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Post by Ant on Aug 1, 2017 17:05:31 GMT
Standard practice for players to have release clauses in their contracts - if this was the case - as I have a hunch it was - and the terms of the clause were met then there was nothing the club could do, so any criticism is somewhat harsh.
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Post by steveh21 on Aug 1, 2017 17:17:54 GMT
We move on. If he doesnt want to play for the Stones we wish him luck and move on.
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Post by mrplow on Aug 1, 2017 17:40:29 GMT
Couple of days just before the season. What an absolute farce. The club got hardly nothing for him too.
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Post by soulstone on Aug 1, 2017 17:43:21 GMT
Big loss but you cant blame him for going. Another undisclosed fee I guess.
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Post by headstone on Aug 1, 2017 18:05:36 GMT
It's not the best timing for sure but can you really stand in the way of a young player given the chance of league football? There are are 46 games in a NL season, let's see who Jay can bring in Good luck to Kevin, # living the dream! Not much to dream about in Stevenage, I'd have thought, leaving the green pastures of Maidstone for a new town - oh, hang on!
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Post by stonesforlife on Aug 1, 2017 18:07:22 GMT
Bad timing, but he is a young player making a step up. National league is a picking ground for league clubs. Always players being taken by higher clubs. Good luck to him. Let's hope we get a replacement that is just as good.
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Post by exiled on Aug 1, 2017 18:11:24 GMT
See nothing confirmed yet by either side got a hunch someone might be coming the other way
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mekon
Junior Member
Posts: 72
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Post by mekon on Aug 1, 2017 18:13:45 GMT
No it is not harsh to criticise dependant on if there was a release clause and if so at what level. If some mumpty had agreed a release clause that did not at least cover a seasons wages that would be of concern. It would reinforce my views that whilst we operate at National League on the field we are still at Ryman League standard back office. Harsh I know, lets hope they got a blinding fee or basic mistakes have been made.
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Post by cheshiregrandad on Aug 1, 2017 18:19:33 GMT
What are the Club's Management supposed to do tell Lokko he can't follow his dream of playing in the Football league because we do not have a replacement lined up ?
If they did they would have a very unhappy player who is unlikely to.give of his best.
The timing is obviously not ideal but we will just have hope that Jay has replacements lined up.
Good luck to Lokko for the future and thanks for your time with the Stones.
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Post by rockstar on Aug 1, 2017 18:28:05 GMT
Good luck to Lokko. You can't stand in his way. Hopefully he won't be sat in the reserves. That would be a waste of talent. Hope the club can confirm what the fee was for Lokko as the fans deserve the right to know. Jay has always said that he wouldn't stand in the way of players if top clubs came in for them.
Hope now Jay can get two good defenders in before the weekend. Defence was the issue last season and it seems that we have not sorted that out again this year. Maybe there is a deal with Stevenage for a defender to come our way on loan for the season.
Come on Jay, the owners. Can you keep the fans informed on what's going on as we will struggle this weekend with no proper central defenders especially facing the top scorer in conference south last year.
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Post by moley on Aug 1, 2017 19:20:57 GMT
If they are not intending to play him straight away then perhaps we could arrange a loan back?
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Post by harryhaddock on Aug 1, 2017 20:05:49 GMT
Best of luck to Lokko, been a good player for us and will continue his development at Stevenage. Proved a good move for Matt Godden last year and hope it's the same for Kev.
I'm confident that Jay will get us sorted, he always does, but I do think it's time as a club that we get ahead of things a bit by having greater depth in our squad. Given the level we're operating at now we simply won't succeed if we keep getting by and then having to panic to bring in new recruits. Jay's got a great record with recruitment, but he won't always get it right, particularly at short notice.
As Tim said we're in a league now where EFL clubs will always be looking at our players so this kind of thing will become more regular (see Dan Sweeney as another example). That isn't a problem in itself as long as we've got sufficient cover and have managed our contractual position with players sensibly. At present we don't have sufficient cover.
The noises from both Terry and Jay have been about us looking at the play offs which is what we should be aiming for given our support. I would expect though that as successful business men both Terry and Oliver will know that managing our recruitment strategy as we currently are isn't a solid base for success given the opposition. At present our ambitions aren't quite matched with the way we're operating.
Who knows, maybe Jay will pull a rabbit out of the hat, but if we're serious about our ambitions we need to invest sensibly in the right size squad that will allow us to manage injuries, transfers etc. and avoid situations like the current one where we have only one centre back 4 days ahead of the season starting.
I think the club and owners are doing the right thing in keeping our club sustainable. It's not clear however what a sustainable annual budget is given our current revenue and I think it would help all concerned if this was explained further.
To make the play offs we realistically need a squad with at least 3 more players than we've got currently. That's probably an investment of another £100k per annum on the wage bill. This may well break the bank for us, but until this is made clear people will continue to suggest greater squad depth is required.
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Post by loudmouthstone on Aug 1, 2017 20:33:47 GMT
With full time(ish) training, the lads should perform better and look sharper. That leads to more attention from further afield and at the moment we are not in the same 'big club' position to hold off suitors so we will loose players. That's fine providing the release clauses are appropriate and we are creating contracts that benefit us in the long term. That would be interesting to know.
All the stuff about getting the right people in and not just those who want money suggests we are still not a team that's appealing to the right type of player and that may be because we are still not paying enough to cut it. We've lost out one a number of targets this and last season due to finance.
Let's not kid ourselves, we are still a team that people will leave if something better comes along. This is something better for a young lad who wants to play in the league and has put in performances to deserved it so good luck to him.
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Post by pwoodstone on Aug 1, 2017 20:34:39 GMT
No it is not harsh to criticise dependant on if there was a release clause and if so at what level. If some mumpty had agreed a release clause that did not at least cover a seasons wages that would be of concern. It would reinforce my views that whilst we operate at National League on the field we are still at Ryman League standard back office. Harsh I know, lets hope they got a blinding fee or basic mistakes have been made. When he was signing a new deal, the management would have known he would attract attention. He had been acknowledged with England C honours and his agent would have insisted on a release clause. The club wouldn't have had a choice. The release clause itself would have been negoatiated as low as they could, from Lokko's point of view. It would have been linked to the weekly wage. The higher the buy out clause, the more value the club would have "admitted" to and thus the higher wages he would have demanded. At the end of the day, he just signed this deal - it was always on the cards.
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Post by Carlin on Aug 1, 2017 22:13:40 GMT
#Alternative viewpoint required - (if only to even things up)
Come back pmh!....all is forgiven?
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