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Alfie May - signed for Birmingham (p68 - Now Huddersfield )
Comments
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I am quite surprised at the lack of alarm among the fanbase regarding May. It is looking like this could be a real goer now, with Huddersfield going back in with a second bid, I.e. we have likely told them he is for sale, but not at the fee they offered.
Are we becoming too trusting again? I personally think 1.5 million (as some have suggested) is a pathetic fee if offered. Could we bring in a player of Mays calibre with that money? Would it be a risk if attempted to? There are so many question marks around the potential sale of May.
What we currently have at our disposal, is a striker that is almost a certainty to score 20 goals in a season. If you're fighting for promotion he will increase your chances (I suspect Derby or Oxford would have managed it a lot easier with him) if you want to stay up, his goals are crucial, as we ourselves found out. Unfortunately for Cheltenham, so did they. He was the main difference in us being a league 1 team next season, and undoubtedly if Cheltenham had kept him, they'd have had a much higher chance of staying up.
I just think it's far too great a risk and to me, it will make me question the people calling the shots further, and potentially even Jones. How can you justify, after such a poor season, selling arguably our only top calibre player, to a team who will be fighting for promotion, and imo, will almost certainly guarantee them top6 if we are to sell.
We were so cynical towards old owners on player sales, for players who were a lot less valuable imho. Why is the mood so relaxed?
I've made some humorous jokes over the May talk, but I genuinely think it would be an absolute disgrace to sell him. We are far better off with him than without, and I fear we will not be able to replace him with such a low fee..34 -
3m, no less0
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Wonder if May would be happy going up to Huddersfield seeing as he and his family were a little homesick at Cheltenham (Pretty sure that was the case anyway). That might not matter if he was a lesser player, but considering the crucial role he played last season and being one of only about two or maybe three players that gave anywhere near enough effort, it might be enough for the Club to put the matter to bed and him to stay.
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So that's Corey Blackett-Taylor, George Dobson and Alfie May? They were the three I'd have kept. Jeez, give me strength.14
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Yep or atleast build around them and add players as good or better to get out the league but of course these players are the problem etc,we need a new style...Raith_C_Chattonell said:So that's Corey Blackett-Taylor, George Dobson and Alfie May? They were the three I'd have kept. Jeez, give me strength.2 -
I want him to stay.
If the fans top three picks leave the club this summer the club had better win promotion by next summer.
Season ticket secured, but now stressed.1 -
Advice to the club if you are going to sell Alfie May. Then not for less than £10 million pounds.
Proven goal scorers are gold dust.6 -
I fear that Jones is trying to soften up the fan base by saying that he had to make many unpopular decisions at Luton in the early days, but now, looking back, Luton fans would now say that he was correct in taking those bold decisions.0
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queensland_addick said:I fear that Jones is trying to soften up the fan base by saying that he had to make many unpopular decisions at Luton in the early days, but now, looking back, Luton fans would now say that he was correct in taking those bold decisions.
I get it worked at Luton but as a manager you surely don't just have one template everywhere you go, you adapt to the circumstances of that squad. So getting rid of the crowd favs at Luton should really have no baring whatsoever on what he does with us imo.
Alfie scores but he is also a better all round player than he gets credit for and we haven't had a striker put in so much running since Garry Nelson days so for an all action, fast press Jones team he surely fits in?
I think promotion to the Championship is worth £10M. Could you imagine a play off final with Huddersfield where he scores to beat us!
Still with us having lost CBT, Dobson and likely him and so far bought in Mannion I currently have our squad somewhere between 23rd/24th in L1 so don't have to worry about playoffs.5 - Sponsored links:
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Personally think if he stays he will be captain next year.
I would be surprised if NJ wants him gone but ultimately every player has a price.1 -
Correct, but due to Alfie’s age and limited experience at a higher level the amount we could realistically get from Huddersfield (or anyone else who would be interested) is going to be significantly lower than his value to us. I think we’ll keep him, and it would be an astonishingly bad decision to let him go.king addick said:Personally think if he stays he will be captain next year.
I would be surprised if NJ wants him gone but ultimately every player has a price.3 -
This with bells onBraziliance said:I am quite surprised at the lack of alarm among the fanbase regarding May. It is looking like this could be a real goer now, with Huddersfield going back in with a second bid, I.e. we have likely told them he is for sale, but not at the fee they offered.
Are we becoming too trusting again? I personally think 1.5 million (as some have suggested) is a pathetic fee if offered. Could we bring in a player of Mays calibre with that money? Would it be a risk if attempted to? There are so many question marks around the potential sale of May.
What we currently have at our disposal, is a striker that is almost a certainty to score 20 goals in a season. If you're fighting for promotion he will increase your chances (I suspect Derby or Oxford would have managed it a lot easier with him) if you want to stay up, his goals are crucial, as we ourselves found out. Unfortunately for Cheltenham, so did they. He was the main difference in us being a league 1 team next season, and undoubtedly if Cheltenham had kept him, they'd have had a much higher chance of staying up.
I just think it's far too great a risk and to me, it will make me question the people calling the shots further, and potentially even Jones. How can you justify, after such a poor season, selling arguably our only top calibre player, to a team who will be fighting for promotion, and imo, will almost certainly guarantee them top6 if we are to sell.
We were so cynical towards old owners on player sales, for players who were a lot less valuable imho. Why is the mood so relaxed?
I've made some humorous jokes over the May talk, but I genuinely think it would be an absolute disgrace to sell him. We are far better off with him than without, and I fear we will not be able to replace him with such a low fee..
The hardest thing to find in football is a goal scorer. We’ve got the best one in the league and we’re going to sell him…to a rival?!
Not only that but we’ve got a broken squad that needs a massive turnover of players. It seems lunacy to make Alfie May part of that already worrying problem.4 -
Effective strikers are the most rare human resource, at every level. In business any idiot can get rid of people, often for no better reason than "they don't get on". And then they discover that the hard part is replacing that employee with someone equally as effective.
I've been 100% pro Jones up to now. However at the back of my mind I'm a bit worried about the "fundamentalist" aspect of his personality. Curbs wasn't a fundamentalist. He was a pragmatist. His success with us was due in no small part to his understanding that for years we didn't have much money, and as he said so many times, "we've just got to get on with it". It meant working with what he had. He had to see Robert Lee sold and replaced him with Robbo who had neither Lee's skill nor his pace. But he had the attitude and came to epitomise the strength of Curbs earlier teams.
I don't think this rumour is built on nothing. It feeds off the way Jones played or didn't play Alfie in the latter games of last season. I was prepared to believe that Jones was experimenting with the team to understand better how all the parts work, but Curbs and Brownie raised eyebrows at the time. I'm also a bit confused about what exactly Alfie doesn't bring to the game and the club. "Good character"? Seems by all accounts to pass the Curbs test. Many times I saw signs he was looking after and encouraging the youngsters. Jones wants "a pressing game"? Maybe I'm showing my ignorance of modern tactics, but are you telling me Alfie doesn't press? Not how it looked in, for example his debut against Orient when chasing down apparently lost causes was his trademark. If that's what Jones wants, he does a lot more "pressing" than Clive Mendonca ever did. Too selfish/doesn't make assists? Well leaving aside the fact that selfishness is a natural essential strikers' trait, I don't remember that many occasions when he tried a shot when a player whom he could trust (as opposed to Freddie Ladapo🤣) was in a better position.
Maybe I do Jones a grave disservice. I really hope so. But I think it is not totally irrational to wonder, given that both Jones and our new owners are unproven.15 -
There’s nothing we can do and we just have to accept it but some of our fans genuinely make an excuse up and accept any old shit that happens to our club as potentially a good thing.
They’d come home find the next door neighbour hanging out the back of the Mrs and immediately look to the positive in it , she looks like she’s having a good time, it’s nice to get on well with the neighbours , apologise for interrupting and go on their merry way .
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If he is going 1) can only assume we are going with 3 up top rather than 2 - 3-4-2-1 and 3-4-3 have become very popular formations and/or 2) the smoke around a less than warm relationship between NJ and AM may be true.To be honest, our squad has underperformed for 3-4 years now since coming back down to League One and so, while I have appreciated May, Dobbo, CBT, Leaburn, Kanu, Small more than others it is fair to say we need to do things radically different to deliver the outcome we are looking for. I would like to see more goals from May in a CAFC shirt, but if the trade off on that is a better chance of promotion, I would take that.I have a lot of faith in NJ to get this right as long as he is appropriately backed with budget.0
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I really don’t think Jones is unproven by any stretch of the imagination - in fact quiet the opposite.PragueAddick said:Effective strikers are the most rare human resource, at every level. In business any idiot can get rid of people, often for no better reason than "they don't get on". And then they discover that the hard part is replacing that employee with someone equally as effective.
I've been 100% pro Jones up to now. However at the back of my mind I'm a bit worried about the "fundamentalist" aspect of his personality. Curbs wasn't a fundamentalist. He was a pragmatist. His success with us was due in no small part to his understanding that for years we didn't have much money, and as he said so many times, "we've just got to get on with it". It meant working with what he had. He had to see Robert Lee sold and replaced him with Robbo who had neither Lee's skill nor his pace. But he had the attitude and came to epitomise the strength of Curbs earlier teams.
I don't think this rumour is built on nothing. It feeds off the way Jones played or didn't play Alfie in the latter games of last season. I was prepared to believe that Jones was experimenting with the team to understand better how all the parts work, but Curbs and Brownie raised eyebrows at the time. I'm also a bit confused about what exactly Alfie doesn't bring to the game and the club. "Good character"? Seems by all accounts to pass the Curbs test. Many times I saw signs he was looking after and encouraging the youngsters. Jones wants "a pressing game"? Maybe I'm showing my ignorance of modern tactics, but are you telling me Alfie doesn't press? Not how it looked in, for example his debut against Orient when chasing down apparently lost causes was his trademark. If that's what Jones wants, he does a lot more "pressing" than Clive Mendonca ever did. Too selfish/doesn't make assists? Well leaving aside the fact that selfishness is a natural essential strikers' trait, I don't remember that many occasions when he tried a shot when a player whom he could trust (as opposed to Freddie Ladapo🤣) was in a better position.
Maybe I do Jones a grave disservice. I really hope so. But I think it is not totally irrational to wonder, given that both Jones and our new owners are unproven.1 -
I'm paraphrasing what is already known, but Curbs always says, "Never take goals out of the team" or "Goals is the most important thing" or something similar. He was less than enthusiastic about CBT going, even though his main role was as provider.
May may not be what Jones wants, but if he's not good enough, then our entire squad (based on skill, attitude and fitness) should get dumped in the channel.
If May is sold I hope there is a replacement with as many goals last season, at at least League One or higher, to replace him. Or we sign the best wingers and midfielders around, to supply the lumps up front that we will replace him with.0 - Sponsored links:
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I don't get all this unfettered in Jones we trust stuff.
Honest truth is although he had great success at Luton, he was a dismal failure at his last 2 clubs.
If he sells May through choice - and not because the board are pressuring him to take the money - then I think it is madness.
May guarantees you 20 goals and from what ive seen seems a good bloke to have around the place. And having finally got one of these strikers, we are just going to let him go?
I hope Jones knows what he is doing. If he mucks this up his managerial career not just here but more widely is in the balance.
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I think its more to the point that we have no choice in trusting himFortune 82nd Minute said:I don't get all this unfettered in Jones we trust stuff.
Honest truth is although he had great success at Luton, he was a dismal failure at his last 2 clubs.
If he sells May through choice - and not because the board are pressuring him to take the money - then I think it is madness.
May guarantees you 20 goals and from what ive seen seems a good bloke to have around the place. And having finally got one of these strikers, we are just going to let him go?
I hope Jones knows what he is doing. If he mucks this up his managerial career not just here but more widely is in the balance.2 -
I think it is a basic rule but it does feel real that some people in the game don't get it like they expect players who never score to suddenly do so. Having said that, I have faith in Jones and am waiting to see what he does.The Prince-e-Paul said:I'm paraphrasing what is already known, but Curbs always says, "Never take goals out of the team" or "Goals is the most important thing" or something similar. He was less than enthusiastic about CBT going, even though his main role was as provider.
May may not be what Jones wants, but if he's not good enough, then our entire squad (based on skill, attitude and fitness) should get dumped in the channel.
If May is sold I hope there is a replacement with as many goals last season, at at least League One or higher, to replace him. Or we sign the best wingers and midfielders around, to supply the lumps up front that we will replace him with.0 -
Couldn't Jones pretend to like may and still buy another striker who scores goals and puts himself about abit and we have better chances of winning games with a better squad0
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Pavoren007 said:If he is going 1) can only assume we are going with 3 up top rather than 2 - 3-4-2-1 and 3-4-3 have become very popular formations and/or 2) the smoke around a less than warm relationship between NJ and AM may be true.To be honest, our squad has underperformed for 3-4 years now since coming back down to League One and so, while I have appreciated May, Dobbo, CBT, Leaburn, Kanu, Small more than others it is fair to say we need to do things radically different to deliver the outcome we are looking for. I would like to see more goals from May in a CAFC shirt, but if the trade off on that is a better chance of promotion, I would take that.I have a lot of faith in NJ to get this right as long as he is appropriately backed with budget.
Radically different would be to build a squad, not sell our best players every single summer. We are stuck in this loop where we sell, sell, sell and continue to fall further and people wonder why.
Sure, every team is a selling team for the right price, we won't get that for May for reasons already churned over too many times.
People talk of balancing the books and I used to think that was a fine idea and it is certainly very noble but we lose probably £10M a year so whatever we get for Alfie is a small dent.
What do Rodwell, Methven, Scott etc all earn each year... Probably what we will get for Alfie May. So selling him pays their wages is one way to look at it.3 -
This summer we had the opportunity to build on our existing players with Dodson, B-Taylor and May.
A strong possibility all three are out of the club in four months.0 -
I just can't believe how many people are quite happy for May to go. How many twenty goal plus strikers have we had in our lifetime ? It would be a terrible decision if we let him go and especially to a league one rival.
I would lose all respect for Jones if he made the decision to get rid of him for loose change.9 -
A proven goal scorer is the holy grail of every single team. Why get rid when the fee we will get will not guarantee us the same goal return6
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It’s not as easy as that. Strikers who have a consistent track record of scoring goals, not just one season wonders (remember Ajose), that have done it regularly at the level we’re playing at and are not targets for Championship clubs are incredibly rare. In fact, there might only be one striker in the division that meets that criteria, and he plays for us. That’s why it would be nuts to let him go to another L1 team.Steven81 said:Couldn't Jones pretend to like may and still buy another striker who scores goals and puts himself about abit and we have better chances of winning games with a better squad1 -
It's amazing how almost everyone is sure May is going and that if he does go we won't have the money to replace him.
Someone says NJ and May don't get on and immediately it is a fact.
Another club makes an offer and immediately he's being sold.
I have no problem with people being upset if something happens at the club that they don't agree with but, as often gets quoted, WIOTOS is the only fact that can be relied on.6
