I can see what you are saying Bren, say he goes to wigan and has a drop of form, he may be loaned out to a championship club and could end up as a permanent move. We are move likely to stick with him

It does frustrate me as someone who wants to see clubs keep their talent/potential talent when all the fans of cashed up clubs are saying, we should sign Johnstone from Wakey.
I've seen it on a few boards now, just leave the lad be for a couple of seasons at least, see how he goes; and let Wakefield enjoy the fruits of their labour.

All wakefield suffering fans want to see is a successful club as in the sixties and the way to reach this is by keeping your best young talent not as we have repeatedly done in the past selling them on. As for the young players themselves, they will reap the rewards because we would be one of those top successful clubs paying top contracts through the extra income we receive from increased ticket sales and sponsorship.
However from the owners perspective they will be looking at recouping the money they have put into the club by re-mortgaging their houses which means they will be looking at the balance sheet and the best assets which are the best young players. I believe that MC saw the real potential of Tom Johnson way back and moved in quickly to tie him down to a 4 year contract knowing this would increase his monetary value when the big clubs come sniffing round.

Do you work for Sky? It is Johnstone.

Whats a 't' between friends.

I would hope that the fact that we have already knocked back approaches for Tom Johnstone from Wigan, that it is because Mr Carter realises the value of that player to his club. Not in terms of what we can get for him now by selling him on, but by what he would lose in revenue from Club 1873 and supporters coming through the doors if we were seen to be selling the family silver (again).

English Breakfast or Earl Grey?

I totally agree and that's my point we need to bite the bullet, retain our young talent and build for the future, my worry is that MC is an accountant and an accountants priority is to balance the books.

I totally agree and that's my point, we need to keep our young talent and build for the future. My worry is MC is from an accountancy background and the priority as such is to balance the books, hopefully I will be proven wrong.

Meet it head on, stick the lad on a big contract, put it out there that any club wanting his services need to cough up minium 'x' amount of pounds, let the lad continue playing knowing that he has free reign at Wakey and an option if he does want to leave, and they are not looking to hold him back.

Looks like I totally agree twice (computer playing up).

Being a Trinity supporter is not easy. We crave for homegrown talent and when have had it in the past, out comes the cheque book and a 'bigger' club and money then talks. Both the club and player succumb to it and we, the poor sodding supporters have to grin and bear it.
It's different now though, I sincerely hope!
We have had to sell previously to balance the books but we are supposedly not in that position now.
Let's hope that's the case and that there is no mass exodus from 1873!

Am I correct that the club is now one of the few not saddled with any outstanding bills to pay in league? If so that works massively in our favour in keeping the likes of Johnstone and Jowitt.

Had a look at the Wakefield accounts (Spirit of 1873) as this is public domain. MC appears to be owed £850K by the club. Trinity appear £1.5M in debt with £140K owed to the RFL.

They'll still be saddled with bills like everybody else, maybe you mean outstanding debts in which case I think your right, If I'm not mistaken I'm sure I've read it where the chairman said we need something like four and a half thousand crowd to break even, although I may be wrong there.