Ben Coker - Episode 3

[RHB]

I think keeping Coker is a no brainer. Probably missed no player other than Hopper more. Hart has been excellent but different players. Hart quicker to get balls in box. Coker always seems to twist and turn which gets us more players in box. Defensively neither amazing. Both would be great but unlikely.

I worry about my brain at times, I saw that and thought that could be abbreviated to bollox. Maybe I need help.

 

[USAShrimper]

We would be foolish not to offer Ben a new contract, one year with an option to extend would seem fair. We need to keep all the quality players here for next season, give them all a good chance to become a good team, too many long term injuries prevented that this year. Surely, Ben has established his credibility to be in that group. ACL & MCL injuries are significant, however, advances in surgeries and rehab have made that a very recoverable situation. I'd always take Coker over Hart, a better defender, better positional play and puts pressure on the ball quicker. However, would still find room for Hart further up the field, Can't see him coming back though.

 

[Mad Cyril]

My son used to cry when we made him wear his first Southend kit so I can understand where Ben is coming from.

 

[Rob1920]

I said many times on here right from when we lost Coker and Hopper that we'd be in a relegation fight as you just can't lose two such important players (inspirational captain and top scorer) at this level. I did think maybe we'd solved half the problem with Humphries but we all know what happened there, and look who saved us in the end, with his head still in a splint. Point being we'd be mad to let Coker go assuming he makes a full recovery. I'd offer him another 2 years with a caveat that if he's not back to full fitness within 6 months the club has the option to cancel it.

 

[South Bucks Shrimper]

I said many times on here right from when we lost Coker and Hopper that we'd be in a relegation fight as you just can't lose two such important players (inspirational captain and top scorer) at this level. I did think maybe we'd solved half the problem with Humphries but we all know what happened there, and look who saved us in the end, with his head still in a splint. Point being we'd be mad to let Coker go assuming he makes a full recovery. I'd offer him another 2 years with a caveat that if he's not back to full fitness within 6 months the club has the option to cancel it.

I believe Ben was offered the captaincy and a new contract before the start of last season, but turned them both down.

 

[mattytheshrimper]

I believe Ben was offered the captaincy and a new contract before the start of last season, but turned them both down.

AND THIS is exactly what people keep forgetting and Coker very conveniently doesn't mention through out the documentary. Can't decline a contract, then get injured and then say how upsetting it is being injured and potentially being let go.

He wants loyalty from us but he didn't give this to us when his contract was offered to him.

 

[Member]

AND THIS is exactly what people keep forgetting and Coker very conveniently doesn't mention through out the documentary. Can't decline a contract, then get injured and then say how upsetting it is being injured and potentially being let go.

He wants loyalty from us but he didn't give this to us when his contract was offered to him.

If your employer cut your salary but expected you to do the same job, how loyal would you feel?

I appreciate things are slightly different, and that Coker took a bit of a gamble by rejecting a contract, but he's 28 and statistically at his football prime age and if we ended the season mid table then understandably he'd say 'thanks for the 6 years but now I want to see if I can get into a Championship team and test myself at a level I've never been at. I think Coker at his best (not something we've seen for at least 18 months) could play at the lower Championship level and he'd get much more money for doing so. Can we really stand in the way of him having that opportunity after 4 years playing in L1 for us and not really getting promotion sniff since 2017? Not sure why he's not been loyal, he could have been angling for a move 2 years ago?

From an SUFC perspective, he now has the body of a 31-32 year old after a couple of very serious injuries and he only managed 22 appearances last season and 17 this. Quite rightly, you could worry that you won't get full season from him, and he may not recover to 100% physically after his major knee injury. Left backs are hard to replace and valuable, and it's better the devil you know in some ways, but Coker has a lot of work to do between now and the autumn to get back to full fitness, and we need to be planning for if that doesn't actually happen.

I hope and expect we give him a 1 year deal, to be renegotiated at Christmas.

 

[Mr Browns Ghost]

If your employer cut your salary but expected you to do the same job, how loyal would you feel?

I appreciate things are slightly different, and that Coker took a bit of a gamble by rejecting a contract, but he's 28 and statistically at his football prime age and if we ended the season mid table then understandably he'd say 'thanks for the 6 years but now I want to see if I can get into a Championship team and test myself at a level I've never been at. I think Coker at his best (not something we've seen for at least 18 months) could play at the lower Championship level and he'd get much more money for doing so. Can we really stand in the way of him having that opportunity after 4 years playing in L1 for us and not really getting promotion sniff since 2017? Not sure why he's not been loyal, he could have been angling for a move 2 years ago?

From an SUFC perspective, he now has the body of a 31-32 year old after a couple of very serious injuries and he only managed 22 appearances last season and 17 this. Quite rightly, you could worry that you won't get full season from him, and he may not recover to 100% physically after his major knee injury. Left backs are hard to replace and valuable, and it's better the devil you know in some ways, but Coker has a lot of work to do between now and the autumn to get back to full fitness, and we need to be planning for if that doesn't actually happen.

I hope and expect we give him a 1 year deal, to be renegotiated at Christmas.

name me a job (thats not being a professional footballer) that is comparable to being a professional footballer... Thats like saying 'if your boss let you go at 34 because he thought you were to old to go to work anymore'... its football this is what happens.. you dont always get 3% increase every April

 

[Member]

name me a job (thats not being a professional footballer) that is comparable to being a professional footballer... Thats like saying 'if your boss let you go at 34 because he thought you were to old to go to work anymore'... its football this is what happens.. you dont always get 3% increase every April

I don't think we're disagreeing.

If you have a job contract for a fixed period of time (very common in my line of work) and then your employer came back and said we want to renew your contract, you've done a great job, but we want to save some money and so we've offered you a new contract but your salary is half, then you'd be annoyed. You might even look for a new employer.

I don't know why people think Coker has been particularly unreasonable or disloyal here...

 

[shrimpfan]

I don't think we're disagreeing.

If you have a job contract for a fixed period of time (very common in my line of work) and then your employer came back and said we want to renew your contract, you've done a great job, but we want to save some money and so we've offered you a new contract but your salary is half, then you'd be annoyed. You might even look for a new employer.

I don't know why people think Coker has been particularly unreasonable or disloyal here...

I don't think we're disagreeing.

If you have a job contract for a fixed period of time (very common in my line of work) and then your employer came back and said we want to renew your contract, you've done a great job, but we want to save some money and so we've offered you a new contract but your salary is half, then you'd be annoyed. You might even look for a new employer.

I don't know why people think Coker has been particularly unreasonable or disloyal here...

He got offered 50% less then ?

 

[Ricey]

Is there any truth in us offering him a pay cut?

 

[Member]

He got offered 50% less then ?

It’s all hypothetical. People expect absolute loyalty without knowing what Coker was offered.

 

[SeaSideDoughnut]

AND THIS is exactly what people keep forgetting and Coker very conveniently doesn't mention through out the documentary. Can't decline a contract, then get injured and then say how upsetting it is being injured and potentially being let go.

He wants loyalty from us but he didn't give this to us when his contract was offered to him.

I believe he says in maybe the first episode he turned down a contract, and stands by that decision. I'll have to go back to know 100%.

There's always a polarising character. Last season it was Cox because he 'doesn't score enough'. This year because of his tweets etc, it's Coker. Not to say one is like the other but they're both quality players.

 

[mattytheshrimper]

If your employer cut your salary but expected you to do the same job, how loyal would you feel?

I appreciate things are slightly different, and that Coker took a bit of a gamble by rejecting a contract, but he's 28 and statistically at his football prime age and if we ended the season mid table then understandably he'd say 'thanks for the 6 years but now I want to see if I can get into a Championship team and test myself at a level I've never been at. I think Coker at his best (not something we've seen for at least 18 months) could play at the lower Championship level and he'd get much more money for doing so. Can we really stand in the way of him having that opportunity after 4 years playing in L1 for us and not really getting promotion sniff since 2017? Not sure why he's not been loyal, he could have been angling for a move 2 years ago?

From an SUFC perspective, he now has the body of a 31-32 year old after a couple of very serious injuries and he only managed 22 appearances last season and 17 this. Quite rightly, you could worry that you won't get full season from him, and he may not recover to 100% physically after his major knee injury. Left backs are hard to replace and valuable, and it's better the devil you know in some ways, but Coker has a lot of work to do between now and the autumn to get back to full fitness, and we need to be planning for if that doesn't actually happen.

I hope and expect we give him a 1 year deal, to be renegotiated at Christmas.

Completely missing my point Pubey (surprise surprise). He turned down a contract end of, you have no idea if it was less or not your literally guessing. I can't imagine it was personally.

Like I said in my original post that you quoted, he drowns on about the uncertainty that lies ahead for him and was begging for a new offer from us even though he's injured and will be for the some of next season. I actually agreed at that time that we should offer him another one because of his loyalty to us. THEN I saw episode 2 where he all but said he wouldn't even consider us if we were in league 2 etc etc. You cannot have your cake and eat it, especially in his posistion!!!

 

[FarmdogSUFC]

I don't know for certain but I'm pretty sure we didn't offer him a pay cut. He did however counter the offer, which was also turned down by Ron.

 

[Fitz]

I don’t think Coker will ever play in the championship now, given his age, current injury and recent injuries over the last couple of years.

If he can get back to full fitness, he will certainly attract good standard league 1 clubs and if the team he signs for gets promoted that is his route into the championship. That is unlikely to be sometime until this autumn..I think we give him a one year contract, reduced pay until full fitness and then increased once he makes his first start. That will be our gamble as much as his and if he returns to full form and new contract in the new year could be negotiated. He is not going to get anything more than that anywhere else.

 

[Member]

Completely missing my point Pubey (surprise surprise). He turned down a contract end of, you have no idea if it was less or not your literally guessing. I can't imagine it was personally.

Like I said in my original post that you quoted, he drowns on about the uncertainty that lies ahead for him and was begging for a new offer from us even though he's injured and will be for the some of next season. I actually agreed at that time that we should offer him another one because of his loyalty to us. THEN I saw episode 2 where he all but said he wouldn't even consider us if we were in league 2 etc etc. You cannot have your cake and eat it, especially in his posistion!!!

As long as he recovers from his injury he’d walk (hobble) into most L1 teams. It’s perfectely reasonable and not disloyal for him to want to leave Southend if we went down. Sensible for everyone concerned to wait until the end of the season to find out which league we’d be in, and now who our permanent manager will be.

 

[Evening Echo]

SOUTHEND United left-back Ben Coker has revealed he was reduced to tears ahead of what he feared may be his final trip to Roots Hall.

More...

 

[Jai]

We'd drop a player like a hot potato if they were out of contract and we didn't feel they were up to it.

Why shouldn't players drop us if we are not up to it (ie, at a level they feel they are better than)?

 

[Tampa Blue]

Attracting interest from Lincoln City according to CP. Bye Ben!!