Ex Player Mark Sykes goes to Bristol City.

[MiddleBartonYellow]

Pretty soon Sykes will be forgotten about as he spends 3 years in Bristol city reserves doing nowt before he turns up in league 2 to restart his career

Harsh, probably true though.

 

[Symp59]

Good player ,great Player definitely not . Some of the midfielders that played in the Jim Smith era and in the division one era Sykes wouldn't lace there boots he will soon be forgotten . We move on and buy better .

 

[beyondthefourth]

Was it? In what way? We wouldn’t have gone down without it and we didn’t finish in the playoffs.

Yeah, we know that now. But while he was in his purple patch earlier on, would you have said at that point we would have been better off selling him to bring in a L2 quality replacement just so we don't lose 'value'?

Scenario 1: We sell Sykes for £250k a year ago, and spend that money on a replacement player. OUFC has: £0 money, 0 Sykes, 1 x replacement player worth £250k.

Scenario 2: Sykes signs a new deal. OUFC has: £0 money, 1 x Sykes (worth £250k), 0 replacement player.

Scenario 1 doesn't allow us to get a Sykes replacement in, really. We get a kid with potential who might be Championship quality if given a year or two to develop, or a L1 cast off from someone else who is proven not to be at their level.

Scenario 2 happens if Sykes continued being poor enough to not have interest from anyone else. Some were saying at the start of this season that maybe we shouldn't keep the likes of him or Agyei on if they don't develop any end product. He did find some output this season, which meant that he can run down his contract and look for better options.

It's all part of the gamble, same when we couldn't offer a contract to Nelson due to his terrible injury, and then he gets back to form in time to get a free transfer to the Championship.

Look at some of the clubs in the PL that routinely lose big players for free at the end of their contract. Pogba at Man U, Lacazette at Arsenal, Rudiger at Chelsea (slightly sanction enforced, but they would have needed a huge wage increase to keep him anyway). You can have all the resources in the world, but have to be prepared for player power and some losses for every transfer 'win'.

 

[werthersoriginal]

Yeah, we know that now. But while he was in his purple patch earlier on, would you have said at that point we would have been better off selling him to bring in a L2 quality replacement just so we don't lose 'value'?


Scenario 1 doesn't allow us to get a Sykes replacement in, really. We get a kid with potential who might be Championship quality if given a year or two to develop, or a L1 cast off from someone else who is proven not to be at their level.

Scenario 2 happens if Sykes continued being poor enough to not have interest from anyone else. Some were saying at the start of this season that maybe we shouldn't keep the likes of him or Agyei on if they don't develop any end product. He did find some output this season, which meant that he can run down his contract and look for better options.

It's all part of the gamble, same when we couldn't offer a contract to Nelson due to his terrible injury, and then he gets back to form in time to get a free transfer to the Championship.

Look at some of the clubs in the PL that routinely lose big players for free at the end of their contract. Pogba at Man U, Lacazette at Arsenal, Rudiger at Chelsea (slightly sanction enforced, but they would have needed a huge wage increase to keep him anyway). You can have all the resources in the world, but have to be prepared for player power and some losses for every transfer 'win'.

Yes this is a silly argument. He wasn’t going to go for millions, and could well have got us into the playoffs and then promotion. He’s done a good job for us and now wants to change jobs, no controversy there.

 

[OUFCwaffle]

You’re being a little idealistic here. Player trading happens at every football club and at our level, you will not always make a return on the initial investment.

We haven’t lost anything substantial on Sykes. Has he gone before, we’d have had to replace him which in turn would have cost ££.

OUFC won’t make a return on Sykes but our ever growing reputation of buying, developing and producing opportunities to players will be further enhanced.

Not all is lost here on a player that was for large parts of his time here, average.

Here here, it's all part of the master plan

 

[ljs]

We’ll see. We got good service from Sykes. A signing that worked.

In about 10-15 games in three years, yes.

 

[MJB]

Here here, it's all part of the master plan

Alright, Noel.

 

[Mellowyellow]

Transfers I can understand why there is delays when it comes to agents, players holding out for better offers.
But there is no excuse for the delay in announcing season tickets or even sorting the new shirts out for next season, it's a quick turnaround this season with the season kicking off on July 30th and this season we don't have the play offs delaying our progress as an excuse.

Please, not that one so early in the season, that's normally wheeled out by the usual suspects in July, just before the cloggers are signed.

 

[Thomas/Brock/Jones]

Please, not that one so early in the season, that's normally wheeled out by the usual suspects in July, just before the cloggers are signed.

Oh give it a rest or get a bargain bucket with yer equally cheery mate Kip ! ( maybe time to change and go for a McD Happy meal? )

 

[werthersoriginal]

Please, not that one so early in the season, that's normally wheeled out by the usual suspects in July, just before the cloggers are signed.

God knows how miserable you’d be if we signed some bad players and had a couple of bad seasons

 

[Nadi-]

Can’t see why people are so anti Mark Sykes. Had a very good end to last season. And for most of this.
He stayed for the completion of his contract and the years option the club held.
No different than Matt Taylor with Bristol city or Ryan Williams with Portsmouth.
If QPR came tomorrow asking to speak to Karl Robinson, no question he’d want to speak to them, whether he had 12 months on his contract left or not.

 

[Steve Gilbert]

Can’t see why people are so anti Mark Sykes. Had a very good end to last season. And for most of this.
He stayed for the completion of his contract and the years option the club held.
No different than Matt Taylor with Bristol city or Ryan Williams with Portsmouth.
If QPR came tomorrow asking to speak to Karl Robinson, no question he’d want to speak to them, whether he had 12 months on his contract left or not.

A good end to this season? He was nothing better than average!
The problem with Sykes is his clear ego and his lack of respect towards the fans.
No one has ever had an issue with players seeing their contract out…see ruffles as an example.
You say he completed his contract like we should be pleased with this? He had no choice if the club weren’t willing to sell him.

Like others have said, he will soon be forgotten about.

As fans we respect players when they move on if they have acted in the right way such as Roofe, Nelson, Ledson, maguire. Players that look like they disrespect the club such as O’Dowda and Sykes don’t get the same luxury.

 

[Nadi-]

A good end to this season? He was nothing better than average!
The problem with Sykes is his clear ego and his lack of respect towards the fans.
No one has ever had an issue with players seeing their contract out…see ruffles as an example.
You say he completed his contract like we should be pleased with this? He had no choice if the club weren’t willing to sell him.

Like others have said, he will soon be forgotten about.

As fans we respect players when they move on if they have acted in the right way such as Roofe, Nelson, Ledson, maguire. Players that look like they disrespect the club such as O’Dowda and Sykes don’t get the same luxury.

Don’t disagree with you on the average finish to this season, but I said last season.
Have mentioned previously he was spent at the end, due to his Irish call up. Didn’t get time off to rest as others.
Hope he goes onto to have a career like the others you mention.
And as for Callum O’Dowda think he had every right to be pissed off with the previous owner.

 

[m]

So many words for such a bang average player.

Asa Hall and Simon Heslop didn’t get this much.

 

[dickwalton1964]

We’ve replaced players like Dickie, Nelson, Ledson, Lundstram, Roofe in the past.

Sykes is a nobody compared to them.

Good riddance.

Very true. The over hyping of Sykes is hard to fathom, he had a good - not brilliant - spell mid-season but a very mediocre end of season. Three or four matches in amongst that good spell, where he was very good and weighed in with some crucial goals, have likely caught the eye but I have my doubts as to whether we wouldn’t have been looking for better this summer in his position anyway.

Let’s be brutally honest, ultimately this lot have failed and Sykes is among them. Aside of McNally, Moore, Brannagan, Browne, Taylor, Bodin, less so the likes of Williams, Henry, loanees Baldock and the other Brown and the untried Smyth, I couldn’t care who else left, I really couldn’t. It’s not quite a total rebuild needed but when you look at the way the top six finished and dealt with the pressure then we are some way off and Sykes has been a fundamental part of the not getting over the line mentality that has seen us fail in the past three seasons.

Not quite good riddance but thanks for the few stand out moments, not so much the airy fairiness for the rest of the time.

 

[derek]

Please, not that one so early in the season, that's normally wheeled out by the usual suspects in July, just before the cloggers are signed.

The unfortunate thing is that it's a very valid point.

 

[Thomas/Brock/Jones]

The unfortunate thing is that it's a very valid point.

It really isn't, if we actually signed a couple of cloggers I'd be quite happy

 

[The mighty Aldo]

It really isn't, if we actually signed a couple of cloggers I'd be quite happy

Like Shotton, Briggs and Lewis would suit me

 

[IsleofWightYellow]

If we had sold him then, you and others would be saying you were just a little annoyed that we sold a player for a few hundred thousand who could of got us into the playoffs.

No I wouldn’t. He was useful at right wing back for a while but we had plenty of other players who could play there. He was no Matty Taylor/Sam Baldock, Cameron Brannigan or Luke McNally-level of importance to the team.

 

[greatunclekip]

Player who said at first interview OUFC are a "stepping stone" in treating OUFC as a stepping stone shocker.

It is and will remain a problem whilst we are all fart and no s**t as far as promotion is concerned.

We move on.