CONFIRMED Duffy joins Stoke City on loan

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We could offer him a new one year contract but anything else would be daft on the clubs part as much as I love Duff, he's 34, that's just how it is unless you're Ronaldo.

Maybe with his young family he wants longer term stability, but he'd be hard pushed to find it, even at Championship level in my opinion. He'd be a great signing for a promotion pushing team but I can't see any offering a 3 year contract.

Seems a strong minded bloke so I can see him siding with pride and saying "fuck yers then" but that'd be a shame for him and the club.

Will play a part this season, even if it's just as an excellent cup player and occasional PL sub. Hoping he reconsiders.
 

Without being privy to the feelings and thoughts of both the club and Duffy, it is very hard to draw any accurate conclusions.

But like a lot of the rest I would love to see him stay and fight for his place in the Premier. The last three successful years have created many heroes, and Duff is certainly one of them. He has earned the opportunity to experience life in the Premier and has the intelligence and capability to carve out a career in some sort of capacity in football in the future.
 
robbiez666 said:
He's 34 this year and there's the strong suggestion he can't regularly last 90 minutes. I can't imagine anyone who would match our wages, or be near, would offer him a s year contract and give him regular starts. He'd not exactly set the world alight before joining us. I would suspect he'd have to drop to League 1 for regular starts.
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What planet are you on?
League 1 for regular starts? This guy has been the link between midfield and attack for the side who have finished 8th and 2nd in 2 successive Championship seasons. Half the championship would be pinging Wilder's phone for him.
 
For Duffy , Ched and Leon - if they hang around for 12months they might get a chance in the league - VAR risks a lot of suspensions. Then wherever their next move will be its as a Premier League player - making them far more attractive to the China, Arabic and USA leagues. Also it adds to the camaraderie of the current team to see the club look after the players that inevitably have replaced.
 
Bert said:
A key member of the dressing room?
How do you know?
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Just my assumption. Wilder’s first signing, been a key player on the journey since, seems like a good character.

Do you disagree?
 
Gimli said:
I think we can probably all agree that Duffy has been a truly great player for us over the last 3 years and at many points the team performance was reliant on him pulling the strings.

But, I think our promotion and Duffy’s chance to play in the Premier League has sadly just arrived too late in his career.

Like it or not, Wilder has already replaced him with Freeman, Ravel and even Robinson can play in that role.

Duffy will be only a bit part player if he stays for this last year of his contract. Has he earnt his chance to play at the top level? Absolutely yes he has, but long term I do think it’s the right decision to not offer him a new contract.
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Freeman might be a similar player but doubt Morrison and Robinson are that close.
 
His reputation has probably been enhanced more than any other United player in proportionate terms, these last three years but PL football would be a bridge too far. An ambitious League One team (Sunderland) should build their team around him, whilst he's still got it. I think there'll be more 'surprises' between now and the end of the transfer window, even more in January. We have several key players on the wrong side of thirty, and the key difference between the PL and the majority of other top flight divisions in Europe are the fitness stats, sprints, yardage covered, etc. We were at Northampton Saturday, I like many, commented on Fleck, has he the physique to compete with much fitter and mobile midfielders?
 
If he goes then it'd be similar to when old Stan got to the First Division with us but then only played a couple of oif games and was off. Differnce is that I expected Duffy to remain for the start of the season but maybe the signing of Ravel Morrison and how well he's impressed has resulted in Duffy being surplus to requirements.

Also, on the fitness videos from Portugal I noticed a couple of the players saying Duffy's struggling again - fitness-wise. I just wonder if Wilder thought he might not be up to it, had a chat with Duffy and rather than playing a bit-part role, Duffy's decided to pursue something else especially if he doesn't feel like he's going to play a big part. If he does go then I'd hope we the fans can say goodbye like what sir Bob Booker got.
 
Duffy deserves to be playing week in week out. He's too good to be a bit part player, which unfortunately due to the arrival of Freeman, Morrison & even Robinson means his position has an abundance of talent competing for 1 place.

He simply won't get the minutes he deserves at the Lane & for that reason alone, I think a move would be a good thing for him. Duffy is a huge part of the reason why we will be playing football in the Premier League this season, but if he isn't going to be given as many minutes as he wants, give him the option to leave if he wants.

Will be sad to see him leave, but if he does, a huge GLTTL will come from me.

Edit - as an aside, I think Preston or Wigan would be an excellent move for him. With Preston in particular, will be closer to home & they all of a sudden require a new number 10 😉
 
Beans said:
“Become less of an influence...?” He had an injury that kept him out of the Bristol City game and we turned in our worst performance for months. Then he got back in the team, assisted Enda’s goal at Birmingham, scored the opener against Forest, his pass created the opener against Ipswich...

No coincidence to me that our best performances to finish the season came when he was back in the side. As Ricky says, these signings smack of us acknowledging that we still rely very heavily on what Duffy can do and we’re trying to address that.

Admittedly he hasn’t done much since May...
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Agree with all this, I know it sounds a little bit silly as Duffy isn’t close to retirement or being a coach, but it would be good for ‘the next duffy’ to learn from him. Know what positions to pick up, what types of balls the strikers like etc.

I’m sure Duffy isn’t interested in dropping out the team and teaching his replacement but I’ve not seen anyone play that position as well as what he does at our standard.
 
BladeInIreland said:
I made clear how much I rate Duffy earlier in this thread , but I can see why we wouldn’t offer another contract despite him having a role to play this season. Maybe Wilder is trying to do right by him by letting him make an informed decision on his future now while his stock is high.

Either play a part this season and move on next year or try to get a good long term contract and regular football somewhere else. I’d like to think he would have a go with us next season but he has history of seeking regular football over league status and money.
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Next season, Duffy would be 35 at some point. How many too level 35 hear old midfielders do you see?

He could probably see out his contract but I think Chris would have to see him prove himself at this level before offering anything, especially at his age.

For all his enjoyable moments, there were quite a few '6' performances last season where it didn't come off for him and that's not taking into account that, whatever Duffy says, Chris doesn't trust his fitness/stamina to last a game, so we're always down 1 sub effectively.

We're unlikely to be able to carry anyone this season.

Wilder sees him every day. I trust what he thinks. That is why he's kicked us in as he has done.
 
Ricky said:
I hope this is wrong but Pete O'Rourke is usually spot on.

If it's right then it wouldn't surprise me if it's due to Wilder and Duffy falling out. They don't seem to have the best relationship.

Going into the PL with no Coutts is bad enough, no Duffy too would feel very wrong.

And we'd be playing a risky game. Who says any of his replacements will adapt to our system well enough?
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Chris Wilder says by the looks of it.. If we trust him on incoming we have to trust him in outgoings even more given he sees them every day
 

At 34 next I can see why we are not offering an extension to his contract. I think it will be down to Duffy whether he stays or goes if he gets a good offer closer to home he might just want to take it as there is no guarantee of starts here now. I'd be sad to see him go but he has to do what's best for him like it or not he is coming to the end of his career.
 
Ricky said:
Jake Wright gets 3 years out of sentiment but Duffy doesn't get anything after getting us promoted...... yeah, that seems totally fair.
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By all accounts J. Wright has been offered the chance to move several times, not sure why he’s chosen to stay personally unless he’s preparing for a different role in the club or unwilling to lower his pay during his final years of football.
 
Pedro's Winger said:
Freeman might be a similar player but doubt Morrison and Robinson are that close.
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Maybe, but I can’t see Norwood or Fleck moving out for RM and I see him being used in a free role. But of course what I think and what CWAK thinks is probably very different.
 
If there’s a mutual decision at work, and Duff does want to move on for regular first team football, then fair enough.

If there’s any element of him being forced out or shown the door then it will leave a very sour taste in my mouth.

No one is saying he will be playing a huge number of minutes this season and no one is saying he needs to be playing for reasons of sentiment. There’s sentiment and then there’s doing the decent thing by a guy who has been an extraordinary servant to the club and who, for me, symbolizes the quality football we’ve played under Wilder.

I’ll be absolutely gutted if he leaves.
 
Gimli said:
Maybe, but I can’t see Norwood or Fleck moving out for RM and I see him being used in a free role. But of course what I think and what CWAK thinks is probably very different.
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Very much open to question whether Morrison will play that much at all. Going to take a huge turnaround in his career.
 
Well hopefully he will at least stay till january, and get a chance to play in the premier league. I still think he could do a job, like away at Norwich last season. He came on last 20 mins, and swung the game into our favour. We kept the ball better, and looked the better side.
 
Millhousesblade1889 said:
By all accounts J. Wright has been offered the chance to move several times, not sure why he’s chosen to stay personally unless he’s preparing for a different role in the club or unwilling to lower his pay during his final years of football.
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Injuries I think, if I remember correctly he was set to join scunthorpe last season but failed a medical.
 
JackSUFC said:
Just my assumption. Wilder’s first signing, been a key player on the journey since, seems like a good character.

Do you disagree?
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Wasn't there talk of a scuffle involving Duffy and Sharp in the car park after a few drinks a couple of years ago?
 
From being glad to see the back of players to not wanting them to leave shows how far we have come as a club..

In my opinion Duffy did well last season but i honestly dont think CW was expecting him to get as many minutes as he did, think he was trying to phase him out slightly..

Woodburn never really pulled up any trees when he was brought in to challenge him and Dowell did OK. Mcgoldrick did better than the pair of them when he dropped behind the front 2!
 
Ricky said:
I hope this is wrong but Pete O'Rourke is usually spot on.
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Isn’t he just one of these freelance journalists that fills his twitter feed with confirmed news announcements (making him look knowledgeable) and sprinkle it in with speculative stuff that is very hit & miss (generally the latter)? He to me just seems like a less cryptic NicksEm.
 
Liaminho9 said:
Wasn't there talk of a scuffle involving Duffy and Sharp in the car park after a few drinks a couple of years ago?
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I thought it was Coutts...and wasn’t actually serious. I might be wrong though.
 
Little surprised. I know we have made signings in this area, but we have a couple of times over last few season. In my opinion we haven’t been as good when he’s not in the squad. He is ageing though and I guess that’s a factor
 
LoughboroBlade said:
Isn’t he just one of these freelance journalists that fills his twitter feed with confirmed news announcements (making him look knowledgeable) and sprinkle it in with speculative stuff that is very hit & miss (generally the latter)? He to me just seems like a less cryptic NicksEm.
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He used to work for Sky and was always one of the most reliable when it came to transfers etc. I recall him announcing that Wolves had triggered KMacs release clause well before anyone else got hold of it.
 

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