Josh turned down Forest after offer accepted

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north_london_pool

Well-known member
This rejection is perhaps less of a surprise than many think it is – because the Reds already have a decent number of options in this position and this may have consigned the 22-year-old to the bench, a risk he probably didn’t want to take.

Not only do they have Brennan Johnson who has been one of the Championship’s best performers this term, but also Philip Zinckernagel who has become a regular starter and Alex Mighten, Joe Lolley and Lewis Grabban when they return from their respective injuries.

In the short term, these setbacks may have given Bowler the chance to shine and retain his place. But at 22, he still has a lot to prove and the only way he can prove himself is by maximising his minutes on the pitch.
 
If it was a 'snag' that affected valuation then, unless it was health/fitness (and there's been no suggestion of that as far as I can see), it's more likely a contractual demand that made him worth less. So purely speculatively I guess that could be e.g. Pool saying we want [high]% of any sell-on fee, or maybe Josh saying he wanted a contractual right to move if a Prem club came in, or if Forest/Bournemouth weren't promoted, or whatever.
 
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north_london_pool said:
If it was a 'snag' that affected valuation then, unless it was health/fitness (and there's been no suggestion of that as far as I can see), then it's more likely a contractual demand that made him worth less. So purely speculatively I guess that could be e.g. Pool saying we want [high]% of any sell-on fee, or maybe Josh saying he wanted a contractual right to move if a Prem club came in, or if Forest/Bournemouth weren't promoted, or whatever.
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some-one suggested yesterday that there was a health/fitness problem.

SeasideKurt said:
If true, I think the club should reward him with a new contract.
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It's one thing offering him a new improved contract, and I hope we do, but it's another thing trying to get him to sign one. He[and his agent ] will both know now that he's rapidly proving himself at this level and bigger and better clubs are gonna start taking an interest in him. He knows he can walk away for free in just over a years time and that can only add to what he can earn in wages, signing on fee etc.
We as fans have to enjoy Bowler whilst we can because keeping him here in the long term is nigh on impossible.

'
 
TangerineBayern said:
Good article that and every credit to Josh not wanting to be a bench warmer there and recognising that he still has much to learn and develop as a player under the master himself. TBF l think he would have been a bench warmer at Fulham and Bournemouth too and if they both get promoted where would that have left Josh?🤔
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Possibly a result of his time at Everton, he wants to be where he's guaranteed first team football and not kicking around in the reserves.

It's one of the bigger problems the game has, too many promising young players bought up by "big" clubs then end up playing reserve team football and stagnate as a result.
 
20togo said:
some-one suggested yesterday that there was a health/fitness problem.


It's one thing offering him a new improved contract, and I hope we do, but it's another thing trying to get him to sign one. He[and his agent ] will both know now that he's rapidly proving himself at this level and bigger and better clubs are gonna start taking an interest in him. He knows he can walk away for free in just over a years time and that can only add to what he can earn in wages, signing on fee etc.
We as fans have to enjoy Bowler whilst we can because keeping him here in the long term is nigh on impossible.

'
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A few people suggested a health problem, but only on here I think? Nothing official and personally I doubt it as a late health snag up against a signing deadline would have been much more likely to result in all parties withdrawing immediately.

I agree with you that it's highly unlikely JB will sign a new contract with us. We would never offer him the kind of wage he'd expect to get if he moved to a big-paying club, so in effect he'd just be handing us some value he doesn't need to give away.
 
So if true , is this why pool never signed anyone for cash last night , as they never got the funds from Josh
so is this telling us , pool need to sell before we buy 🤷
we all know pool need couple of midfielders , apparently the sentence used last night was , it was a domino effect
 
20togo said:
some-one suggested yesterday that there was a health/fitness problem.


It's one thing offering him a new improved contract, and I hope we do, but it's another thing trying to get him to sign one. He[and his agent ] will both know now that he's rapidly proving himself at this level and bigger and better clubs are gonna start taking an interest in him. He knows he can walk away for free in just over a years time and that can only add to what he can earn in wages, signing on fee etc.
We as fans have to enjoy Bowler whilst we can because keeping him here in the long term is nigh on impossible.

'
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Yeah but he could negotiate a new contract to cover the next 18 months with a + 1 on with clauses and earn himself an extra 5k per week. Would make sense for us and him. I doubt he's on mega bucks now. But you upscale what he's currently earning will make him content with staying for now.

Add a release clause of 3-4 Million for anyone and then the balls in his court where he goes.

I don't get the vibe he's the type of player to piss around and throw tantrums. He'd sign a new deal if it only covered the next 18-30 months but earned far more. Covers the club in the summer fee wise and he earns more money in the interim.
 
Lost Seasider said:
Possibly a result of his time at Everton, he wants to be where he's guaranteed first team football and not kicking around in the reserves.

It's one of the bigger problems the game has, too many promising young players bought up by "big" clubs then end up playing reserve team football and stagnate as a result.
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Very true Lost 👍
 
Yourfathersgun said:
If it was £3m and we had two others lined up, we should have accepted. Great bid that!
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Its not an easy one 3m is great money for a player we paid nothing for and is on a short contract but finding game changing players like Bowler is also very difficult hence the clubs chasing him we also have to bare in mind that Simon Saddlers pockets are not as deep as a lot of clubs in this league so there needs to be a balance struck.
 
Apparently, according to the Bristol Post, Bristol City rejected a deadline-day bid, from Notts Forest, for their 22-year-old star striker Antoine Semenyo which fell well short of City's valuation which is in the region of £20 million.
 
bear
bfcfan 1960 said:
Its not an easy one 3m is great money for a player we paid nothing for and is on a short contract but finding game changing players like Bowler is also very difficult hence the clubs chasing him we also have to bare in mind that Simon Saddlers pockets are not as deep as a lot of clubs in this league so there needs to be a balance struck.
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I get the feeling that our 2 ITK journalists were not that much ITK last night so I'm at the least sceptical about what they both have said.
 
Too many good players get signed and warm benches. Prem clubs worst culprits of all of course. Drinkwater & Barclay at Chelsea, Stones for a time at City. Van de Beek (now sorted). Loads of other examples. Best years of their careers & not playing - just sat in depression taking the cash. Sad.
 
bfcfan 1960 said:
Its not an easy one 3m is great money for a player we paid nothing for and is on a short contract but finding game changing players like Bowler is also very difficult hence the clubs chasing him we also have to bare in mind that Simon Saddlers pockets are not as deep as a lot of clubs in this league so there needs to be a balance struck.
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Which is why I'd like to see other investors coming in- I don't like one man bands.
 
He probably would sign a 4 year deal, just for security, we all know that football contracts aren't worth a wank but what it does do us increase his value in the transfer market.
 
Victorsponge said:
He probably would sign a 4 year deal, just for security, we all know that football contracts aren't worth a wank but what it does do us increase his value in the transfer market.
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I'd be very surprised if he does.
We will obviously exercise our option and still get a fee for him but I'd guess he'll be gone in the summer.
 
Insider said:
Clubs appear to have been willing to pay £3m so why pay him more money if he's going to go for what's been offered.
Might as well just keep him on £90pw. (Karl told me to say that 😉 ).
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Because he's out of contract next year and an improved contract might get us an extra season or so out of him and a guaranteed fee at the end of it.
 
Insider said:
I'd be very surprised if he does.
We will obviously exercise our option and still get a fee for him but I'd guess he'll be gone in the summer.
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Or he stays another season, continues improving and puts himself in a very favourable position in June 2023.
I'd be very surprised if he signed an extended deal, only way he might is if we get promoted this season or next!!
 
If we got promoted this season that might well change everything! But assuming we don’t, I don’t imagine he’ll be around next year to see how we get on.

Reflecting on yesterday, it really had the feel that NC very strongly wanted Brannagan, and if Forest or Bournemouth were ready to bid higher and higher for JB we would take the dough for him now (rather than the summer) and then pay what it took to get Brannagan. If Josh really did scupper the deal with Forest by turning it down after BFC had accepted Forest’s bid (however much it was) then that might explain the saga with repeated bids to Oxford for CB. In other words we spent the day finding out whether Oxford would bite at a price lower than Brannagan’s release clause (no, as it turned out) but we might well have gone back and triggered CB’s release clause if the JB deal with Forest had gone through.

Who knows? As someone says above, we probably never will know who did what and why.
 
Did he actually turn it down because he wanted to stay or is this whats being said when it didn't go through due to whatever issue.

Either way he's here and will improve us, we have a better chance of winning games, including the nibbers with him.

They were wary of him last time and didn't know how to stop him.
 
He didn’t turn them down we moved the goal posts on what offer we’d except.

We set a price it was matched then we upped it again. I can only assume this was due to our targets going up too.
 
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