Watford boss Aidy Boothroyd has hinted that he is ready to cash in on highly-rated England U21 striker Ashley Young. (Various) From BBC Sport. Debate.
can't see it myself. if he does he may as well wave a white flag at the time. "If" we go down then may be, but not in Jan when if Aidy is to be believed we will be fighting for our lives to stay up. It would also make Simpson look a chump after stating at the forum he won't be going anywhere in Jan regardless of the offer.
If we get an offer we couldn't refuse it wouldn't suprise me if he left. If that happened I'd be disappointed, but would probably understand the reasons behind it.
I think though that if a "too good to refuse" offer comes in in january with a previso he go now that they will have to rethink it. They will be fully aware that should the unthinkable happen and we get relegated then his value will fall through the floor.
This is from clubcall today Hornets braced for Young exit 01-12-2006 08:47 Watford manager Aidy Boothroyd has admitted he fears losing star winger Ashley Young. Arsenal have been linked with the 21-year-old, who has grabbed three goals in 13 matches for the Hornets this season. Boothroyd said: "I have had a chat with Ashley already and we are both of the understanding that it has to be right. "It has to be right for Ashley - first and foremost - and it has to be right for us. "As far as I am concerned, I have said no, and that will apply in January. But there may come a time when it is a `yes'." "There is bound to be interest in Ashley, because he is a good player. "Bigger clubs are always going to be attracted to players who do well under difficult circumstances, and that is exactly what Ashley has done."
I'm saying he's as good as sold reading between the lines. I shall however await for some inside info before I cut my wrists.
I agree, Aidy has just posted a giant For Sale sign around Ashley`s neck. I reckon the fee will be between £3-5 million with either/or incremental payments based on appearances and `a sell on clause`
hopefull he won't go. i don't think he is ready or at the level to be starting in the arsenal team just yet
Its sad really, we've always been a selling club but you would hope that one day we would make a stand toward changing that. The thing that really annoys me, is you just know that whatever money we get will never be seen again. You can see the tired old excuses coming a mile off........ and aside from Marlon Aidys dips into the transfer market so far have been a little dissapointing!
Im gutted but not surprised at all. Credit has to go to the board and their business acumen.. after this season, when Young and others have moved on... They'll have all raked in an absolute fortune. For me, its such a tragic waste of what could have been... The board IMO have shown absolutely ZERO ambition. Yeah its nice to hear Aidy spout TOP FIVE and "Europe" at the beginning of the season but look at the state of it at the moment. We're a LESSER side now than we were last season AND THATS A FACT! Premiership survival is No 1 priority.. selling Ashley Young would demonstrate our lack of ambition once again. We havent spent any money thus far, therefore we do not need the money I will finish with...... We cannot attract players of Ashley Youngs quality therefore we CANNOT afford to sell the ones we have under ANY circumstances. Ashley Young is contracted to Watford FC until 2009 I believe.. WE DO NOT NEED TO SELL AND DONT HAVE TO UNLESS WE WANT TO
Look at the bigger picture. You have a player who is easily worth 5 million who COULD get the chance of a lifetime for himself to play for one of the best clubs in the world thus enhancing his chances of international football and you block any chance of him going because you want him to stay so bad. 1) The player could resent this and thus not perform to his full potential and his value would decrease. 2) We get relegated and his value drops considerably. 3) He comes to the end of his contract and decides not to re-sign for us and we lose him anyway and get nothing for him. What would you do if you were the board?
KJ - with Ash breaking int the England under 21's he has become more of a stock item for us - it's probably not a matter of if but when he leaves, depending on whether Ash wants to move on and Aidy fels the fee we receive is substantial enough to improve more than one area of the team. I don't see how the cChairman can be blamed. Its like selling a nice house you have been in for years and cashing in on the equity so you can buy a bigger and better one. It's the price we receive and what happens to the funds that will determine the clubs ambitions. IMO. I wouldn't be to down hearted - how can we be a lesser side now than last season, the very worst we can be is 3 places higher up than last season. Everyone will be happy again if we go down and win 30 games a pish the champonship next season saying we needed to consolidate and Aidy taking one season premature managemnt in the premiership will help his learning curve and he will do things different in 2008/9 when we will ge a Euro spot Everything is pear shaped because we generaly look at now, not at the short to long term. keep the chin up mate - the pubs still sell beer, don't they?
I love your optimism Paddy.... for that, you'll probably get another couple of beers out of me when we meet up!! However, im sticking to my feelings on this...... i wont be happy if we get relegated pure and simply because its so damn hard to come up again no matter how much you "consolidate" or "spend" Strangely enough, i remember the year 2000 like it was yesterday (well not quite) We beat Coventry on our last prem game of the season (2-0 i think) and we were all singing and dancing saying we'd come straight back up. Downward spiral from there wasnt it. Look...... i was under the impression that Aidy would not settle for fourth from bottom as in his eyes "that would be a faliure" Right now we're the worst team in the league and deserve to be where we are. Yep we've been unlucky but the Sheff Utd game displayed a desparate lack of quality and guile and teamwork and effort........... i could go on. Ive been saying it all along.... WE ARE NOT ACTING LIKE A PREMIERSHIP CLUB AND WE ARE NOT ACTING LIKE WE ARE GOING TO STAY HERE Aidy said at the begininning of the season that we couldnt afford to slip into that mentality. PAddy, im afraid your reply above shows that some of us already have!
I hear what you are saying KJ - but having expererienced the very lows of the old div 4, this TO ME is nothing to be down about. We would still only be one div from the pemiership unlike my worst nightmares of bottom of old league 4. I understand where you are coming from, he dis appointment, the bad luck and the lack of poins is pretty painful to bear ( bare?) but look at Oxford -conference team this season, winning lots of games and earleir in the season we were coming home from I think Wigan and one Oxford fan was on the train, the team had won and he was getting merrily pisssed and was so happy. You must not forget and ths si a big part of the whole equation - teams who go up from the champonship normally struggle - Sunderlans even with their mighty support were mulered, why would one actually think the same couldn't happen to us. Who are the teams we really could be above? This division is beating us, it's no one's fault -be glad we are gracing it, we are still able to do something about avoiding relegation, but accept it is a bigger possibilty now than before a ball was kicked. My optimism hasn't died, it is just the illusion now has become staying up and the reality is likely relegation ..... I am dealing with that on a personal level other wise it affects life outside of football. Always look on the bright side of your wife - I can, she left years ago
Somebody in the Watford Observer said we should spend 10 million in January. I think people like him don't realise we can offer all the money in the world but its up the player if they want to join a team in the relegation zone and not a great wage payer rather than any bid we make without it being greatly over inflated and putting the long term future at risk. I suspect Young will only be sold in the summer IF he want to go. We did spend money in the summer...just not in the right areas and couldn't get the players Aidy wanted in.
As I tried to post this morning, I wouldn't be at all surprised if Ashley Young was sold. There's absolutley no point in hanging on to him in this side.
Its not so much a case of looking for reasons of why we should keep him.. we all know we should keep him. The question is, can we afford to keep him? Or rather, can we afford to NOT cash in on our most valuable asset? Bottom line is to us its a passion, a way life, a great love of ours, to the board its a business, first and foremost. Personally I have spent the best years of my life supporting watford and I view it differently to how the board would. They have to make money or the club can't survive... if this means selling their biggest asset when given the opportunity and they dont then they wouldnt be doing what they are paid to do which is... A) Make this club as good as it can be (Financially and otherwise) B) Bring success. unfortunately at times the two will clash.... this is one of those times IMO.
