Spoilsport!

I love posts like this. Which pub were the 3 of you in when this cropped up in conversation? Did you hear which names Nathan mentioned?

Well, I heard his deal with yourselves was £120'000 a year. So, I presume he could command almost £100'000 a year elsewhere. Could probably get it at Cas (We like overpaying players). So it could cost you £20k. A decision your board have to make.

Cas had to do similar to get rid of Michael Korkidas, He was on £88'000 a year, And his next contract was for £60k, So we had to make up the difference.

Not unless McManus disappeared down the rabbit hole and into some fantasy world of make-believe. There are living legends who didn't draw anywhere near that mark when the club was dominating SL! Shenton showed some [ipromise[/i - but £120k is the kind of figure you'd be looking to invest in [iguaranteed deliverables[/i.

He may well have done - nobody actually knows.

He may well have been mischief making but when he signed for us Mr Shenton was widely quoted as telling his Cas team mates that it was an unbelievable deal. Like you I hope that wasn't the case as there was nothing in his pedigree that afforded him that kind of status in my view. Good yes, £100k+ a year good....no way.

None of us know the facts - despite many claiming to. I know what you mean by wanting more of a guarantee at that cost but there's none of those even if we ended up paying someone twice that amount.

In general terms it looks like somewhat of a clearout is on the cards. I have no quibble with any of it as long as (a) it's the coach that's directing it (b) it makes financial sense and (c) it makes room for a better calibre of player or prospect than they would be replacing.

Whatever tge figure are, I'd we are going to offload shenton, or perry, or hohaia, then we are highly likely to have to make up their salary, because no other club is going to pay them their current wages having seen how they have performed at saints. Any pay off like that I presume will still count against the salary cap for next season, or the next three seasons in hohaias case. I imagine we will be paying for these mistakes for a few years yet.

Depends doesn't it and that's my point about nobody actually knowing. If a player asks for a release and the Club agree then it doesn't necessarily obligate the Club to pay anything. If however the decision is the Club's then the player is within his rights to seek compensation for part/all of his contractual entitlement. Or the 2 parties can agree a mutually acceptable sum which may not necessarily be equivalent to the same.

If the rumours about Perry, Laffranchi and Hohaia have any substance then I could see it that Saints grant them a release and walk away; after all who wants players that don't want to be here? If however it's us that wants rid and they want to stay then we either dig deep or put up with them until contract expiry. Let's hope it's the former as that would (with the possible exception of Laffranchi) give us some decent opportunities.

Didn't Warrington 'pay a player off' and it didn't count on their salary cap?

Sure it was Hicks

If you release a player you can pay off his entire contract (In reality it would be a mutually agreed severence package which wouldn't be for the full value, due to the player being able to sign elsewhere) and non of it counts on the salary cap provided the player hasn't played for the club that season.

So after this season finishes we could in theory pay off Hohaia, Shenton and Perry and non of it would go on the salary cap. We'd just be spending more if we then spent up to the cap on new players.

you would have to wait until 2013 to pay them off unless you have cap space left for 2012......payments made in 2012 would count as they have played in 2012

There are no guarantees - but you can certainly play the probabilities game knowing you stand a very good chance of making the right investment. I mean, sure - one chance out of ten Shenton might prove more effective than Jamie Lyon (who gets squashed flat by a falling piano whilst out for a run) for the same money. But that's a risk I'm sure most people would be willing to take.

Yup, it would have to be at the end of the season.

Of course Shenton will be on £120k (at least). Saints were in competition with a number of clubs for his signature - when players are in that position they tend to negotiate contracts that contain a premium, if you pay transfer fees you can avoid this.


I would be interested to hear which players you consider to be higher earners at Saints than Shenton and how that all balances out for a 25 man squad equalling the salary cap.

Agree completely Mugwump - probabilty has to play a part or else nobody would sign anyone. Trouble is though that I think 'probability' is estimated on the basis of who the Chairman likes rather than a Chi-Square test. I am just not sure Shenton's pre-Saints potential actually warranted the 'guarantee' that his alleged salary would indicate he had.

On a broader note, if my reading of the situation and any of these Turner/Manu/Shenton/Hohaia/Perry/Laffranchi rumours are true then I applaud the shift in attitude towards players deemed not to be the right fit and hope it doesn't stop there as per some of the comments made in your other post. I also hope and trust that Nathan Brown is at the heart of it - it may take him 2 or 3 years but I read it that he's a coach that gets what he wants.

Hope the tea leaves are right.