Out of contract players

[shaka's shorts]

So who decides their fate now? Hammond or maybe they are chatting to a prospective manager already...Must be frustrating for them. Murts on BBC Berks soon, will listen in...

Murts, USA, Lita are all out of contract and i assume leaving, same for Sodje and Golbourne I think. Not sure about others (Gunnarsson, Inga?)

[The Surgeon of Crowthorne]

What a coincidence - I was thinking of starting a similar thread.

Who is actually out of contract this summer? Will they all be let go? Are any worth offering new deals, if only for one year?

[loyalroyal4life]

usa, murty , lita will all go. hopefully ivar wont purely as i think he is better than doobs and should play next to bikey

i think hammond will wait until new manager is appointed as ultimately the manager should have some input as to who he does or doesnt want to stay.

For instance he might like lita and think he can do a job and tell the club to give him a 1 year offer

[The Real Sandhurst Royal]

Let all the out of contarct players go and that will solve a big problem for all concerned as we then have a real clean slate to move forward and rebuild with fresh ideas and new players.

[shaka's shorts]

Just listened to Mr Mad on BBC Berks - out of contract players meeting Hammond today. He said (predictably) that we have too many players and too high a wage bill, so looks bad news for USA and Murts etc.

Murts was supposed to have been on but has not appeared, maybe he has had the bad news from Hammond already...Does anyone have a list of out of contract players?

[brendywendy]

if murts is unceremoniously dumped that will be a little sad

[The 17 Bus]

if he feels fit he can get a pay as you play from parky.

[TBM]

If i was Murts i would look to join Parky in his coaching staff.........then in 5 years time be our manager

[yuomi]

i think murty needs to be shown his due respect for all he has contributed over the years. the guy is a legend n'all. i keep changing my mind on this one the more i think about it but i feel lita needs a new deal too....or at least i do right now. il pop back later and say oppositie probably.

usa clearing immigration = best news il have.

[yappy]

As much as I love Murty, giving him a new contract really doesn't seem like an option for me. He's barely been fit this season, and how do we know he can still cut it at this level? We obviously need to trim our bill and giving a new contract to someone who will only play a couple of games at best next season (especially with Julian Kelly challenging the RB slot) doesn't seem viable to me.

[Deathy]

Murts, USA, Lita are all out of contract and i assume leaving, same for Sodje and Golbourne I think. Not sure about others (Gunnarsson, Inga?)

All can go. No problem.

[Snowball]

Mr Sir Mad made it pretty clear that they were shrinking the squad and would be relying on the kids to back up the first 11.

It may be a bit unnerving but it looks like they'll lose as many as they can, have a skeleton of those with longer contracts,
a load of kids, and then the new manager bringing in 3-4 first-team players

It wouldn't be a bad thing to offer USA a cut-price 1-year contract as back-up to Feds, but age catches up with all of us, so if he goes, ah well..

[kingsleyroyal]

Murts has been unlucky this season with injuries. He just needs a decent run. Experience is priceless. Look at Graham Alexander for Burnley - 3 years older than Murts and still one of their most influencial players. He used to play at RB (like Murts) but moved to defensive midfielder - sat in front of the back 4. Murts has great distribution, great passing, great tackler, what else do you need? Gary Neville - another one. Same position as Murts, same age. Yes, he has been injured too - but Fergie recognises the importance of him to the team. When he is fit - he plays.

Murts was injured pre-season. Spent the rest of the season playing catch up - probably trying to speed things up - hence breaking down again. Have the summer off witha new 1yr contract - have a steady pre-season without injury - then we have our captain back and bags load of experience to support the younger squad build to gain promotion again!

Easy

[loyalroyal]

BYE BYE USA, Find another team to hoof long balls with

[rhroyal]

It's time to call it a day for Murty and Reading, but he needs a proper goodbye and I don't want to be released next week with no formal goodbye. He needs a testimony, where the likes of USA can also play and get some sort of recognition with Coppell managing one final side.

[Stranded]

if murts is unceremoniously dumped that will be a little sad

I wouldn't call it unceremonious if he doesn't get a new deal. I don't see he'd offer much next year now given he seems to pick up injuries regularly again and I really can't see the new manager wanting him as 1st choice RB.

It is probably the right time to say thanks and goodbye - maybe head back to Charlton to help them in League 1 next year.

[Hoop Blah]

Unfortunately for Murty his body seems to have given up. We can't just give him a playing contract, and the money that would surely entail, on the hope that he gets fit. We've seen how it's effected him and Little this season and we can't afford to have these old timers absorbing large parts of our wage bill.

As for just keeping the out of contract players on. Don't forget their contracts are probably up on the 1st of June. At that point they'll have clubs chasing their signatures and so we can't wait indefinately to either offer them something, get rid of them, or let the new manager make his mind up on them first as it could well be too late.

If the new manager is already known, and the search is just a bit of a smoke screen then he may have already told Hammond who stays and who goes.

[Snowball]

Murts has been unlucky this season with injuries. He just needs a decent run. Experience is priceless. Look at Graham Alexander for Burnley - 3 years older than Murts and still one of their most influencial players. He used to play at RB (like Murts) but moved to defensive midfielder - sat in front of the back 4. Murts has great distribution, great passing, great tackler, what else do you need? Gary Neville - another one. Same position as Murts, same age. Yes, he has been injured too - but Fergie recognises the importance of him to the team. When he is fit - he plays.

Murts was injured pre-season. Spent the rest of the season playing catch up - probably trying to speed things up - hence breaking down again. Have the summer off witha new 1yr contract - have a steady pre-season without injury - then we have our captain back and bags load of experience to support the younger squad build to gain promotion again!

Easy

Good point, and maybe also useful if we are going to play more kids.

IF he stays, AND is fit, could he do the job behind Matejovsky?

[mx]

So who decides their fate now? Hammond or maybe they are chatting to a prospective manager already...Must be frustrating for them. Murts on BBC Berks soon, will listen in...

Murts, USA, Lita are all out of contract and i assume leaving, same for Sodje and Golbourne I think. Not sure about others (Gunnarsson, Inga?)

Agreed time is up for those five players.
Ingi must surely stay
Gunnar? I'd keep him too, on balance.

Does anyone know whether Ben Hamer is out of contract? I'm guessing he'll stay at Brentford anyway rather than come back and be understudy to Federici & Anderson.

[Hoop Blah]

You guys are living in cloud cuckoo land.

Alexander has hardly missed a league game in the last 3 or 4 seasons and he is a totally different physical proposition to the now fragile Mr Murty.