The Austin Auction begins...

[BarryBarry]

Genuinely hope Charlie doesn't get balled out when he goes on a free in the summer

[Hertford Hoop]

Well that's up to us to get promotion and offer him a new deal,

Also I thought he was promised a new deal if he didn't leave

[1974Rs]

Massive coup keeping him. Fair play to the club.

Not sure what the club did, said £15m no one came in.

[Kevin Mcleod]

Not sure what the club did, said £15m no one came in.

Over pricing him so nobody came in?

[1974Rs]

Over pricing him so nobody came in?

Can't see it, I think that is cheap. Lots of players gone for more with no pedigree.

[dsqpr]

Not sure what the club did, said £15m no one came in.

They said £15m.

[Felt]

A little disappointed in some ways. He's clearly not going to sign an extension (unless we offer huge wages). Worth £12m for the season? I'm not sure.

[nasser95]

A little disappointed in some ways. He's clearly not going to sign an extension (unless we offer huge wages). Worth £12m for the season? I'm not sure.

Wooooow. If we get promoted he will be. If we get promoted, he could sign an extension with a clause about a top 4 side buying him and a relegation release clause.

[1QPRDK]

I think they were trying to call our bluff/expecting us to fold/bent over and take it from behind, or whichever expression tickles your fancy, just like we have in the past. This transfer window for once we have held our own and come out of it much, much stronger. Les is no sket, IMO.

[hh9]

With his 20 goals scored come next window his price will be moved up to £30m

[nasser95]

Not sure what the club did, said £15m no one came in.

15 million is a perfect price almost because it puts off a lot of smaller clubs, keeping the really big clubs who would only panic buy him and then he wouldn't go to one of them because he wants regular first team football.

[stainrodisalegend]

Now the dust has settled am puzzled why being in the last year of the contract would stop clubs bidding 15m. I could have understood if, say, Philips were in the last year as West Brom were the only club interested so they could have taken the view that they wd get him for nothing in a year. But with 11 odd clubs reportedly interested in Austin there is likely to be an auction when his contract runs out with demands for massive wages and signing on fees and every chance he cd go to any one of half a dozen rivals. I can only conclude it was more medical concerns (thanks West Ham) and doubts about whether he would be effective up top on his own in the Prem that put clubs off.

[Hove Ranger]

Wooooow. If we get promoted he will be. If we get promoted, he could sign an extension with a clause about a top 4 side buying him and a relegation release clause.

I agree him staying makes promotion a lot more likely but you're reasonings are based on "ifs", well what if we don't get promoted? It kinda seems like we have a lot of eggs in this seasons promotion basket and if we fail we will lose Charlie for free (unless he signs a new contract, which I'm still skeptical about) and have to buy a replacement out of our own pockets instead of having the Austin money to reinvest (which will probably mean a lesser valued/quality striker than if we had the austin money in our pockets). Lets just hope this squad lives up to its potential on paper, builds on the good start so far and achieves promotion with games to spare so that scenario isnt possible. This is a much better squad than I anticipated when I got my season ticket so purely based on value for money, I am very happy!!

[Hove Ranger]

Now the dust has settled am puzzled why being in the last year of the contract would stop clubs bidding 15m. I could have understood if, say, Philips were in the last year as West Brom were the only club interested so they could have taken the view that they wd get him for nothing in a year. But with 11 odd clubs reportedly interested in Austin there is likely to be an auction when his contract runs out with demands for massive wages and signing on fees and every chance he cd go to any one of half a dozen rivals. I can only conclude it was more medical concerns (thanks West Ham) and doubts about whether he would be effective up top on his own in the Prem that put clubs off.

Tbf Stains, the majority of the teams properly linked with Austin don't spend that sort of money on 1 player, especially when you include his wages as a package. He was never going to go to a top 6 team as he's not ready yet and so the ones who were realistically interested in him were priced out. Lets hope this is a masterstroke on our behalf and this gamble is cashed in with us achieving promotion

[Ranger]

dont think he will sign a new contract but I still think he is worth keeping we may well have struggled for goals as I saw no easy replacement we do have a chance now of promotion but it is eary days and lots of tough teams to come.We haven't dominated games yet which we need to do I think the.foreet game will tell us hpw far we have come we need a nice un beaten run for a few months.But tp those who think we should have cashed in remember we have not had the pure goal scoring ability of CA here for a long while so it is worth a 15 mil gamble imo