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contracts for everyone need looking at soon

assuming we'll stay up, is knills contract just til the end of the season, would we want him to stay on if successful, would he want to??

whats the deal with martin, is he def gonna be leaving/retiring due to ill health??

the existing players, if its martin or knill or an other at the helm, will any of the out of contract players be wanted for 13/14??

the loanees, again if knill is successful and wants to stay, what are the chances of labadie and chapell being signed permanently, i'd have thought that EB was just a stop gap, and nobody really wants him full time?

a million questions running thru my head!!

Two chances of us getting Chappell permanently - Bob Hope and no Hope!

You are getting well ahead of yourself - and slagging Benyon off is tiresome, If you genuinely think that no league 2 team would want Benyon you are nuts!

Contracts will only be sorted once we know our position and yet have any of our out of contracts signed for any one else.

I think if Knill stays he will ask for Lings guidance as they are friends, same the other way around.

McDonald is out of contract at reading but I think he'll go to league 1 if offered, no hope of signing Labodie either.

I think Knills contract is until the end of the season Bix and it's a good and a very serious question:
who IS going to sort out the contracts?

Admittedly even if we stay up i can't forgive some of the players for this season and there would only be a handful i'd WANT to stay here but i'd like to see Labadie stay for definate and as for Chappell, who knows. Benyon i'm not so sure about if i'm honest. Wouldn't be fussed either way as it stands at the moment unless he suddenly started banging in a few goals between now and the seasons end.

My feelings are well known, there is no way in the world i want Ling back as manager and i'd be more than happy for the Knill/Brass combo to be made permanent regardless of what league we're in as i've seen more attacking play in a handful of games under Knill than just about the entire rest of the season under Ling.

As for Ling, i have no idea what is wrong with him and i've said it's none of our business on a persoanl level but the board need to start thinking about what happens next and need to put fans in the picture regardless of how much of a sensitive issue it is. I appreciate that there are various employment laws and things that the club have to adhere to and i respect that but surely if it isn't 'legal' to relieve Ling of his duties at this current moment in time they should at least have discussed it at length and be able to confirm his contract end when indeed it does come to an end. We don't have to know what is wrong with him just is he having his contract renewed or is Knill a long term solution. Again the board always seem to make it more protracted and more difficult than it needs to be. Identify the problem, address it, solve it and move forward. It's as simple as that. They are so indecisive it's frightening.

A million questions running through my head too Bix and we all remember the summer Buckle left and we were kept in the dark about Buckles intentions and THEN it took the board about 12 years to finally appoint someone within weeks of the season start having known Buckle was on his way a lot earlier than us lot. What's to say they haven't learned lessons from this? I wouldn't be surprised if Ling doesn't come back, they tell Knill and Brass to do one then we wait until a week before the season and bring in a dolphin as manager whilst in the meantime the contract negotiations are left to them and they offer stupid money to the rubbish and let the good ones go without a fight.

We shall see, we shall see.

brucie wrote:You are getting well ahead of yourself - and slagging Benyon off is tiresome, If you genuinely think that no league 2 team would want Benyon you are nuts!

i didnt mean the whole of league two, just the two managers, he wasnt knills signing and martin seems unlikely to come back

Spot on Ryan Y4L, untill the club know what League we are going to be in next season they can not even begin to think about who to offer new contracts to. Just imagine signing up Rene Howe and Tom Cruise etc on nice new 2 year deals and then getting relegated and not having the income to pay them.

forevertufc wrote:Spot on Ryan Y4L, untill the club know what League we are going to be in next season they can not even begin to think about who to offer new contracts to. Just imagine signing up Rene Howe and Tom Cruise etc on nice new 2 year deals and then getting relegated and not having the income to pay them.

Totally agree with this Dave and Ryan but my point is that if Knill was made permanent manager or the board informed him now that this was to be the case come the end of the season then he could begin trying to get things sorted out ready for the summer so we aren't left in the plop again. I'm not saying offer the contracts now but have some projected figures and offers drawn up so that it's not all a last minute scramble. I am aware that we are in a relegation battle and ensuring our league status remains intact is the most important thing but surely there are other people at the club who could assist and lighten the workload for Knill so he can put a bit of time aside for this?

I just think that sometimes a lot of people behind the scenes at the club are sat in an office with their feet up drinking horlicks and watching countdown or something. It's probably harsh but it's what i feel at times. This management issue needs addressing now and i don't understand the indecision and uncertainty. Maybe Knill doesn't want the job anyway, maybe Ling doesn't want to come back should he be well enough to return, maybe nobody in the entire world would want the job anyway. We won't know because nobody f*cking tells us owt!! I'm sure Knill knows if he wants the job next season or not and i'm sure the board know what they want to do with Ling's contract but let them make a straight forward decision that effects 2000 and odd people extremely complicated as they like doing that.

Think in some respects on Martin Ling, Andy you have answered you own question, it may well be the case that the club can not say right now what the situation is regarding Lingy. And right now to be honest I think it really is for the best that the club keep their traps shut over the Lingy situation and contracts aswell.

What we all need to do right is focus purely and supporting Knill and the team we still have a relegation scrap to fight, and what we really do not need right now is for players heads focusing whether they are getting a pay rise and how much, and the club making a song and dance about the Martin Ling situation, lets secure our league status and then worry about who is doing what.

Think there is no doubt the board have made a number of judgment errors this season, not backing lingy leaving it to long to act when we went on a huge slide etc, etc, and I hope lessons have been learnt on that.

Alll that said Andy I would be very surprised if there were not some plans drawn up and argeement's in principal for next season already in place for either league or conference football.

In the case of Knowing if Knill will be here next year- will he himself want to sign when he could potentially go down with us or would he; like others, want to wait until we know.

I think if we give it until we know we are safe(or as good as) then get something partially planned.

forevertufc wrote:Think in some respects on Martin Ling, Andy you have answered you own question, it may well be the case that the club can not say right now what the situation is regarding Lingy. And right now to be honest I think it really is for the best that the club keep their traps shut over the Lingy situation and contracts aswell.

What we all need to do right is focus purely and supporting Knill and the team we still have a relegation scrap to fight, and what we really do not need right now is for players heads focusing whether they are getting a pay rise and how much, and the club making a song and dance about the Martin Ling situation, lets secure our league status and then worry about who is doing what.

Think there is no doubt the board have made a number of judgment errors this season, not backing lingy leaving it to long to act when we went on a huge slide etc, etc, and I hope lessons have been learnt on that.

Alll that said Andy I would be very surprised if there were not some plans drawn up and argeement's in principal for next season already in place for either league or conference football.

I would hope this would be the case Dave and you are probably right about not discussing contracts with the players at this time when we need to focus on the battle ahead. As for the management situation i would hope that it was just some legal aspects prohibiting them from revealing anything or makng any decisions but if it isn't then i would find it a bit odd. It's just frustrating as a fan that a lot of problems this season have been unecessary and it is hard to think that the Ling/Knill situation isn't another one brewing.

Agreed Andy, this whole thing with Martin Ling has left the club with a real nightmare and an awful position, I think the club very much hoped that Shaun Taylor could have picked up a few wins got us well on the way to safety and then they could have just sat back and let the situation ride, it would have been the easy way out. Sadly that did not happen they had to act, now a potential bigger problem to sort out.

i really hope Knill stays hes brought in a strong structure and i like the football he wants to play,

i hope Ling gets back to full health but no thanks, although maybe not his fault all this talk of spotting him here and there is annoying and i just cant see him being welcome back!

Watching matches is part of what football managers do, whether they are in or out of work, and if Martin Ling is fit enough to do that I have no problem with it. For Lingy to be off sick for so long, though, whatever he was/is suffering from must have been pretty serious. Being a football manager is a stressfull 24/7 job, and it may be that when Lingy has recovered, even then he may not be fit enough to return to football full time immediately.

Certainly hoping he does return to full fitness and wish him all the best, but we could be seeing a new permanent manager at Plainmoor next season. I'm quite happy for Lingy to come back as manager, but we can only wait and see..

An unnecessary extravagance that a club our size can ill afford. Once Martin gets back to full health, the club would be able to place him on gardening leave while they sort out terminating the contract.

In the meantime, Knill can be tasked with handling next season's team if that is what the Board want.

One thing we can't have is indecision. The uncertainty will carry over to next season if a decision is not made.Just look at what happened over the last couple of months!