more attractive proposition to better players from lower leagues. It's less of a rebuild process hopefully. Also to survive in the championship you need to be 21st best or above - to get there there you need to be champions or 2nd best or win a lottery.

 

[Jackinthebox]

Think Josh would just about hold his own in the championship.
He has only been bested by a few wingers in l1 this season and they will probably be promoted.

Ruffs is not the best LB in l1 but up there in the top end-Elder, Butler, Husband etc.
There are many decent LB 's in our division that might be worth looking at. A couple of names that spring to mind are Nesta Guiness-Walker and Reece James.

 

[bazzer9461]

If we fail to go up this season the board will have some big decisions to make in terms of cashing in on players. The back five plus Cam will all attract attention.

If they do they had better habe bif decisions for similar if not better because if we languish in League 1 will the supposed investors/ potential now owners want to splash the cash on a brand new stadium to only play L1/2 football

 

[Osleroad]

If they do they had better habe bif decisions for similar if not better because if we languish in League 1 will the supposed investors/ potential now owners want to splash the cash on a brand new stadium to only play L1/2 football

Well the board will have to decide something since the lease on the Kasstad will be up for negotiation and I would never say we were languishing at this stage whilst we have tried to be competitive.

 

[bazzer9461]

Well the board will have to decide something since the lease on the Kasstad will be up for negotiation and I would never say we were languishing at this stage whilst we have tried to be competitive.

But if we sell 3/4 players you can guarantee at least 2 more seasons in L1 and but the time that we could be where we have been over the last 2 seasons then we sell again and have to start all over again.

 

[Scotchegg]

But if we sell 3/4 players you can guarantee at least 2 more seasons in L1 and but the time that we could be where we have been over the last 2 seasons then we sell again and have to start all over again.

It's not as simple as that. Last season we sold Gavin Whyte, Shandon Baptiste and Tariq Fosu-Henry and was a James Henry pass/shot away from promotion.

It's not who you sell, it's who you replace them with. If we sold Brannagan for £2m and brought in Harry Chapman on a free I don't think many would be saying that we were any weaker. Sell Clare to Burton but sign McGuane on a permanent deal? Is that a better deal? We also sold Dickie last year only to then find Elliott Moore get even better and Rob Atkinson to come out of no where! Who's to say that Luke McNally doesn't also make the step up if the opportunity arises?

It would be amazing to keep as many of these players together as possible, but teams constantly evolve and there's every reason to see players move on but we still become stronger.

 

[werthersoriginal]

It's not as simple as that. Last season we sold Gavin Whyte, Shandon Baptiste and Tariq Fosu-Henry and was a James Henry pass/shot away from promotion.

It's not who you sell, it's who you replace them with. If we sold Brannagan for £2m and brought in Harry Chapman on a free I don't think many would be saying that we were any weaker. Sell Clare to Burton but sign McGuane on a permanent deal? Is that a better deal? We also sold Dickie last year only to then find Elliott Moore get even better and Rob Atkinson to come out of no where! Who's to say that Luke McNally doesn't also make the step up if the opportunity arises?

It would be amazing to keep as many of these players together as possible, but teams constantly evolve and there's every reason to see players move on but we still become stronger.

This is true. However we need to evolve smoothly rather than start again every year. Really hard to get it right.