Hello everyone.
Why has he refused to take a pay cut? He’s rich isn’t he?
What a year! 2020 should have been the start of a dynasty building on last years success. Turd performances, Covid, now Thompson. What a s*** show. Roll on 2021
Hello everyone.
Why has he refused to take a pay cut? He’s rich isn’t he?
What a year! 2020 should have been the start of a dynasty building on last years success. Turd performances, Covid, now Thompson. What a s*** show. Roll on 2021
screaming in the family corner, scaring the kiddies
Liam Watts as his replacement for me? Who would you have?
Two years left on his contract, though.
"The great fallacy is that the game is first and last about winning. It is nothing of the kind. The game is about glory, it is about doing things in style and with a flourish, about going out and beating the other lot, not waiting for them to die of boredom." Danny Blanchflower.
Might have been written by a footballer about football - but never a truer word............
Watts is 30 next month, I’m not sure I’d spend money in the shape of a transfer fee on a 30 year old.
St Helens Rugby League Football Club
Agree, he’d be great but I imagine Cas would want stupid money. Only way it happens is if they’re desperate. Apart from him I don’t think there’s anyone in Super League who’s both good enough and realistic so I’d be more than happy with Tamou from Penrith. On an unrelated note, Kevin Proctor is being offered to SL clubs. Wouldn’t shock me if we went for him to replace Taia or Peyroux, if one of them leaves.
My view is Thompson has gone for several reasons.
1. Loads more money. Reasonable excuse.
2. Lifestyle in Aus. Reasonable excuse.
3. Future at Saints. Disappointing start to season, can Tommy see a downturn in performances.
4. New coach. Personality doesn’t mix with Tommy.
5. New coach. Tommy doesn’t like new strategy ie. the wrestle in the tackle. Less open attacking play.
6. For all we know other players are not happy with Wolfe and looking to leave in time.
7. Bearing in mind no.6. Is the camp upset in general.
All in all plenty of reasons for our best player to want to leave.
All does not seem well at Saints. Is it backlash from happy Holbrook days. Good luck Tommy. Just don’t go to Wigan when you come back!
Tommo.......predictive text!
Over the years on here, the club has been criticised for being 'too soft'. We let Wigan bully us for years. Too soft. We put out a dignified statement highlighting the need to consider Ben Flower's wellbeing when he attacked an unconscious man. Too soft. We didn't go after big players. Too soft.
If Thompson left mid-season with little explanation, it would have been another time the club would have been accused of being too soft and letting someone rise roughshod over us.
I do not see that McManus had any option but to provide some form of explanation. I am not too sure whether it is right to discuss personal pay arrangements, but understand why he did. Contrary to some comments on here, McManus' statement is simply a factual account of what happened and there is no direct criticism of Thompson in it.
If Thompson was the only player not to agree a wage cut (which we do not know), then it may have led to disquiet in the club and amongst the players that we could have done without. Based on what is in the public domain, I agree that it is in both parties interests that he leaves now.
A big opportunity now for Lees to claim a starting spot, but also there is a need for a new prop forward or maybe even two for next season. If we can use the transfer money towards that, then great.
[QUOTE=Ralph Fridge;792129]Completely agree, no doubt engineered by his manager so he can take a cut of the transfer fee, yet another player who after signing for another club or code spouts about giving his best for the rest of the season but then doesnt give one hundred percent, if he was the only player who refused to help the club out, if they have a secret goodbye party, I hope his team mates give him the ideal leaving gift, thirty pieces of silver. Initially I wished him all the best in his new career, but now my opinion of him has changed completely
I'm of the school of thought that the statement from the club was unnecessarily stroppy. Thompson may not have accepted a paycut but he's under no obligation to, regardless of how rich his family may be.
It does seem possible/likely that this has been used by Thompson and his agent as a way of getting an early move, and that may have got McManus's back up, but I just don't think it needed bringing up in the official response.
I guess we'll see now how seriously the club is taking this truncated season. My guess is that they're not going to take it all that seriously at all, that this is one of the reasons we've released Thompson early, and that we won't sign a replacement until 2021.
As for the discussion of Watts - if we could get him he'd be the best possible UK-based replacement. 30 isn't old for a prop, IMO.
I ate a tuna sandwich on my first day!
Er ...to,stop the club going bust and throwing everyone out of a job, if all the other players, many who are on far less money understand the position, I cannot for the life of me understand Thompson, especially as he's about to start a multi million pound contract, a little bit of loyalty by playing out the rest of a slightly reduced contract for the club that nurtured him and gave him the opportunity to realise that ambition wouldnt be amiss
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Not sure what's about and available.
Watts strikes me as bit old.
Matty English from Huddersfield if he could be made a possibility?
To be honest, I don’t rate many, if any, props in SL outside Walmesley and Thomson. I would rather us put up with what we’ve got for 2020 and recruit a top class prop from the NRL - something I’m sure the club are in the process of doing and also maybe investing in a promising, SL youngster to nurture and develop for the future.
WOW its all gone a bit pear shaped here. Thompson through his family also sponsor Saints so the fall out has got personal here which is the fault of both parties normally.
Now the playing side. We lost Cliff Watson and survived and we lost James Graham and survived so Luke Thompson is minor in comparison. The bigger picture for me is that we are losing players as a game to Aus and our conveyer belt is drying up a bit!
What I will say about the club in recent years is we don't seem to kick on in successive seasons as we used to do. 2 Grand final wins since 2010 and no CC wins, even accounting for our success in the LLS isn't really anything to write home about. The club needs to back Woolfe after all of this, we cant have another waiting for Langtree period and how that just seemed to plod on year after year until Holbrook.