Long to WBA

[loyalroyal4life]

Yes please, least it was in the daily mail as opposed to the star!!

[BR2]

It really depends upon how we expect to play next season,i.e still with a lone striker or in a 4-4-2.
Shane has done miles better than a lot of us expected this season,not so much during the most recent games but he had a real purple patch from February to the beginning of April and £3 million is a lot of money.
He has footballing limitations and doesn't play well in a front two but if our tactic next season is to play the ball up to him and get Gylfi in almost as a second striker then I would hope that we hold on to both of them.

Unfortunately I cannot see Church being physical enough or good enough in the air to play the lone role and both he and Bignall run about a lot but I don't see that as being enough and then we have Rasiak who is very limited and Hunt who is yet another littl'un who gets injured a lot and has yet to prove himself (IMHO)at this level.
Through his years of scouting the opposition our manager has a good handle on players' ability at other clubs and I just hope that he will not have his hands totally tied in terms of transfer funds as unfortunately I'm not sure that we will get much in transfer fees for our lesser and unused players in Cisse,Marek et al.

[brendywendy]

nhunt has proven himself to me in every area bar injury/fitness.

[andrew1957]

nhunt has proven himself to me in every area bar injury/fitness.

Agreed Hunt was superb the previous season but has been unlucky with injury. If he regains fitness he will have a big part to play next season.

[Ian Royal]

Take it, take it, take it, take it!

[UpNorth]

By all means take the money provided we buy a suitable replacement.

[Darren Caskey's Dietician]

£3 mill would be great money for long, and great business..... As long as we bring someone in who gets goals in his place.

Someone like Billy Sharp. He would be ideal to play up top with Church or Noel.

[Kitson12]

Gary Hooper? If S.Long goes.

[stl_royal]

3m would be fantastic. i like long think he could be important next year, but its dumb to pass on an offer like that (if its true)...more than enough money to go out and replace him and probably then some

[Ian Royal]

I'd take £1m.

[Bowman's Quiver]

I'd take £1m.

Thank Heavens you're not the DoF then.

[Urinal Mint]

As average as Long is, he's worth more than £1m in today's market.

[Wimb]

As average as Long is, he's worth more than £1m in today's market.

Hasn't he only got 1 year left on his deal? might sink the value down somewhat, though I'd guess at least 1.5 million + addons

[Ian Royal]

He's only ever played well and successfully for more than the odd game or from the bench for about 4 months of his 5 years with us and those were two periods over two separate seasons with a load of poor performances in between them.

He's completely inconsistent. He doesn't offer much other than effort when he isn't scoring...

Never worth more than a £1m. But I'd happily emphasise his strengths and deny his weaknesses in a negotiation if I thought I could take some mug for more.

[Plymouth_Royal]

As average as Long is, he's worth more than £1m in today's market.

In reality he's worth half of that, at most. He works hard and is good at holding up the ball but ANYONE could work hard if they spent a few months on cardio down the gym and he's a big lad so his hold play is always going to be decent. He's been here 5? years now and we keep hearing he's got potential, only been playing football since he was 14? blah blah but at 23 he's had more than enough time to show that. plus, he's a striker with the worst finishing i have seen in a while (peterborough anyone!)We should sell him for whatever price tbh because when his contract expires next season he'll be gone on a free.

[Harpers So Solid Crew]

A Nobber once said that Long was never going to make it as a footballer, or something similar, step forward Schards to give an updated view pleae, based on the last 2/3 seasons.

[Royal Lady]

Tbf, he's hardly set the championship alight. He's struck lucky - I'll give him that.

[Mr Optimist]

Tbf, he's hardly set the championship alight. He's struck lucky - I'll give him that.

I think that is extremely harsh on Shane. He is a good player at this level but I don't think he has developed as much or as quickly as some people would have hoped he would have done.

The older he gets the more "the potential" reduces. I remember when we signed him and Doyler and the Cork City fans were equally upset at losing Shane as they were Kev as they saw him as Kev's natural replacement and some tipped him to emerge a better player than Kev based on what they had seen of him. Trouble is, where kev could go on and play for a top 4 side and continues to develop, Shane's development seems to have levelled off a little.

I think it would cost more than £1m to adequately replace a still young goalscorer who is physically adept and experienced in this division.

[Dirk Gently]

Tbf, he's hardly set the championship alight. He's struck lucky - I'll give him that.

I think that is extremely harsh on Shane. He is a good player at this level but I don't think he has developed as much or as quickly as some people would have hoped he would have done.

The older he gets the more "the potential" reduces. I remember when we signed him and Doyler and the Cork City fans were equally upset at losing Shane as they were Kev as they saw him as Kev's natural replacement and some tipped him to emerge a better player than Kev based on what they had seen of him. Trouble is, where kev could go on and play for a top 4 side and continues to develop, Shane's development seems to have levelled off a little.

I think it would cost more than £1m to adequately replace a still young goalscorer who is physically adept and experienced in this division.

Agreed - the crucial time for his development was 2-3 years ago, where a season on-loan with regular appearances could have made him as a player. Instead, we only used him as an impact sub and he was woefully under-played.

[Harpers So Solid Crew]

Tbf, he's hardly set the championship alight. He's struck lucky - I'll give him that.

TBF I am agreeing with Schards on this. A couple of good spells does not make him a top striker.