Gutted

Today I've snapped at the wife, berated the builders and sent snarly emails to my team.

Why? Because I am so angry at the way the football club I have supported for over 30 years and am a shareholder in have treated a true legend.

Aside from the shocking way Darren has been treated and the fact that we as fans have been denied an opportunity to say goodbye, I am still not convinced by the business/footballing logic either. If we don't have a huge transfer kitty, the cost of recruiting a replacement with the same potential to affect a result, even from the bench, will take a disproportionate amount of cash- particularly once all the upfront agents fees etc are factored in. That investment will also carry risk, as any new player is an unproven quantity. To release Huckerby, when we already face a big bill to bring in players just to be assured of fielding 11 players for a whole season, just doesn't seem like common sense. It's not as if we have a wealth of young talent coming through either- we don't and have just cleared out a large number of the players who would have been the next generation of City players, if they had posessed the talent and attitude.

Some may say Huckerby was a luxury. But unless he was making truly unreasonable wage demands, or we have some sensational plans in place just waiting to be put into play, you could argue that not offering him a one year deal is a luxury, given the additional effort and investment needed to replace him AS WELL as the areas we already needed strengthening in. If we had money and a strong group of players to build on, I would feel less concerned. We don't.

I really hope Glenn Roeder is going to do something special in the transfer market and that that will be translated on the pitch next season. At the moment I am feeling slighty pessimistic.

Posted By: Ethicalworker, May 6, 18:23:21