Crowley Sold to MK Dons

[Mud Pie]

Dan has been agitating for this move all season
We've offered a new contract but he wants far more than we pay other players, which MK are apparently happy to pay
The rest of the squad all know this which is not exactly conducive to team spirit
I understand we've held out to drive a hard bargain though. A bit like with Macca and Millwall, where the player also pushed for the move

you do seem to be itk, provides a bit of context and if true then he has to go. Shame for me because he does have that rare ability to change games on a sixpence. Assume also then he must also have made some calculations about which club he thinks is likeliest to get promoted. Not sure I agree with him, but it's all tittletat until it happens.

[LeftPeg_Pie]

So for all his religious beliefs, they go out the window when offered more money. Don't tell me a footballers career is short & they have to make the most of it. They all get jobs when they retire.
It comes down to how they blew it during their career

Amazed it has taken so long for someone to pop out the old religious beliefs line.

A footballers footballing career, in relation to other careers, is short. If you had a natural ability to do something, and had worked that hard to get into a position to be paid well to do it and someone offered you more money to do it, and you knew there was a time span on your ability to do it, you would be interested in exploring that possibility.

[i961pie]

DC is so naturally gifted and can simply turn a game on its head and that is so hard to replace. I have seen no body in this league who can do what he can.

I do support Jacob and his frustrations at DC at times and the recent formation change, having DC as a sole 10, is showing us the best and most frustrating parts of his game.

If the 200/300K being banded about on here is remotely true, then the club have a massive decision to make. That is frankly silly money for a 27 year old with six months left on his contract.

Obviously the club have the whole picture; the finances, the value and the squad dynamic and attitude stuff as well as potential replacements (that we may already have actually brought in).

I have got no idea as to DCs attitude around everything and I am certainly not into some of the utter drivel people essentially make up about him on here.

If he wants to leave and earn more money, I have no issue with that. I would be so disappointed if he went to MK Dons, but if the money is there then he has a short footballing career, then fair play.

Promotion is a genuine possibility. DC only enhances our chances of being promoted, despite some of his clear areas for improvement. Even if we go up and he leaves, we put ourselves in a much better position to replace DC by being in L1. Let us not forget, DC was the replacement for Ruben that some probably feared we would never find. If DC thinks it through too, which I am sure he has and is, if he is on it for the rest of the season, takes us up, his chances of a big move is a real possibility too.

If I were the club, I would stand strong and dig in. DC is a genuine game changer and given the way we play and they way the vast majority of teams set up against us, especially at home, we will miss him if he goes.

This

[forwardmagpie]

This is where I'm at. I love Crowley as a player, but if he genuinely thinks MKD is a step up from Notts, he's better off there. If the fee is 300k as rumours suggest, we can reinvest that in the next Crowley. Rinse and repeat.

Crowley is class, and him moving will weaken us and strengthen a rival. But so far under the bros, we've sold several "irreplaceable" stars and then gone on to replace them with someone arguably better: Wootton-Macca, Ruben-Crowley, Macca-Jatta.

I totally agree with you Slack_pie, I think Dan is a
very talented footballer who is on the whole a joy to watch. I don?t though think we should try and hold on to a player who it appears wants to leave to earn more money. If we do he may not be the player he can be for the next 6 months as he wouldn?t want to get injured. If we get offered a decent fee we should take it. I am surprised though that a players of Dan?s obvious ability would want to go to another League Two club that are currently 11th and play for a soulless team in a soulless stadium.

[slack_pie]

I totally agree with you Slack_pie, I think Dan is a
very talented footballer who is on the whole a joy to watch. I don?t though think we should try and hold on to a player who it appears wants to leave to earn more money. If we do he may not be the player he can be for the next 6 months as he wouldn?t want to get injured. If we get offered a decent fee we should take it. I am surprised though that a players of Dan?s obvious ability would want to go to another League Two club that are currently 11th and play for a soulless team in a soulless stadium.

I'm sure there's interest from L1. The difference is MKD are newly minted and willing to drop six figures on a player out of contract in the summers. That also suggests they're willing to offer him a big pay rise.

Maybe the fact that Crowley's already played at Championship and L1 level plays a part. He's not like Langstaff - a player on the up trying to see how far he can go. DC has dropped down the leagues over the years. If he can get L1 money at a L2 club where he can dominate games, why not take it.

[Notts78]

Lack of ambition by owners IMO why would you when you?ve an absolute great chance of getting out of the division this year?
Imagine if we sold him to MK and they pipped us by a point in to the autos or play offs.
I?m sorry but you don?t sell one of your better players to a promotion rival it?s something that?s just not done.

Imagine getting promoted with a reported 300k extra in the bank and MK don?t go up.
DC was one of our best players last season but not so influential this.
The way some are talking is that DC is irreplaceable, which he isn't, just like Macca wasn?t.
Trust in the radar?.

[BigFatPie]

Dan has been agitating for this move all season
We've offered a new contract but he wants far more than we pay other players, which MK are apparently happy to pay
The rest of the squad all know this which is not exactly conducive to team spirit
I understand we've held out to drive a hard bargain though. A bit like with Macca and Millwall, where the player also pushed for the move

Is the 300 grand anywhere near correct?

[drillerpie]

This is where I'm at. I love Crowley as a player, but if he genuinely thinks MKD is a step up from Notts, he's better off there. If the fee is 300k as rumours suggest, we can reinvest that in the next Crowley. Rinse and repeat.

Crowley is class, and him moving will weaken us and strengthen a rival. But so far under the bros, we've sold several "irreplaceable" stars and then gone on to replace them with someone arguably better: Wootton-Macca, Ruben-Crowley, Macca-Jatta.

Completely agree with this. I love watching DC. I'm not going to start with the sour grapes now and say he's rubbish or ball greedy and we won't miss him.. We will miss him and he's a really good player. I would have kept him till the end of the season but if he's set his heart on leaving and we get good money, let him go.

We are going to see more of this. This is our model now. Splashing the cash to keep players here is a thing of the past. We buy undervalued players, get a good year or two out of them, take profit, bring the next one on the Radar list in, and repeat.

I for one am fine with this, but I'm also one of the rare people who thinks recruitment under the bros is good and doesn't want to lynch Montague.

[CamPie]

Completely agree with this. I love watching DC. I'm not going to start with the sour grapes now and say he's rubbish or ball greedy and we won't miss him.. We will miss him and he's a really good player. I would have kept him till the end of the season but if he's set his heart on leaving and we get good money, let him go.

We are going to see more of this. This is our model now. Splashing the cash to keep players here is a thing of the past. We buy undervalued players, get a good year or two out of them, take profit, bring the next one on the Radar list in, and repeat.

I for one am fine with this, but I'm also one of the rare people who thinks recruitment under the bros is good and doesn't want to lynch Montague.

Definitely not a rare one, the rare ones are those who think recruitment has not been good and use the few failures to highlight their point, ignoring the many and profitable successes.

[Chicken Balti Pie]

If the 300k is correct, snap their hands off. He plays for about 30 minutes a game, when he is playing, he's great but a passenger for the rest of the game, great for a highlight reel but give me a Jodi Jones anyday of the week over Crowley. With Edwards, Grant and the two new players, we won't have a player who can run around in a circle 5 times to do a simple sideways pass but we will have players who will drive us forward with pace which is where we are most dangerous