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Is ‘groin strain’ a euphemism for not signing a new contract?

twickerspne

twickerspne

0
Joined
May 16, 2014
Messages
1,300
Are the ‘groin strain’ injuries genuine? Perhaps. But if not, is there a reluctance in North End to allow these under contract discussion players virtually zero playing time as seems the case. If they’re earning a wage ..... use them.
 
Don’t know which one but one of the Ben’s was close to being picked yesterday. After yesterday’s performance I expect him to be playing on Wednesday
 
Reading the term ‘groin strain’ has sent me into 1970’s nostalgia mode. The phrase was regularly used then to explain the absence of players but it wasn’t always the real reason.

I remember when North End captain Francis Burns was a late withdrawal with a ‘groin strain’ but actually he had been battered by fellow Scotsman John Blackley after a training ground altercation on the Friday. Those were the days.
 
Jack Daniels said:
Our so called "big 4" as people put it in reality are average players in the bigger Championship scheme of things. They are "big" in our eyes because of previous dross over the years. Don't confuse the two.
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I'd suggest they are "Big" in our eyes because without them this squad is a bottom-three outfit.
 
Thracia said:
I'd suggest they are "Big" in our eyes because without them this squad is a bottom-three outfit.
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Alex has got it totally wrong by persisting with the so called B5.

They don't want to re-sign - fine - don't play them and play the lads who actually want to be here (Storey, Harrop, Potts, Rafferty) as they are our immediate future.
 
Jack Daniels said:
Alex has got it totally wrong by persisting with the so called B5.

They don't want to re-sign - fine - don't play them and play the lads who actually want to be here (Storey, Harrop, Potts, Rafferty) as they are our immediate future.
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I’d agree with this. Johnson has been off colour for 4 games now yet is seeing out the games despite offering nothing. This might be due to wanting a moment of magic, but to me it looks like Neil is too scared to drop him
 
Jack Daniels said:
Alex has got it totally wrong by persisting with the so called B5.

They don't want to re-sign - fine - don't play them and play the lads who actually want to be here (Storey, Harrop, Potts, Rafferty) as they are our immediate future.
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I mean most of them have been playing. Looking a gift horse in the mouth by alienating our best players is suicide.
 
Jack Daniels said:
Erm, they are alienating the club by refusing new deals.

No Stay, No Play.
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How so?

Like this way is the worst of all options. If you didn't want them staying around, we had to sell in summer. If you don't do that, then you play them and get as much value as you can out of them.

Bombing them out is going full Westley. Never go full Westley.
 
HunterLionheart said:
I mean most of them have been playing. Looking a gift horse in the mouth by alienating our best players is suicide.
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They are only the best players if they are playing well. They are only likely to play well if they are 100% committed. They are only likely to be 100% committed when they are contracted for the longer term.
 
Jack Daniels said:
Alex has got it totally wrong by persisting with the so called B5.

They don't want to re-sign - fine - don't play them and play the lads who actually want to be here (Storey, Harrop, Potts, Rafferty) as they are our immediate future.
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That immediate future is relegation then.
 
I get the point JD is making and to an extent I agree with him. I would counter this by saying that some of them may well want to stay and just want the owner to allow to earn a little bit more than is currently on offer. Loyalty goes both ways.

If there were competitive contract offers on the table from the club and they were refusing I'd be all for benching them similar to the Lundstrom situation at Sheff Utd.

Not entirely sure in our current (contract) situation just how much the players are blame.
 
StickyBrick said:
They are only the best players if they are playing well. They are only likely to play well if they are 100% committed. They are only likely to be 100% committed when they are contracted for the longer term.
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I'd argue that whatever percentage of commitment we got from Fisher yesterday was infinitely better than what we got with Rafferty in the team.

Can you imagine the rage on here if we continued to fail to create chances, yet wouldn't have a contracted DJ in the squad, out of pure spite?
 
StickyBrick said:
They are only the best players if they are playing well. They are only likely to play well if they are 100% committed. They are only likely to be 100% committed when they are contracted for the longer term.
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Fisher and Browne were our best players yesterday.

DJ did no worse than anyone else playing with a freshly-minted 100%-commitment-guaranteed long-term contract safely tucked in their back pocket.

The Big 4/Big 5 are our best players. Hence the name.
 
We can argue where the crossover point is, but a less than 100% committed higher quality player becomes less effective than a 100% committed lower quality player at some point.
 
Its a disgrace if these players are not putting a show on because of their contracts situations. We are still paying them to do a job.

If you hired a person to come and relay your driveway, he would do a decent job as he is getting paid to carry out a task.

So why is it different for footballers?!!
 
StickyBrick said:
We can argue where the crossover point is, but a less than 100% committed higher quality player becomes less effective than a 100% committed lower quality player at some point.
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Evidence suggests we are nowhere near that "crossover point".

Fisher, Browne and DJ all looked 100% committed to me yesterday.

And I think the commitment level of the Big 4 would have to drop down into single-figures before some of our fringe squad members could start to overtake them in terms of effectiveness.
 
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