you would have to wait until 2013 to pay them off unless you have cap space left for 2012......payments made in 2012 would count as they have played in 2012

There are no guarantees - but you can certainly play the probabilities game knowing you stand a very good chance of making the right investment. I mean, sure - one chance out of ten Shenton might prove more effective than Jamie Lyon (who gets squashed flat by a falling piano whilst out for a run) for the same money. But that's a risk I'm sure most people would be willing to take.

Yup, it would have to be at the end of the season.

Of course Shenton will be on £120k (at least). Saints were in competition with a number of clubs for his signature - when players are in that position they tend to negotiate contracts that contain a premium, if you pay transfer fees you can avoid this.


I would be interested to hear which players you consider to be higher earners at Saints than Shenton and how that all balances out for a 25 man squad equalling the salary cap.

Agree completely Mugwump - probabilty has to play a part or else nobody would sign anyone. Trouble is though that I think 'probability' is estimated on the basis of who the Chairman likes rather than a Chi-Square test. I am just not sure Shenton's pre-Saints potential actually warranted the 'guarantee' that his alleged salary would indicate he had.

On a broader note, if my reading of the situation and any of these Turner/Manu/Shenton/Hohaia/Perry/Laffranchi rumours are true then I applaud the shift in attitude towards players deemed not to be the right fit and hope it doesn't stop there as per some of the comments made in your other post. I also hope and trust that Nathan Brown is at the heart of it - it may take him 2 or 3 years but I read it that he's a coach that gets what he wants.

Hope the tea leaves are right.

i think a wire fan mentioning the salary cap a bit rich

Shenton is halfway through a three-year contract at St Helens but is thought to have been given permission to talk to other clubs and Hull and Hull KR could both rival the Tigers for his signature. "We're in the market for any good centres and obviously he comes into that category but we're not advanced in any talks with Michael," said Millward. "Our priority is to sign two centres and we're very active in the market place." www1.skysports.com/rugby-league/ ... w-recruits

Shenton is halfway through a three-year contract at St Helens but is thought to have been given permission to talk to other clubs and Hull and Hull KR could both rival the Tigers for his signature. "We're in the market for any good centres and obviously he comes into that category but we're not advanced in any talks with Michael," said Millward. "Our priority is to sign two centres and we're very active in the market place." www1.skysports.com/rugby-league/ ... w-recruits

I'd imagine our highest earners are probably some of our poorest performers, but I have no sneaky talks in the pub to back this up.

ie Perry, Lance, Shenton, LMS, (Roby, TP, Sia)

Getting the first 3 off the cap at the end of the year would do us a world of good certainly provided we can get another prop and centre from somewhere who can do a job and be a bit more VFM. I would imagine that LMS is on less than any of those other names (and LeFrank) and has looked really good in flashes - he might come good yet.

The ones in brackets are because I don't rate them as under performing. LMS I'm still not certain on, sometimes is barn storming other times is annonymous, so I'm fair to middling on LMS

Maybe that is what is meant by McManus telling Brown he will open his chequebook. He will pay off the contracts of all the duff signings we've made over the last few seasons.

I don't think we'll shift anyone out who is on contract unless they get a deal lined up somewhere else.

Agree with most of what you are saying, but he hasn't looked good in attack - probably because as you say, we won't pass to the right. Our HBs' arms don't seem capable of being able to pass in any other direction than left. It was especially obvious last week - even JD mentioned it.

Not convinced Turner would offer anything better and he won't be able to prove whether he is any good or not because we won't pass that way so he will see no ball.

Any centre the the GB game today playing in a #3 Saints jersey for the last 18 months would have withered and died much the same as Shenton has. If Brown doesn't sort the halves out then Turner and Makinson might as well get a card school going on that right wing because they won't have anything else to do while we're in possession.

Get Turner playing at left centre and he will make a real difference. When he's played there for us he's scored some great tries and Tom Briscoe has had some good service, which he doesn't always get from Yeaman.

@James_Smailes: In other news #hullfc enter race to sign Michael Shenton, but Castleford favourites. [i[uCas offered a deal to match what he's on at Saints[/u[/i

Agent Millward can't help doing us favours.

We are good at overpaying players, Richard Owen is on 100k a year.

Fwiw. He has left the Cas deal laying there, And agreed to sign for Hull Kr, So they will have paid similar to what we offered.

Clearly, quite a few teams are of the opinion that Shenton offers far more than he has delivered at Saints, and are prepared to pay for it. Which begs the question, why have Saints not got the best out of him? Is it purely because we can't pass that way? Should we try him on the left to see if he is any better? Seems a shame to lose what cold be a potent attacking player, simply because we have used him wrong.

No offence intended, but the likes of Castleford and Hull KR are not great teams and they are the only teams (that we know of) who are really interested; it says a lot IMO

Hull Fc are also trying to sign him.

At the end of the day, Not all clubs 1) Need a centre, 2) Have the £120'000 free to sign him.

And Hull

Sometimes it just doesn't work out for a player at a club for no obvious reason, and a change of scenery is best for all involved.

Does he still live in Yorkshire? If so, he must be the only one who does now - the lonely commute every day might have some impact on his performances and on his integration with his teammates (i.e. when they go out and do stuff after training, or after games does he just go home on his own?) It would have an impact on his on field performances IMO.

From what has been released into the press I don't think that Hull were/are '[ireally [/iinterested' in him. They (apparently) have Arundel signed up, so I don't see where he'd fit in over there.

I wouldn't get too excited about Turner, he started the season as 3rd choice centre at FC.

Has had 2-3 very good games for FC this year but he's nothing special.