How much can we read into contract lengths?

[Yorkshire Blue]

I was really interested to hear Phillips say he was on a 2 year deal. I thought he would be our third centre-half, but now I'm not so sure.

Paul Sturrock needed to assemble a squad quickly, so he may have had to compromise on quality in order to get bodies in.

There appear to have been lots of one year contracts handed out. These are presumably the players Sturrock wasn't so sure about, so he only wanted to commit to them for a year*.

This includes the two keepers, neither of whom is clear first choice (Evans and Morris); the semi-professionals making a leap up (Bilel and Hall); the veterans whose legs might not last (Coughlan, Zaaboub and Easton); plus his son and Soares.

This leaves an interesting group of players on multi-year deals. Are these the players Sturrock sees as the core (pun not intended) of the club: Clohessy, Gilbert, Phillips and Corr? Or was it just that it took a 2 year deal to get them to sign?


*Although the opposite may also apply in that they may have only wanted to commit for a year.

 

[palexander]

Yea, was thinking the same when I heard Phillips say that - that some players may have wanted 2 year deals, which is understandable.

Perhaps the '1 year deal' was the minimum anyone can sign on for - just in case the embargo wasnt lifted in time, and (if it is to be lifted today), then perhaps we'll see those 1 year deals renegotiated into multi year deals now.

Though to be fair, Coughlan at least will certainly go on a 1 year playing deal, probably Easton too - but there are cases for 2 years for the others. Be a shame to sign some promising youngsters and have them walk away for nowt next year. Players like Moshni who is apparently very highly rated by the coaching staff.

 

[OldBlueLady]

As I've said elsewhere, I would imagine it's more of a case of the short term instability that meant short contracts were offered. I expect the majority to be offered longer ones dependent on how we're doing in about 6 months time.

 

[fbm]

Yea, was thinking the same when I heard Phillips say that - that some players may have wanted 2 year deals, which is understandable.

Perhaps the '1 year deal' was the minimum anyone can sign on for - just in case the embargo wasnt lifted in time, and (if it is to be lifted today), then perhaps we'll see those 1 year deals renegotiated into multi year deals now.

Though to be fair, Coughlan at least will certainly go on a 1 year playing deal, probably Easton too - but there are cases for 2 years for the others. Be a shame to sign some promising youngsters and have them walk away for nowt next year. Players like Moshni who is apparently very highly rated by the coaching staff.

This was the problem in the CCC... we couldn't attract the players here and were at the mercy of the agents and on some occasions long contracts were all that would get them to sign. We paid the price for that. We can get away with it in L2 because the wages are lower but if we ever get up there again we'll be in the same boat. That's why the new stadium is so important... it gives us a great place for players to come and play and assists with getting lads in.