The team next year will be better with Ellis in it instead of Manu. Obviously it would be better with Manu as well. But we have made a net gain if Manu doesn't stay.

What on earth do you mean we only had paper talk that the club wanted to keep him, the club made a statement to the press, also AP spoke about it on airlie night and in the match programmed urging fans to encourage Manu to stay

yes, and the programme notes are always the truth, how silly of me, I thought AP was a businessman and knows how to work the crowd.

take those blinkers off

I hope the club think differently.

And if he goes will we be blamed? TBH since the offer was made the crowd has never been so quiet

Thought all the blinkers went with Kath!

So you're suggesting it's possible that the club [ididn't[/i want to keep him, but AP told the fans he'd been made an offer and urged us to show him how much [iwe[/i all wanted him to stay as well? If that happened, AP is weird.

You implied we only had paper talk to say the club wanted to keep Manu and you tell me to take the blinkers off, AP talked about it on live TV stating he hoped Manu chose to stay, they then announced a new last improved offer, are you implying this was just paper talk ?

I agree, I mean more the fans, we wont know our final lineup for 2013 until September/October this year (at the earliest), we're speculating about Manu when nothing is confirmed, that's more my point.

No, I am saying the club wanted to keep him, but they had a valuation (if indeed he leaves) and St's (or whoever) exceeded that.

Exactly.

There'll always be speculation, I suppose. What's irritating, I agree, is the wailing about how much worse off we'll be without Manu when,

a) we don't know if he's going or not, and,
b) we don't know who else will be coming in to mitigate the loss.

So when you said:



...you didn't mean it?

Its typical on here.

In 2010 I'm sure i saw a thread suggesting players to sign for 2014 and it was suggested that we'll have to take a few years of cack for Agar to be king of the world in 2014

So in 2018 we'll sign Andy Farrells son as Hornes replacement, we'll turn him into a second rower

We do seem to torture ourselves and have knee jerk reactions to internet rumours at times.

Player recruitment is always a little bit of a gamble, especially bringing players in from overseas, but the current regime have already shown me they can find the right players for the club. Lynch we thought was going to be good but has been the player of the year so far, Martin and Aspinwall have surprised most people being much better than expected. With more time to play with I think they will get recruitment right most of the time going forward.

What's irritating me is all the downplaying how important a player Manu is. We may end up signing someone better (I doubt it) but as things stand the team would be a lot stronger with him in it. Arguably more dissapointing than him actually going is the fact the current board couldn't convince him to stay. (if the rumours are to be believed that is)

What more would you suggest they do though? They've already reportedly offered him a very good 3-year deal. If he doesn't want to stay I don't see what else they can do to change his mind.

What's the point in getting strung out about it? The board will have made him a good offer, but won't break the bank. Which is fair enough. He's good, but not [iso[/i good that we should mess up the salary cap structure just to keep him. There could be any number of reasons AP and McRae couldn't convince him to stay - it doesn't mean it's their fault he's going.

We have excellent back rowers for next year and if we make the right signings at prop, Manu's loss can be mitigated.

when you say "couldn't convince him to stay" how do you know, what has someone else offered him (if indeed they have) what if FC offered him 30K less than Ellis and Salford offered him £50k more, would you go there and win nothing but earn £150k more over 3 years??

we'll never know the facts (some will claim to, but on this one I feel unsure we ever will as fans, if in fact he leaves)

he is a great player, I'd like him to stay, but if he doesn't he's by far replaced by Ellis (IMHO), and as RockGod has said, the loss can be mitigated elsewhere.

With the current regime, I feel far more relaxed about recruitment/retention now.
I'd like Manu, Moa & Turner to stay, but I trust the club to bring in more than adequate replacements if they do leave.

I totally agree with this and said as much earlier in the thread.

I would have put a dead line on the contract to be signed .It is stopping P Gentle getting other players
for next season .If the Club miss out on players fans will soon be on the board back .If players don't want to stay
let them go

thats near enough my thoughts on it

One person's downplaying is another person's dispassionate/realistic assessment.

I agree with kt we shud know by now as it is stopping us buying other players so I think a deadline shud be set too. Pref by end of this wk