THE PRICE OF SELLING JOSH BOWLER

He has probably been offered a decent contract , turned it down and is waiting for a bigger club to pay him more money than we can afford !
 
He’s going, there’s no more to say, I’m sure the club have talked to him about a new contract and have concluded he’s not up for it, so they have to sell now. The only possibility is a sale and loan back maybe until January, but I can’t see that happening. More likely is a decent loan from the club we sell to.
 
He’s going, there’s no more to say, I’m sure the club have talked to him about a new contract and have concluded he’s not up for it, so they have to sell now. The only possibility is a sale and loan back maybe until January, but I can’t see that happening. More likely is a decent loan from the club we sell to.
Or we keep him the whole season and he walks for nothing...
That's what I'm saying... The price of selling him and the price of staying in this leauge...
 
IF Josh goes, it'll be a very sad day for our club, although I accept that some (for whatever reason) choose to unfairly criticise the guy.
However, every player has his price & if he wants to go, I only hope that we get his true value, he goes well before the deadline day, meaning we can sign other experienced players and the incoming money isn't consumed within the general club funds.
Note to Josh: You're one of a very few players in our history with magic boots, who can tie defenders in knots, who can change a game in a split second, & who get supporters on their feet. Sign a new contract & stay at BFC 🍊
 
A lot of big questions that will need to be answered in the coming two weeks regarding him, but IMO this could go either way.

Primarily, how does the club value him in relation to our status in the Championship? If they think that he is a necessity to staying in the Championship this year then they won't sell. (very valid opinion)

If they think he isn't a necessity to staying in the division (also valid), then I think they will sell if the right offer comes in to cash in.

Josh is easily our best attacking player and losing him would be a blow, but if the club think the team will survive without him and put the money to good use then I back their decision, if they decide to hold onto him as well then I back that decision too. It really could go either way.

There is also a possible third option where we keep him until January (when we will hopefully know exactly if our league status is in danger or not) and if we appear to be safe sell him for a slightly reduced price to a Playoff chasing team looking for a boost.
 
I think he will inevitably leave our club at some point.

I think he should sign a 2 or 3 year deal with us and ofcourse we would have to offer him a very competitive wage and maybe break our wage structure slightly to do so.

But if he continues his development here, playing week in week out, for a manager that plays to his strengths then he will be 5 times the player he is now and 100% premiership ready in 1-2 years.

He could go to another champ/bottom end prem club and be on the bench more often than not and yes maybe picking up a tastier wage than we can offer in the short term but long term his development as a footballer will suffer.

In 1-2 years of continuous development he could be picked up by a top end prem team like Liverpool and he have all the qualities to fly whilst there.

Ofcourse any choice he makes is a gamble... and we don't know what the club is offering him, or what other teams are... at the end of the day he's one of the greatest players i have ever seen pull on the tangerine shirt and I just want whats best for him and best for the club... you never know, 1-2 years and we could be pushing for a playoff place or even actually getting to the hallowed ground once more...???
 
I would say to him, say for the season, help us get in the top 6 and if we get promoted then stay with us on a new EPL contract. The cost of him going and the impact on the team will be massive and if we are relegated it will cost us more than the 3 million we would get for him in 2 weeks time. Make it worth his while to stay. Trust me, if he goes in 2 weeks time it will have a massive negative impact on us.
 
Or we keep him the whole season and he walks for nothing...
That's what I'm saying... The price of selling him and the price of staying in this leauge...
I’d like to think that’s po, but I doubt very much the club is prepared to lose £3 million plus for the benefit of one year. Fantastic if they do, but they would have to believe that keeping him would give us a realistic chance of reaching the playoffs.
 
Or we keep him the whole season and he walks for nothing...
That's what I'm saying... The price of selling him and the price of staying in this leauge...
that's the point Phil has been making for a while and it's a very valid point.Selling him for whatever price is a bad decision if we end up being relegated because the lost money then will far outweigh what we get for him. Of course that's a big "IF"
 
that's the point Phil has been making for a while and it's a very valid point.Selling him for whatever price is a bad decision if we end up being relegated because the lost money then will far outweigh what we get for him. Of course that's a big "IF"
Indeed 20s, it’s about gamble or stick, and who’s going to take the risk? A bit of a conundrum🤔. But l like idea of keep him until January and see where we are then, however, if Josh goes into sulk mode because we’ve turned down Leicester who were prepared to pay him say £15k - £20k a week, then who knows what is value will be in Jan.
 
I’d love to keep him but everyone has their price and his is significantly less because of his contract. Yes we could keep him and let him run down his contract but if he wants to go do we want a player who doesn’t want to be here? What happens if he gets injured?

My hope is that no solid offers come in and we sign him up to a longer term contract with a good pay increase and a release clause as an insurance for him.

Let’s see, stranger things have happened.
 
I would say to him, say for the season, help us get in the top 6 and if we get promoted then stay with us on a new EPL contract. The cost of him going and the impact on the team will be massive and if we are relegated it will cost us more than the 3 million we would get for him in 2 weeks time. Make it worth his while to stay. Trust me, if he goes in 2 weeks time it will have a massive negative impact on us.
Trust you? To what? Change your mind several times before the window closes? 😆
 
I like just about everyone else would love him to stay however, the poster who are saying we need him to stay up are forgetting we will have to find a way to stay up without him whenever that is. If he stays for the season then moves free, we will be in the position of having to survive next season without him. The playing budget will be roughly the same as now so how could we afford to replace him ? I f the right offer comes along, be it now or in January, let him go. At least then the playing budget will be increased by a few million, used wisely we would be better prepared for life after Josh. Of course if he signs an extension 🤞 things would be different but I am sorry to say that is extremely unlikely.🥺
 
I like just about everyone else would love him to stay however, the poster who are saying we need him to stay up are forgetting we will have to find a way to stay up without him whenever that is. If he stays for the season then moves free, we will be in the position of having to survive next season without him. The playing budget will be roughly the same as now so how could we afford to replace him ? I f the right offer comes along, be it now or in January, let him go. At least then the playing budget will be increased by a few million, used wisely we would be better prepared for life after Josh. Of course if he signs an extension 🤞 things would be different but I am sorry to say that is extremely unlikely.🥺
yep, valid point but lets face that problem in 12 months time not now.
 
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The first thing a work colleague said to me was “good result…..your lot aren’t going to be able to keep that bowler lad for long, what a goal!”

I think if we sell for less than he is really worth we will be worse off for doing it.
 
The first thing a work colleague said to me was “good result…..your lot aren’t going to be able to keep that bowler lad for long, what a goal!”

I think if we sell for less than he is really worth we will be worse off for doing it.
Agreed, but the conundrum might be do we sell him for the highest offer, even if it’s not what we think he’s worth or keep him and then he walks? Not an easy decision and not one I would like to make. Dammed if you do dammed if you don’t.🤷
 
I would say to him, say for the season, help us get in the top 6 and if we get promoted then stay with us on a new EPL contract. The cost of him going and the impact on the team will be massive and if we are relegated it will cost us more than the 3 million we would get for him in 2 weeks time. Make it worth his while to stay. Trust me, if he goes in 2 weeks time it will have a massive negative impact on us.
Right, and if Bowler helps the club to a 17th place finish and then leaves on a free, who does that benefit? I don’t think Simon will quite see it the same way as you.
 
7 million should be his value to the club as that is what we lose if relegated

Without him we simply don't create

He cost us nothing we lose him for nothing next summer, nothing lost

Keep him for the season for heavens sake it shouldn't even be a dilemma at all he's under contract and he can name his wage and worth next summer

It really isn't rocket science
 
The big problem is that even if he stays for this season he may get injured in the next game and not play for the rest of the season. We really need
to sign another couple of better players if we keep Bowler, and if Bowler goes add a least another couple of players as well with the money we get for him.
 
Yep worth a lot more to us now than the few million we might get for him.

If he leaves for free in summer the wages he will command because of no transfer fee will be huge.
 
Great Player, but no one player is ever irreplaceable and a team that has all its eggs in a single player basket is not a good place to be…

The simple fact is that unless he’s willing to sign a new contract with us, then we need to sell for any serious offer and use that money to strengthen the team.

If Josh is actually the difference between relegation and remaining in the Championship, then that is even more of a reason to sell and reinvest. It’s way too risky to have your chances of relegation hinged on the form and fitness of one single player…That risk would be better spread across two or three quality new additions.

If Josh isn’t actually the difference between relegation and remaining in the championship, then you’d still take the money and strengthen anyway.

The only real justification for turning down a bid of say £3M plus would be a) if he was willing to sign a new contract or b) we felt that we were very strong candidates for promotion by keeping him (and even then, I’m not convinced).
 
The only real justification for turning down a bid of say £3M plus would be


c) by accepting that price you've shown your hand far too early in the window.

I think we can and will get £7m in the final few days. I bet we've already politely said thanks but not thanks to a £3m offer already. If it gets to the 30th, I expect we'll being inviting that club to make the same bid.
 
Great Player, but no one player is ever irreplaceable and a team that has all its eggs in a single player basket is not a good place to be…

The simple fact is that unless he’s willing to sign a new contract with us, then we need to sell for any serious offer and use that money to strengthen the team.

If Josh is actually the difference between relegation and remaining in the Championship, then that is even more of a reason to sell and reinvest. It’s way too risky to have your chances of relegation hinged on the form and fitness of one single player…That risk would be better spread across two or three quality new additions.

If Josh isn’t actually the difference between relegation and remaining in the championship, then you’d still take the money and strengthen anyway.

The only real justification for turning down a bid of say £3M plus would be a) if he was willing to sign a new contract or b) we felt that we were very strong candidates for promotion by keeping him (and even then, I’m not convinced).
Was it 750k on Nuttall? How did that turn out? How much spent on Lubala and Hamilton? Point is 2 or 3 million spent on 2 or 3 players doesn't guarantee anything! Bowler being here is already proven. Add in the fact our difficulty to sign players on a permanent basis. Why is that? Perhaps because a player costing a million or so and it's pretty much a certainty that his wages will be beyond what we are willing to pay.
This strengthening lark might be easy to say but reality is that it is much harder to do.
 
Was it 750k on Nuttall? How did that turn out? How much spent on Lubala and Hamilton? Point is 2 or 3 million spent on 2 or 3 players doesn't guarantee anything! Bowler being here is already proven. Add in the fact our difficulty to sign players on a permanent basis. Why is that? Perhaps because a player costing a million or so and it's pretty much a certainty that his wages will be beyond what we are willing to pay.
This strengthening lark might be easy to say but reality is that it is much harder to do.
And keeping Josh Bowler doesn't guarantee anything either... He might suffer a career ending injury in two weeks... And whichever way you look at it, were talking about a single season only..

I'm afraid you cannot make decisions like these on the assumption that they will always go wrong.... You take a well balanced decision, based on the amount that is offered and the circumstance you are in with regard to the player contract.

The balanced decision in the circumstances would be to accept a sensible offer and look to strengthen, unless he was willing to sign a new contract.

I mean on this basis, our club should never sell any player, which would be an utterly ridiculous policy...

Look at it a different way... One of the key attractions for a player with potential coming to Blackpool is the opportunity to shine in a side that plays attractive football, in a relatively low pressure environment and put yourself in the shop window for a bigger move.... So instead we now decide to start preventing players like Josh from realising their potential ? Who wants to sign for a Club like that?

Nope I'm sorry, but players move on... People need to deal with that fact of life... It's one player, in one year ...
 
And keeping Josh Bowler doesn't guarantee anything either... He might suffer a career ending injury in two weeks... And whichever way you look at it, were talking about a single season only..

I'm afraid you cannot make decisions like these on the assumption that they will always go wrong.... You take a well balanced decision, based on the amount that is offered and the circumstance you are in with regard to the player contract.

The balanced decision in the circumstances would be to accept a sensible offer and look to strengthen, unless he was willing to sign a new contract.

I mean on this basis, our club should never sell any player, which would be an utterly ridiculous policy...

Look at it a different way... One of the key attractions for a player with potential coming to Blackpool is the opportunity to shine in a side that plays attractive football, in a relatively low pressure environment and put yourself in the shop window for a bigger move.... So instead we now decide to start preventing players like Josh from realising their potential ? Who wants to sign for a Club like that?

Nope I'm sorry, but players move on... People need to deal with that fact of life... It's one player, in one year ...
Not said anything like most of the stuff you've come up with there. All I've done is focus on Bowler and his importance to us as an individual player compared to the problems of getting replacements in.
 
Not said anything like most of the stuff you've come up with there. All I've done is focus on Bowler and his importance to us as an individual player compared to the problems of getting replacements in.
Sorry, I don't really understand what this means 20's?

You said, that selling Josh and replacing him, doesn't come with any guarantees... Well nor does keeping him....

I'm saying that keeping a player (particularly one who wants to move onwards and upwards) is counterproductive... And also has wider implications (so those need to also be weighed into the equation)
 
Sorry, I don't really understand what this means 20's?

You said, that selling Josh and replacing him, doesn't come with any guarantees... Well nor does keeping him....

I'm saying that keeping a player (particularly one who wants to move onwards and upwards) is counterproductive... And also has wider implications (so those need to also be weighed into the equation)
I'm simply talking about him as a player and his role and value in/to the team as compared to bringing others in. I haven't said we should keep him against his will or anything like that at all. And a player coming in can easily get injured and be out for a while to. Suggest you look at Ballard as an example at Sunderland.
 
I'm simply talking about him as a player and his role and value in/to the team as compared to bringing others in. I haven't said we should keep him against his will or anything like that at all. And a player coming in can easily get injured and be out for a while to. Suggest you look at Ballard as an example at Sunderland.
That’s what I’m saying 20’s… Anything can happen…

So you can’t look at the worst case scenario on one side of the equation and assume the best on the other side (or vice versa) you have to make a sensible balanced decision.

We all know Josh adds value to the team… I said in my first post that he’s a great player…, but he’s only one player… And more importantly he’s one player who will be gone next year for nothing anyway, if he’s not sold between now and then.

I don’t want to see him go, but I’m more interested in how things pan out over the longer term than I am about any one player coming or going.
 
Its easy to spend the owners money but if I was SS I would offer JB our most competitive contract; i.e. make him our highest earner and even give him a (re) signing on fee; say couple of hundred grand.

Tie him to the club for a minimum of three years to ensure we get the best possible deal for him when somebody comes sniffing. In the meantime, we get the continued benefit of his wizardry.

If he declines our offer then fair enough, we can't do any more except hope we get a decent sum for him in the next fortnight.

A couple of added points;

1) I got the impression that his muted celebration immediately after his goal at QPR indicated that he isn't perhaps fully committed to the club?

2) Those half-wits that gave him grief last Saturday should be ashamed of themselves; 'supporters' don't do that.
 
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If you’re reading this Josh, you’ll see there’s serious anxiety about you, so in order to help everyone’s mental health, please sign a new contract.
 
Is there no way we can offer him a contract with significant bonuses when we win the play-offs this season and a release clause if we don't ?
 
Its easy to spend the owners money but if I was SS I would offer JB our most competitive contract; i.e. make him our highest earner and even give him a (re) signing on fee; say couple of hundred grand.

Tie him to the club for a minimum of three years to ensure we get the best possible deal for him when somebody comes sniffing. In the meantime, we get the continued benefit of his wizardry.

If he declines our offer then fair enough, we can't do any more except hope we get a decent sum for him in the next fortnight.

A couple of added points;

1) I got the impression that his muted celebration immediately after his goal at QPR indicated that he isn't perhaps fully committed to the club?

2) Those half-wits that gave him grief last Saturday should be ashamed of themselves; 'supporters' don't do that.
His muted celebration could more likely have been because he spent 4 years at QPR and it's often the not done thing to celebrate scoring against a former team.
 
That’s what I’m saying 20’s… Anything can happen…

So you can’t look at the worst case scenario on one side of the equation and assume the best on the other side (or vice versa) you have to make a sensible balanced decision.

We all know Josh adds value to the team… I said in my first post that he’s a great player…, but he’s only one player… And more importantly he’s one player who will be gone next year for nothing anyway, if he’s not sold between now and then.

I don’t want to see him go, but I’m more interested in how things pan out over the longer term than I am about any one player coming or going.
I didn't bring up the case of injury on either side . And my point about new players coming in is valid. tn my opinion any new wide player coming in would I doubt not have the individual talent Bowler does. He's that important to the team. You could say with the funds we get for him we could get a striker. How many strikers are there could we get who perhaps wouldn't command pretty much a lot of Bowlers fee who could guarantee us goals and come within the pay structure. A point I make earlier. Saying it is one thing, doing it is another.

That's MY view on Bowler and the situation we are in. But the decisions are Bowlers and the clubs to make. I've never said otherwise.
 
c) by accepting that price you've shown your hand far too early in the window.

I think we can and will get £7m in the final few days. I bet we've already politely said thanks but not thanks to a £3m offer already. If it gets to the 30th, I expect we'll being inviting that club to make the same bid.
I’d missed this, but yes it’s a fair point that you wouldn’t want to accept an offer too early in the window.

It’s a real shitter to be honest that our most valuable asset is the one player we haven’t been able to tie down…. I’d have thought pinning players like Josh with decent contracts would be the key to maximising the value to the club..

Of course… I know fuck all about the inner workings of football business, so I’m making some huge assumptions there …. And obviously things are generally a lot harder to sort in reality than in theory.
 
I didn't bring up the case of injury on either side . And my point about new players coming in is valid. tn my opinion any new wide player coming in would I doubt not have the individual talent Bowler does. He's that important to the team. You could say with the funds we get for him we could get a striker. How many strikers are there could we get who perhaps wouldn't command pretty much a lot of Bowlers fee who could guarantee us goals and come within the pay structure. A point I make earlier. Saying it is one thing, doing it is another.

That's MY view on Bowler and the situation we are in. But the decisions are Bowlers and the clubs to make. I've never said otherwise.
Sorry 20’s…maybe we’re both talking at slightly crossed purposes, I might not have explained myself as well as I ought to ?

You were making the point that we might sign an apparently good player or players with the Bowler Money and they may turn out to be rubbish…The point I was making is there is also no guarantees about Bowler’s continued form either… Also we might sign 3 players with the Bowler money and they might all be better than him.

So essentially I’m just saying that of course you have to weigh all of those ‘possibilities’ into the equation and try to make the best decision for the club.👍

It’s a tough one, because there’s no ideal (apart from him signing a new contract).

I was also saying I don’t think that our survival chances hinging on a single player is a great place to be in… That said I don’t think that’s the case in truth.

I’m sure the Manager and recruitment folk will have a good idea of who and what they might look to fund with any potential fee for JB and how that ought to impact the team….

So it’s simply (or complicatedly more like) a case of them deciding whether the money offered is sufficient to compensate for the loss…

I’ve no idea how much that might be… I think I’ve said many times on here that valuing players is not something I can grasp or relate to really… £3M sounds like a lot of money to me.., but then I thought £12M was a lot to spend on a training ground, until I saw that others were spending hundreds of millions…
 
Sorry 20’s…maybe we’re both talking at slightly crossed purposes, I might not have explained myself as well as I ought to ?

You were making the point that we might sign an apparently good player or players with the Bowler Money and they may turn out to be rubbish…The point I was making is there is also no guarantees about Bowler’s continued form either… Also we might sign 3 players with the Bowler money and they might all be better than him.

So essentially I’m just saying that of course you have to weigh all of those ‘possibilities’ into the equation and try to make the best decision for the club.👍

It’s a tough one, because there’s no ideal (apart from him signing a new contract).

I was also saying I don’t think that our survival chances hinging on a single player is a great place to be in… That said I don’t think that’s the case in truth.

I’m sure the Manager and recruitment folk will have a good idea of who and what they might look to fund with any potential fee for JB and how that ought to impact the team….

So it’s simply (or complicatedly more like) a case of them deciding whether the money offered is sufficient to compensate for the loss…

I’ve no idea how much that might be… I think I’ve said many times on here that valuing players is not something I can grasp or relate to really… £3M sounds like a lot of money to me.., but then I thought £12M was a lot to spend on a training ground, until I saw that others were spending hundreds of millions…
.The players we bring in to replace Bowler will all be a gamble. Why? Because you are not gonna find the finished article at Championship level either as a winger or a striker for the kind of money we will be able to spend on 2 or 3 players and I need to keep making this point. Any player who comes in to us for a big fee is gonna want paying wages commensurate to that fee. And that is something we've clearly struggled with this summer. And I have to say that Bowler might have a spell of bad performances but we know he's got the quality to always come out of that. Form is temporary but class is permanent and at this level Bowler is class. It's all a matter of opinions but I think Bowler is a key factor in our aim to survive in the Championship.

And as my last point of my previous post said, the decision is Bowlers and the clubs to make. I hope he stays by whatever means agreed but think it's more than likely he will go. And yes you are right, we shouldn't be so heavily dependent on one player but the fact is that I think we are.
 
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