Can we sell Neill Collins?

[Slim Man]

I'm sure he made a decent name for himself at Vale last season, assuming they didn't watch the game on sunday do you think we could manage to squeeze some money out of them for him?

We'll even do a special Christmas offer, buy Collins get Woolford free... We'll even stick them both in gift wrap and I'll drop them off in my sleigh dressed as Santa.

 

[Balham]

I'm sure he made a decent name for himself at Vale last season, assuming they didn't watch the game on sunday do you think we could manage to squeeze some money out of them for him?

We'll even do a special Christmas offer, buy Collins get Woolford free... We'll even stick them both in gift wrap and I'll drop them off in my sleigh dressed as Santa.

Given that they're completely skint and up for sale, no. The best we can hope for with either of them is that someone will take them at 25% of their United contract and we pay the rest.

 

[Smirth]

No one will pay us a fee and no one will pay him anything close to what is no doubt a very healthy salary for a league 1 player.

I still don't quite know how he's still here as I felt sure his contract was due to expire last summer. As Balham Blade says, the best we can hope is someone takes him and we contribute to his wages because there's no way he'll get a deal as good as this.

What we can do in the meantime is immediately drop him from the team because he is not good enough at all for this team. It's been done to death yet somehow he survives. He's the only mainstay in the side that got relegated, and the team has got progressively worse and worse each year we've been down here, the defence in particular. What's the one constant in all that time barring the second half of last season? Neill fucking Collins.

He's shit, he's stole a wage from this club for most of his time here and an emotional interview about his tough year after being dropped by a manager for not being good enough doesn't sway me at all. He was dropped because he was shit. He sat around for most of that time, he didn't try and force a move away because he knew he wouldn't get anything like the same money. That is fine and all well and good, but you can't then complain about just wanting to play football the whole time you were dropped like he did in his interview at the start of this year.

Not one player angers me more wearing our shirt than him.

 

[LoughboroBlade]

Given that they're completely skint and up for sale, no. The best we can hope for with either of them is that someone will take them at 25% of their United contract and we pay the rest.

Think we might see a few of those types of deals tbh, such is the need pressed on getting us towards being a leaner more cohesive squad. Not ideal at all, but probably necessary.

 

[Worksop II]

Given that they're completely skint and up for sale, no. The best we can hope for with either of them is that someone will take them at 25% of their United contract and we pay the rest.

That really doesnt help us, well it does a bit

But if we get rid of 4 players and pay 75% of their wages, we have only really got rid of one wage ......

So for every 4 players we rid ourselves of, we can bring 1 in ............................... McCabenomics

 

[SwissBlade]

Surely we can just release him and pay off the rest of his contract...

Or send him to Australia?

Or perhaps as blades fans we can get a restraining order preventing him from coming within 200m of bramall lane

The best investment that the prince can make this January is by paying off half our squad and tearing up their contracts

 

[JJ Sefton]

We might get a couple of quid off the knackers for him.

 

[Notts Blade 123]

Yes, I reckon someone like Portsmouth or Plymouth would have him on a free transfer

 

[JJ Sefton]

Yes, I reckon someone like Portsmouth or Plymouth would have him on a free transfer

Difficult to find someone to valet park cars on the south coast is it?

 

[Sean Thornton]

Difficult to find someone to valet park cars on the south coast is it?

Careful, you'll make him cry.

 

[Slim Man]

He cried on the pitch while in a United shirt so he deserves a starting place for the rest of the season.

 

[Sean Thornton]

We might get a couple of quid off the knackers for him.

A balloon maybe, but not goldfish value.

 

[JJ Sefton]

He cried on the pitch while in a United shirt so he deserves a starting place for the rest of the season.

Plenty of buggers crying in the stands when he's on the pitch n' all.

 

[Slim Man]

Plenty of buggers crying in the stands when he's on the pitch n' all.

When he lost the ball and got megged the other day I didn't cry. I was actually smiling, I've ran out of tears so it's time to have a different way of working. Just laugh at him.

 

[SwissBlade]

He cried on the pitch while in a United shirt so he deserves a starting place for the rest of the season.

Yes, but not at United

 

[SwissBlade]

When he lost the ball and got megged the other day I didn't cry. I was actually smiling, I've ran out of tears so it's time to have a different way of working. Just laugh at him.

I laughed a moment before, the agility and comedy ball control as he controlled with his left before dancing to play the ball with his right.... Then he got it again and lost it

 

[Sean Thornton]

I laughed a moment before, the agility and comedy ball control as he controlled with his left before dancing to play the ball with his right.... Then he got it again and lost it

That and the megging could only have been funnier if his shorts had fallen down and the Cov player hAd put a cream cake in his face.

 

[Sean Thornton]

Did anyone see his comment in the programme about the last call on his mobile being from Clough asking him if he fancied a move to Burton?

 

[blades78]

I've played with and against centre backs at non league level that are better than him. How has he continually picked up contracts in the professional game? The guy has probably taken over half a million in wages from our club, just think about that!

It also shows how inept not only our club but many clubs are with scouting in lower leagues.

 

[SwissBlade]

Did anyone see his comment in the programme about the last call on his mobile being from Clough asking him if he fancied a move to Burton?

If clough did that he'd get a statue in the car park

 

[TJB.]

It's down to him, innit.

I should hope to holy Christ that Adkins has a meeting booked in with him, and others like him, telling them that their contract won't be extended beyond June and that should recruitment go according to plan in January, his chances will be few and far between and he should listen to offers.

If he's the kind of bloke who wants to play as much as possible because the clock is winding down on his career, he might just go to a mid-table/struggling League 2 club for the famous 'undisclosed fee'. I'd accept £40 and a Quality Street tin at this moment in time.

If he just wants to squeeze the pennies out of us because his next deal will be a very large pay cut, he'll sit in the stands and run his contract out. I don't think this would do him any favours if he's hoping to play league football next year.

If he's still starting games when the window closes, I'll be in the corner trying to choose between a large bleach cocktail or a trip off the roof of the Arts Tower.

 

[BushBlade]

It's down to him, innit.

I should hope to holy Christ that Adkins has a meeting booked in with him, and others like him, telling them that their contract won't be extended beyond June and that should recruitment go according to plan in January, his chances will be few and far between and he should listen to offers.

If he's the kind of bloke who wants to play as much as possible because the clock is winding down on his career, he might just go to a mid-table/struggling League 2 club for the famous 'undisclosed fee'. I'd accept £40 and a Quality Street tin at this moment in time.

If he just wants to squeeze the pennies out of us because his next deal will be a very large pay cut, he'll sit in the stands and run his contract out. I don't think this would do him any favours if he's hoping to play league football next year.

If he's still starting games when the window closes, I'll be in the corner trying to choose between a large bleach cocktail or a trip off the roof of the Arts Tower.

Yes, I'm hoping someone will offer him a year and half contract in Jan and we let him go on a free.

 

[BushBlade]

I've played with and against centre backs at non league level that are better than him. How has he continually picked up contracts in the professional game? The guy has probably taken over half a million in wages from our club, just think about that!

It also shows how inept not only our club but many clubs are with scouting in lower leagues.

I'd say double that. He joined us when we were in the championship so he'd have been on close to £10k a week at a guess. Then he took a pay cut to sign a longer deal and I'd be surprised if he was then on less than £5k a week.

 

[madeinsheffield]

I read in the programme his last call was from Nigel Clough

Did anyone see his comment in the programme about the last call on his mobile being from Clough asking him if he fancied a move to Burton?

I noticed that, I took it to be a lame attempt at humour, he's not even good at being funny

 

[Worksop II]

If you were NA would you really sanction any player having their contract bought out ?

Adkins still has to turn out a team every Saturday, if Collins is the best we have, then he stays and plays

Why on earth anyone thinks Princey is gonna fob another load of cash out in January is beyond me

 

[bornablade]

No one will pay us a fee and no one will pay him anything close to what is no doubt a very healthy salary for a league 1 player.

I still don't quite know how he's still here as I felt sure his contract was due to expire last summer. As Balham Blade says, the best we can hope is someone takes him and we contribute to his wages because there's no way he'll get a deal as good as this.

What we can do in the meantime is immediately drop him from the team because he is not good enough at all for this team. It's been done to death yet somehow he survives. He's the only mainstay in the side that got relegated, and the team has got progressively worse and worse each year we've been down here, the defence in particular. What's the one constant in all that time barring the second half of last season? Neill fucking Collins.

He's shit, he's stole a wage from this club for most of his time here and an emotional interview about his tough year after being dropped by a manager for not being good enough doesn't sway me at all. He was dropped because he was shit. He sat around for most of that time, he didn't try and force a move away because he knew he wouldn't get anything like the same money. That is fine and all well and good, but you can't then complain about just wanting to play football the whole time you were dropped like he did in his interview at the start of this year.

Not one player angers me more wearing our shirt than him.

The reason he's still with us - last season posters on here, Bladesmad, callers to FH and all those on Twitter were making out that he was our savior and Cloughie should put their differences to one side.

Jim took this all on board and decided to give him another year.

At pre season training Adkins was shouting at Collins 'You're lazy' and Jim thought he was shouting 'You're Baressi'. So that's how we've still got him here.

 

[Balham]

I'd say double that. He joined us when we were in the championship so he'd have been on close to £10k a week at a guess. Then he took a pay cut to sign a longer deal and I'd be surprised if he was then on less than £5k a week.

Don't forget that it appears that he had a "Higginbotham clause" - a United speciality where the option to extend a player's contract lies with the player. He was supposedly out of contract at the end of last season having signed a two year extension in November 2012 but he's still here as the option to extend was taken up. Given that our manager at the time was Clough it's pretty clear that the decision was Collins'.

While my belief remains that responsibility for our current position can be traced back to the appointment of Bryan Robson; it's decisions like paying an average 4th tier centre half the wages of a bottom end 2nd tier player that are ensuring that we can't move on.

Players I'd guess are on "contracts not commensurate with our League One status":

Neill Collins (£8,000 per week)
Dean Hammond (£12,000 per week)
Chris Basham (£8,000 per week)
Billy Sharp (£10,000 per week)
John Brayford (£12,000 per week)
Paul Coutts (£8,000 per week)

The common factor linking them all is that they all signed in their mid-to-late 20s from teams at a higher level. Until we sort out our player recruitment to target younger players from the leagues above we're going nowhere. And that hurts.

 

[SwissBlade]

If you were NA would you really sanction any player having their contract bought out ?

Adkins still has to turn out a team every Saturday, if Collins is the best we have, then he stays and plays

Why on earth anyone thinks Princey is gonna fob another load of cash out in January is beyond me

Of course it's never going to happen. It also makes me wonder if Collins and McEveley have clauses that they must play if fit, how else would either be playing?

But Adkins probably won't have much say in the sale/ disposal of players, no previous manager has

 

[TJB.]

Why on earth anyone thinks Princey is gonna fob another load of cash out in January is beyond me

I really don't think it'd take a huge cash injection to find a better player than Neil Collins. If the Murphy money hasn't already been spunked on Hammond's wages, fingers crossed we could get one in with the change.

As I said, he should be made fully aware that his future doesn't lie here and hopefully that'll convince him to find a job elsewhere, and get him off our huge wage bill.

 

[1danewhitehouse]

No one will pay us a fee and no one will pay him anything close to what is no doubt a very healthy salary for a league 1 player.

I still don't quite know how he's still here as I felt sure his contract was due to expire last summer. As Balham Blade says, the best we can hope is someone takes him and we contribute to his wages because there's no way he'll get a deal as good as this.

What we can do in the meantime is immediately drop him from the team because he is not good enough at all for this team. It's been done to death yet somehow he survives. He's the only mainstay in the side that got relegated, and the team has got progressively worse and worse each year we've been down here, the defence in particular. What's the one constant in all that time barring the second half of last season? Neill fucking Collins.

He's shit, he's stole a wage from this club for most of his time here and an emotional interview about his tough year after being dropped by a manager for not being good enough doesn't sway me at all. He was dropped because he was shit. He sat around for most of that time, he didn't try and force a move away because he knew he wouldn't get anything like the same money. That is fine and all well and good, but you can't then complain about just wanting to play football the whole time you were dropped like he did in his interview at the start of this year.

Not one player angers me more wearing our shirt than him.

Didn't you hear? He had a calf strain