The Austin Auction begins...

[stainrodisalegend]

Slight problem with this "offer him another contract line": they have been doing so on and off for well over a year now. He doesn't want to sign. Why would he? He knows that if, worst case scenario from his perspective, he has to stay here another season he can walk away for free for guaranteed Premiership football next summer and with a multi-million pound signing on fee. No wages we could realistically offer would match the value of the signing on fee he will receive if he moves on a free in 10 months or so.

[Hove Ranger]

Gotta agree Stainrod. All this talk of offering Charlie a new contract is wishful thinking. We cannot even come close to offering him the amounts of money he stands to walk into next season (signing on fee and wages, when his contract expires) and probably even this season (if someone agrees a fee). We cant offer premiership wages while we are in the championship and especially before FFP issues are resolved. Add to the fact Charlie rejected a deal while we were still in the prem, why would he sign now we have been relegated? People will say that no one looks like buying him so he may as well sign but that is only down to the fact they may not want to pay £15 mill for him this year and could easily have words with his agent on the sly (it happens all the time) to say they will give him £5 mill signing on fee (as no transfer fee is necessary) and your standard 1st choice prem striker wage £50 - 70,000.

[Olly]

Prem clubs have loads of money to spend, even next year's bottom teams get £100m.

[QPRDave]

This was put on newsnow 8 hrs ago apparently......wotta load of ********....imho of course!!

http://www.hitc.com/en-gb/2015/07/21...-out-of-move/?

[brightonr]

Gotta agree Stainrod. All this talk of offering Charlie a new contract is wishful thinking. We cannot even come close to offering him the amounts of money he stands to walk into next season (signing on fee and wages, when his contract expires) and probably even this season (if someone agrees a fee). We cant offer premiership wages while we are in the championship and especially before FFP issues are resolved. Add to the fact Charlie rejected a deal while we were still in the prem, why would he sign now we have been relegated? People will say that no one looks like buying him so he may as well sign but that is only down to the fact they may not want to pay £15 mill for him this year and could easily have words with his agent on the sly (it happens all the time) to say they will give him £5 mill signing on fee (as no transfer fee is necessary) and your standard 1st choice prem striker wage £50 - 70,000.

We might be able to do the same in May.

[dsqpr]

This was put on newsnow 8 hrs ago apparently......wotta load of ********....imho of course!!

http://www.hitc.com/en-gb/2015/07/21...-out-of-move/?

It's the kind of propaganda that potential buying clubs with friends in the media will put out to try and put pressure on us to drop the price Dave. I hope and believe we are intelligent enough to ignore it. I also hope the club are secretly hoping that nobody comes up with the £15m so that we have Charlie in the team next season.

As for the potential signing bonus next season:
1. It seems extremely unlikely that a club that don't even value Charlie at £15m would pay a £5m signing bonus next summer. Yes, there will be a signing bonus for him if he moves for free but if he's hoping for £5m I think he is going to be disappointed.
2. If we offer him a contract now at £60kpw (backdated to 1 July) that is £1.67m in his pocket right off the bat (assuming he is currently making £28kpw, as widely reported). So even a £5m signing bonus (which is pie in the sky) would only put him £3.3m further ahead.
3. If Charlie doesn't sign a new contract and he gets a bad injury next season, he runs the risk of ending up with nothing next summer. That is a big risk for him - another reason to get on board with a multi-year contract now.
4. There are lots of other things we could do to make a new contract appealing to him - many of them discussed ad nauseam on other threads and I can't be bothered to rehash them again.

I think it really comes down to whether WE want to stump up the necessary cash to up Charlie's wages. IMHO that is a no-brainer - thinking of all the money we have paid to dead wood over the last few years, we should absolutely up the ante for a player who is not only our star but also a model professional.

[QPRDave]

It's the kind of propaganda that potential buying clubs with friends in the media will put out to try and put pressure on us to drop the price Dave. I hope and believe we are intelligent enough to ignore it. I also hope the club are secretly hoping that nobody comes up with the £15m so that we have Charlie in the team next season.

As for the potential signing bonus next season:
1. It seems extremely unlikely that a club that don't even value Charlie at £15m would pay a £5m signing bonus next summer. Yes, there will be a signing bonus for him if he moves for free but if he's hoping for £5m I think he is going to be disappointed.
2. If we offer him a contract now at £60kpw (backdated to 1 July) that is £1.67m in his pocket right off the bat (assuming he is currently making £28kpw, as widely reported). So even a £5m signing bonus (which is pie in the sky) would only put him £3.3m further ahead.
3. If Charlie doesn't sign a new contract and he gets a bad injury next season, he runs the risk of ending up with nothing next summer. That is a big risk for him - another reason to get on board with a multi-year contract now.
4. There are lots of other things we could do to make a new contract appealing to him - many of them discussed ad nauseam on other threads and I can't be bothered to rehash them again.

I think it really comes down to whether WE want to stump up the necessary cash to up Charlie's wages. IMHO that is a no-brainer - thinking of all the money we have paid to dead wood over the last few years, we should absolutely up the ante for a player who is not only our star but also a model professional.

Agree 100% ds....the last sentence ...ain't that the truth

[Hove Ranger]

We might be able to do the same in May.

Dont disagree Brighton but some think we can offer it now

[QprQpr]

This was put on newsnow 8 hrs ago apparently......wotta load of ********....imho of course!!

http://www.hitc.com/en-gb/2015/07/21...-out-of-move/?

No quotes of any substance in that article, just a load of made up ####

[Ramsgate Hoop]

Adebayor to Villa now.... surely they wouldn't take him and Austin?

[Tarbie]

It's the kind of propaganda that potential buying clubs with friends in the media will put out to try and put pressure on us to drop the price Dave. I hope and believe we are intelligent enough to ignore it. I also hope the club are secretly hoping that nobody comes up with the £15m so that we have Charlie in the team next season.

As for the potential signing bonus next season:
1. It seems extremely unlikely that a club that don't even value Charlie at £15m would pay a £5m signing bonus next summer. Yes, there will be a signing bonus for him if he moves for free but if he's hoping for £5m I think he is going to be disappointed.
2. If we offer him a contract now at £60kpw (backdated to 1 July) that is £1.67m in his pocket right off the bat (assuming he is currently making £28kpw, as widely reported). So even a £5m signing bonus (which is pie in the sky) would only put him £3.3m further ahead.
3. If Charlie doesn't sign a new contract and he gets a bad injury next season, he runs the risk of ending up with nothing next summer. That is a big risk for him - another reason to get on board with a multi-year contract now.
4. There are lots of other things we could do to make a new contract appealing to him - many of them discussed ad nauseam on other threads and I can't be bothered to rehash them again.

I think it really comes down to whether WE want to stump up the necessary cash to up Charlie's wages. IMHO that is a no-brainer - thinking of all the money we have paid to dead wood over the last few years, we should absolutely up the ante for a player who is not only our star but also a model professional.

Sorry but I just can't see it. This one will go the same way as Loic Remy last season. We'll get near the end of the window and there will be a club that still needs a goalscorer that will stump up the asking price. I bet we'll see similar with Matty Phillips and possibly Fer & Caulker. It's all well and good for clubs to play hardball a month before the season starts but when the new season is upon us and clubs still have gaps in their squads things will change!

[Jimmy Floyd Rabbit]

Sorry but I just can't see it. This one will go the same way as Loic Remy last season. We'll get near the end of the window and there will be a club that still needs a goalscorer that will stump up the asking price. I bet we'll see similar with Matty Phillips and possibly Fer & Caulker. It's all well and good for clubs to play hardball a month before the season starts but when the new season is upon us and clubs still have gaps in their squads things will change!

Exactly how I see it.

Hoping for the best, expecting the worst!!

[Buffalo]

Sorry but I just can't see it. This one will go the same way as Loic Remy last season. We'll get near the end of the window and there will be a club that still needs a goalscorer that will stump up the asking price. I bet we'll see similar with Matty Phillips and possibly Fer & Caulker. It's all well and good for clubs to play hardball a month before the season starts but when the new season is upon us and clubs still have gaps in their squads things will change!

Jeez, Remy had a release clause, those players don't. We don't have to sell any of them. If someone decides to make a late bid then we just turn it down. If we do accept a bid and it leaves us in the lurch then it's our own fault and just bad management.

[QPRDave]

Jeez, Remy had a release clause, those players don't. We don't have to sell any of them. If someone decides to make a late bid then we just turn it down. If we do accept a bid and it leaves us in the lurch then it's our own fault and just bad management.

Yes agree with that to a point. I think it's a case of if Charlie is happy to stay then yeah as you say we can make our own decisions.
Difference as well is we can bring in loans in this division, not ideal, but there are always prem fringe players looking for game time

[Tarbie]

Jeez, Remy had a release clause, those players don't. We don't have to sell any of them. If someone decides to make a late bid then we just turn it down. If we do accept a bid and it leaves us in the lurch then it's our own fault and just bad management.

If a club comes in with 15m, whether it be tomorrow or on 31st August, he will be sold!

Charlie's a professional but I bet you he will force a move if an offer of 15m comes in. He is bound to have already spoken to management and he will have got verbal assurances that if a certain price is met then he will be allowed to leave.

To be honest, I don't see that it will leave us in lurch this season. We have another 5 strikers in the squad as well as 2 number 10's in Fer and Chery. If Ramsey and Les feel we are still short there is always the loan market too when you're in the Championship!