Long's new deal 'almost wrapped up'

[Rodley]

We ought to have been planning on telling him to fuck off at the first sign of any hesitation surrounding the signing of his contract. The way we've been dictated to by a player of his quality is embarrassing.

He's a bang average third division keeper, and we've needed a good one for a while now. A solid keeper can add valuable numbers of points to the board. And it's ultimately those fine margins that determine a season.

A new GK and Ramsdale coming up as no.2 was the route we should have been going down.

Seriously what on earth are you going on about?

 

[FriethBlade]

Sorry being lazy but what has happened to George Willis has he been released? I thought he was the second coming but all the talk now seems to be about ramsdale ?

 

[Rodley]

Lots of assumptions on this thread.

How do we know the club have been dictated to by Long? Maybe we offered him a contract, he thought about it for a while and then signed it?

How do we know that no other clubs came in for him? Maybe he had 10 offers but decided he was better off football-wise staying at the Lane?

Not every young footballer is Jordan Slew.

I think you're very polite Coops. It's utter bollocks.

Long always comes across extremely well when interviewed. Seems a good lad who has put up with some abuse at matches beyond the pale.

Have we reached such depths that we're making up nonsense in order to dish out stick to our own youngsters? It's embarrassing how far we've fallen.

 

[Slim Man]

Don't understand the hate here.

When prem teams come sniffing and offer to make you a millionaire anyone would give it a thought.

I think we all agreed Howard was an average League One keeper, very average. Well Long is better, put it that way.
Long is ever improving and is not a position that for me we need to be strengthening. If we have enough budget left over to sign an experienced keeper as competition fine, do it. But there are much more pressing matters.

Let's not forget he holds our clean sheet record, from behind a solid defence. Get a decent defence in front of him and he'll only get better.

He's one of our own, he's ever improving in every aspect and with his shot stopping he could easily play higher than this level if he continues to improve.

 

[flash-blade]

hear hear

We ought to have been planning on telling him to fuck off at the first sign of any hesitation surrounding the signing of his contract. The way we've been dictated to by a player of his quality is embarrassing.

He's a bang average third division keeper, and we've needed a good one for a while now. A solid keeper can add valuable numbers of points to the board. And it's ultimately those fine margins that determine a season.

A new GK and Ramsdale coming up as no.2 was the route we should have been going down.

hear hear

 

[alcoblade]

If a players goes out and gives 100% that's all we can ask.

Have you ever played football, did every cross, pass, shot go where it was supposed to go, it you play that miss pass on purpose.

As a young lad I probably abused players, and today if they can't be bothered, I'll suggest we swap places, but I will stand up and applaud anyone who gives everything to wear that red and white shirt.

Onwards and upwards

That's not really true. You can play me and 10 of my mates. Well try really hard and get relegated to the Sunday league, where one man and his dog will turn up to watch.

We actually want our players to be good too. But we should save our abuse for those who don't give 100 %.

Long does not deserve abuse, but that shouldn't stop us wanting better.

UTB

 

[dblade56]

That's not really true. You can play me and 10 of my mates. Well try really hard and get relegated to the Sunday league, where one man and his dog will turn up to watch.

We actually want our players to be good too. But we should save our abuse for those who don't give 100 %.

Long does not deserve abuse, but that shouldn't stop us wanting better.

UTB

You're right re the first statement, mine was really tongue in cheek.

I'm good with banter to, as long as you are prepared to say it face to face if you get the opportunity.

 

[awblade]

Regarding any compensation for him I don't think we would get much, due to the EPPP. I am still struggling to understand it after trying to look it up, but here is the wiki page

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elite_Player_Performance_Plan

but about £200k I think??

 

[sheffielder]

You're right re the first statement, mine was really tongue in cheek.

I'm good with banter to, as long as you are prepared to say it face to face if you get the opportunity.

Yes the irony of him having his little ched picture as his profile isn't lost on me.

 

[stringjunior]

him resigning is a formality

Unusual, that

 

[Bladesman]

Long seems to have improved lately, so worth keeping him even though we still need to sign another keeper.

 

[The Crab]

His comments in the Star about the quality of the squad I found quite bizarre, but perhaps he was backed into a corner for a comment.

I think he has shown improvement as a keeper, and is at an age where he will improve further. As Pinchy points out, there are areas that he needs to improve. As an ex keeper myself, some of these areas are the meat and drink of the position. But if he's focused and coached well, I'm positive he can improve.

 

[Pinchy]

Could I just say that I despise the parochial and somewhat zenophobic phrase "one of our own". They are all 'our own' once they pull on the shirt, be they from Sharrow, Scotland or Sierra Leone.

Thanks.

 

[Pinchy]

His comments in the Star about the quality of the squad I found quite bizarre, but perhaps he was backed into a corner for a comment.

I think he has shown improvement as a keeper, and is at an age where he will improve further. As Pinchy points out, there are areas that he needs to improve. As an ex keeper myself, some of these areas are the meat and drink of the position. But if he's focused and coached well, I'm positive he can improve.

...and I thought you were Ray 'Butch' Wilkins!

 

[The Crab]

...and I thought you were Ray 'Butch' Wilkins!

That is a clue to my username Pinchy

That name was used once regarding my attempt to get down the steps of a friends house after one or two Sherrys

Also I can be a Crabby old Bastard and ironically, I'm not a great fan of seafood unless it's called Cod and is served with some chips and loads of vinegar of course.

 

[Bladesince59]

Tell him to fuck off and let's sign a decent 'keeper.

 

[1danewhitehouse]

We ought to have been planning on telling him to fuck off at the first sign of any hesitation surrounding the signing of his contract. The way we've been dictated to by a player of his quality is embarrassing.

He's a bang average third division keeper, and we've needed a good one for a while now. A solid keeper can add valuable numbers of points to the board. And it's ultimately those fine margins that determine a season.

A new GK and Ramsdale coming up as no.2 was the route we should have been going down.

These new reliable GKs easy and cheap to come by Barney? Howard, Simmo, Bunn etc. We’ve been trying to find a good keeper for a while now and struggled. Long has come through and shows good potential for his age. Definitely worth having on the books. We offer him a contract equal to or better than his last one. He signs or moves on and we get compo. We don’t get compo if we tell him to fuck off as you suggest.


We have enough areas to sort out without getting rid of adequate players and having to replace them too.

 

[1danewhitehouse]

Long did massively improve and went from utterly abysmal to relatively poor. Get an experienced keeper in who will verbally abuse his defence for not protecting him and get into heated discussions with the outfield players in grobbbbbelllarr fashion.

Relative to what? Certainly not the rest of the team as he was generally amongst the highest in the ‘player ratings’ thread. I’d say he had a good season and showed sings of improvement to the extent that he now looks a decent 3rd division ‘keeper. Given his age, there is every chance he could develop beyond that.

 

[BushBlade]

His comments in the Star about the quality of the squad I found quite bizarre, but perhaps he was backed into a corner for a comment.

I think he has shown improvement as a keeper, and is at an age where he will improve further. As Pinchy points out, there are areas that he needs to improve. As an ex keeper myself, some of these areas are the meat and drink of the position. But if he's focused and coached well, I'm positive he can improve.

What else could he say at the time? He didn't know who he'd be playing with next season. Would you go on record calling your work colleagues lazy useless bastards? I had a couple of HR referrals for my blunt speaking but even I didn't go that far.

I find it quite bizarre that anyone actually thinks his interview is relevant to anything. He's a keeper, not a guest on Graham Norton.

 

[Bladesince59]

With the money swilling around , even premiership clubs will snap up anything and loan them back out .

If I was Long I would be diapointed and worried at the same time.

Another player IMO who hasn't got a football brain , thinks he is better than he is .

His last interview was either very diplomatic , or he is deluded like a lot of them at the Lane . First job for Wilder with Long , is to get him de- brainwashed ,

Your job Sonny Jim is to stop the round ball going into the back of the onion bag . Pronto. Cushdey.

UTB

He's basically pretty mediocre all round. He was the jammy bugger who stood out last season as the most improved player. That just makes him shit not shittest.

 

[1danewhitehouse]

I really hope the club haven't given in to high wage demands. It wouldn't surprise me though - being the football geniuses that they are they could have surmised that he's a huge asset because a PL team or two have been sniffing.

I don't think we should use Ramsdale (or Eastwood) as number 2 next season. At his age I think a combination of reserve team football and a loan move to non league is the right way to go. Willis would be a better option as a number 2 but I think he's going to be released.

If we sign a new keeper it needs to be one who'll at least challenge Long for a first team place, ideally one who's better than him. If Long ends up as back up and is unhappy, then sell him. I just think this could be unlikely if Long is on decent money - we won't want to be paying two keepers a high wage while we have so many other positions to strengthen. So the most likely scenario is Long as undisputed number 1 with someone as backup for him, which isn't ideal.

I think it would have probably been better if he moved on and gave us a chance to sign a new first choice keeper like Joe Lewis.

This is one area where I would be more than happy for us to sign an old man on a 1 year deal. Someone like Kelvin Davis/ Stephen Bywater/ Stuart Nelson/ Steve Harper etc. to be cover/competition for Long. That sort of experience could help bring our young keepers on and would strike a balance between not guaranteeing Long the shirt but still giving him the optimism that the club sees him as the long term number one (pardon the pun).

 

[The Crab]

What else could he say at the time? He didn't know who he'd be playing with next season. Would you go on record calling your work colleagues lazy useless bastards? I had a couple of HR referrals for my blunt speaking but even I didn't go that far.

I find it quite bizarre that anyone actually thinks his interview is relevant to anything. He's a keeper, not a guest on Graham Norton.

That was the point I was trying to make Bush, maybe he'd been backed into a corner for a comment. For me he'd have been better saying nowt.

Fair comment in your second paragraph, just for me what he'd said didn't tie in with what has been witnessed this season thats all.

 

[Revolution]

Long plus someone with experience in the squad: fine

Long plus a kid: bad idea

 

[Highbury_Blade]

What else could he say at the time? He didn't know who he'd be playing with next season. Would you go on record calling your work colleagues lazy useless bastards? I had a couple of HR referrals for my blunt speaking but even I didn't go that far.

I find it quite bizarre that anyone actually thinks his interview is relevant to anything. He's a keeper, not a guest on Graham Norton.

Plus, I said some right stupid shit when I was 22.

 

[Rodley]

What else could he say at the time? He didn't know who he'd be playing with next season. Would you go on record calling your work colleagues lazy useless bastards? I had a couple of HR referrals for my blunt speaking but even I didn't go that far.

I find it quite bizarre that anyone actually thinks his interview is relevant to anything. He's a keeper, not a guest on Graham Norton.

Reminiscent of people being outraged by the platitudes in Adkin's interviews, but proceeding to listen and analyse every subsequent interview to the nth degree.

 

[Rodley]

Plus, I said some right stupid shit when I was 22.

Adkins finally gave him the shirt after 18 months in and out of the picture. Plus he's got to work with his colleagues. I can't see why on earth he would go on record slagging everyone else off.

 

[Dellas Cowboys]

so on this forum he got MOTM on 10 occasions last season, far more than any other player - admittedly the other players weren't up to much. his average match rating was second only to Baptiste who was quite obviously better than League 1 - again on this forum. Who are you after - Joe Hart?

 

[larkymasher]

Regarding any compensation for him I don't think we would get much, due to the EPPP. I am still struggling to understand it after trying to look it up, but here is the wiki page

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elite_Player_Performance_Plan

but about £200k I think??

Not a bad compensation figure considering some posters that think he is shit .....

 

[Slim Man]

so on this forum he got MOTM on 10 occasions last season, far more than any other player - admittedly the other players weren't up to much. his average match rating was second only to Baptiste who was quite obviously better than League 1 - again on this forum. Who are you after - Joe Hart?

We've used all the positives up with the retained list. Time to slash again. Woo!

 

[Jehovah]

Relative to what? Certainly not the rest of the team as he was generally amongst the highest in the ‘player ratings’ thread. I’d say he had a good season and showed sings of improvement to the extent that he now looks a decent 3rd division ‘keeper. Given his age, there is every chance he could develop beyond that.

No point comparing him to the outfield players as they're not goalkeepers. He is still silent and does not command his area. He still looks a disaster waiting to happen.