New Signing

[Matlock fan]

Intersting point re loyalty but hey ho, it does happen and was shown last summer.

For info, Matlock are quite well known in the non-league game with the most noteable part of our history being a 4-0 victory in the 1975 FA Trophy final, a record Wembley final scoreline to this day I believe. I believe another record was that we had 3 brothers playing that day too....just incase you ever come across it in a quiz!

Whilst I think that Ross will leave to join a football league club in the near future, you also have to consider some of your assumptions in your posts, especially ones relating to the assumption that he would earn more money with you and also that Matlock need the money from the transfer rather than retain him for the balance of the season. Part-time players have 2 incomes so both need to be covered when going full time hence why some players prefer to stay part time and build sustainable careers.

If he does choose you (I believe he does have options already) then I just hope he gets plenty of match time, he will score goals!!!

[TUFC92]

Personally i'd want more than that for Hannah maybe even double or triple it as he is that valuable to Matlock.

I really, really hope that we are sensible enough to pay no where near £100k to £150k. I think £25k at the most, he's un proven in the football league, not even proven in the conference south/north level. Fair enough he has scored a hell of a lot of goals and I think he'd be a good signing, but we need to make sure we don't pay over the top.

[Gulliball]

If we don't sign him now then there won't be a fee at all as he's avaliable on a free in 3 months time. It's up to Matlock whether they want to take a fairly decent sum of money now, and I'd imagine a sell-on which could be worth something in the future, or keep him and possibly win promotion. Very tough choice for their management team to make - after all they could keep him, miss out on promotion and then lose him on a free - which would be a disaster. When Lancaster sold Jordan Connerton to Crewe for £30k last year, they were able to put a roof on a stand and repair a lot of the ground with the money, so a wedge of money now might be tempting, as awful as it would be for the club to lose him so close to the end of the season.

[ferrarilover]

Genius.

With absolute respect to 12345 and MTFC in general: Firstly, £150,000, think about what you are saying. He has three months left on his contract, so effectively you want £50k/month for him? Even if you whole crowd of 175 people turns up just to watch him and pays a fiver to get in every other Saturday and Tuesday, that's £3,500/month. So they all buy a tea and a burger and a programme, that's £5,950/month. This is what he is worth to the club. Ok, so he gets you promoted, that's £10,000 in prize money and a bumper day on the gate, so add another £15,000 to what we already have and he is not yet at £21,000 value to the club. You really think his transfer fee would by 7 times this sum when we can take our chances in the summer and get him for nothing?

Secondly, and again with the greatest respect to MTFC, if TUFC want him, we will get him based purely on our vastly superior status as a club. I'm not suggesting we are anything special, far from it, but it's just common sense. We will pay him more, give him better conditions, more chance of the big time, a better standard of living, etc etc than MTFC could possibly hope to achieve. I'm sure it's great, playing with the butcher and the baker and the candle stick maker every Saturday afternoon, gives him something to do, but realistically, he clearly isn't challenged at that level, nor is he earning enough from it to retire from his other job (that's an assumption, but probably accurate).
Given the chance between 4 hours football a day with two days off a week, or a 9-5 with training on Tuesday evenings and a match on Saturday, which, dear reader, would you choose?
Add to this the likely and aforementioned increase in salary for reduced workload and other advantages, can anyone really see him staying where he is?

Please don't read this as a downer on MTFC, it's not. I'm sure it's a fine club with some excellent players at Evo-Stik level, judging from the website and the forum, it's a well supported club with decent off field admin, but this is the way of football. It's like osmosis, players are attracted to higher leagues, bigger money, better surroundings.
We lose players all the time to bigger clubs than us, Jamie Ward, Benners etc, that's just the way of life.

Congratulations to MTFC on their win tonight, lifts them to second in the division. Interestingly though, despite Hannah, they lag some 20 'goals for' behind Halifax Town having played an extra game. Jesus Norah, I'm off to do some research and some math, I shall report back.

Matt.

[ferrarilover]

Reporting back as promised/threatened.

Turns out Halifax don't have one hitman, they have three and the rest of the goals are just spread out among the whole team.

I did some math and it turns out that MTFC without Hannah would be 14th in the table, with 34 points (23 fewer than now) and a -4GD (26 fewer than now). They'd be 4 points and goal difference clear of Frickley, 3 from bottom and 8 pts and massive GD clear of Ossett. I list two because I'm not sure how many go down. They'd have precisely half the points of Halifax Town at the top and a comparitive GD of -58.
Completely irrelevant of course, but an interesting nugget of stastistical pornography.

Matt.

[Mav]

I did some math and it turns out that MTFC without Hannah would be 14th in the table, with 34 points (23 fewer than now) and a -4GD (26 fewer than now). They'd be 4 points and goal difference clear of Frickley, 3 from bottom and 8 pts and massive GD clear of Ossett. I list two because I'm not sure how many go down. They'd have precisely half the points of Halifax Town at the top and a comparitive GD of -58.

Your equation has missed the fact that without him playing, someone else would have played in his position. You need to perhaps take the average goals scored for a striker in that division and factor those into games and how it would possibly effect results and the points accumulated

[AlexGulls]

Thinking about it he's under 24? Which means we would need to agree a fee or it would go to a tirbunal to sort it out...As obviously Matlock will offer him a new contract to try and keep him..

[bixieupnorth]

dont think we'll be getting this fellow, close the thread until we actually sign him i reckon?

[HRG]

£50,000? Oh, ok then. 8/
Is it me or have some of the smilies moved about?

[Fletch]

Personally i'd want more than that for Hannah maybe even double or triple it as he is that valuable to Matlock.

Considering we got "around" £115k for Benners when he has already proved he can score plenty in L2, anything over 15/20K (plus add ons) for an untried 24 year old would be stupid money in my book...

[CP Gull]

Our offer was turned down, confirmed here:

http://www.matlockmercury.co.uk/sport/f ... _1_3160559

I guess it all depends now on whether or not we go back with a higher offer - as suggested, Matlock may be asking "silly money" for a player with less than 3 months left on his contract.

Alternatively, we wait for the summer and take our chance at picking up on a free. However, according to today's Herald "United have rivals for Hannah's affections" so no doubt we may face some stiff competition for his signature.

[Richinns]

Our offer was turned down, confirmed here:

http://www.matlockmercury.co.uk/sport/f ... _1_3160559

I guess it all depends now on whether or not we go back with a higher offer - as suggested, Matlock may be asking "silly money" for a player with less than 3 months left on his contract.

Alternatively, we wait for the summer and take our chance at picking up on a free. However, according to today's Herald "United have rivals for Hannah's affections" so no doubt we may face some stiff competition for his signature.

I hope we sign him on pre-nuptial agreement. That solves it - he can stay with them until the end of the season or they can accept a small amount to part with him now. Simples.

[bixieupnorth]

like i said, we wont be getting this lad, the boat has been missed!

[HRG]

To be honest it seems more hassle then it's worth. If Matlock want a ridiculous amount of money for him, let someone else pay it. They're deluded if they think any player at their level, untested at league or even conference level is worth £50k+ regardless of how many goals they've scored.

[Richinns]

To be honest it seems more hassle then it's worth. If Matlock want a ridiculous amount of money for him, let someone else pay it. They're deluded if they think any player at their level, untested at league or even conference level is worth £50k+ regardless of how many goals they've scored.

He is out of contract in the summer. They are delluded. Sign him on a pre-nup and force their hand either way. Worst case scenario - he is ours for free in the summer.

I do not see where the problem is with this?