CRAIG JAMES & BEN STARSOSA

[GK1]

both been told today that they will not be staying at darlo!!!!!!!
they have been told to leave

[Ned_Flanders]

Its looking that way Andy

[DL5]

both been told today that they will not be staying at darlo!!!!!!!
they have been told to leave

Starsosa?, don't you start

[Quakerz]

Well, James is shite to be fair, and Starosta doesn't seem to have impressed. Slightly surprised about Starosta though.

[GK1]

i spoke to someone at club today, the person told me they have left already

[TinShedDarloFan]

Ddint Starosta sign a 3 year deal with us ?, seems a little unfair on the lad, his 2 home games he's come up against the likes of Reid and Guitiarez (sp), both international quality players, Craig James however just couldnt get anything right, the basic passing to a black and white top was to difficult for him

[GK1]

they signed pre-contracts, club has the wright to cancel

[Quakerz]

I think Todd will look to bring Arnison in now so we have that little bit more experience at the back.

Main worry for me is that none of the players have signed yet, they have only agreed contracts, and when they find out about Starosta and James what will they think? Will they get a bit nervous and start looking elsewhere?

Does the decision to get rid of those two rightly or wrongly, does it increase the chances of a good player who has agreed to sign going somewhere else?

It may have been better to have waited until the day they can all sign their deals before telling James and Starosta that there is no deal on the table!

[TinShedDarloFan]

Just reading scotts report on Todds interview, Todd goes on about a trust being there between the player and the club about sticking around until we come out off admin, surely this works both ways, the club puts trust in the player to sign for us, the player puts trust in the club to keep the contract in place

[Quakerz]

Todd is damned if he does and damned if he doesn't really.

[wylam_rangers]

Hope this is not true - unless there is a better deal in place.

We'll be losing the better players next at this rate!

[TinShedDarloFan]

Dont get me wrong, im pleased to see that Todd isnt just settling for the likes of Craig James and has seen what we all knew along time ago, but i agree with you that maybes it should of been held back untilcontracts we're being signed then to the likes of James a simple case of thanks but no thanks.

When is it we're out of admin and can offer the players full contracts

[GK1]

well, he must think he can get better players for wot money they were offering them.

[StevieMardenboro]

Todd is damned if he does and damned if he doesn't really.

Yeah.

At least he has had the balls to say: "Sorry this isn't good enough for us."
I wonder whether he felt pressure to make a big impression by unveiling as many signings as he could in one go - which I can understand and opted for Starosta and James as the best that we could afford.

I bet he didn't know Arnison would be available when he signed Starosta and as for James, maybe he had seen him play well earlier in his career and decided he was worth a punt? ( the sound of straws being clutched)

As has been said elsewhere I just hope the flip side of this is not that we lose some players we want to keep.

[real_darlo_85]

Think its a tad harsh on both if true.

Craig James - although we know about his last stint here, he could have at least been offered a 'back up' players role.

Ben Starosta - didn't think he looked that bad imo. Yeah, the two home games exposed him but how many times will you face that opposition? Looked alright going forward.

The other thing is both showed interest in helping us out while we're looking for players and although terms of a pre contract agreement may include an opt-out on both sides, both players kept their word. If this is true where does this leave the 'better' players we have under the same circumstances??? I'd rather keep these two rightly or wrongly, if, it mean't keeping Lumsdon and both Smiths!

At this rate the 'squad' we've played up to now could be completely different come Aug 8th away at Aldershot, which would'nt be good in terms of team cohesion.

The whole scenario of administration just shows what a mess it is when you have players not tied on contract or assuming they'll be offered one and then not!

[divas]

i think timing is the key here, i think todd has been very shrewd in when he has come out and said what he has as fingers crossed we'll be in a position to offer contracts to those he wants to on

what gets me is why he didnt just get a verbal agreement with the lads who could possibly be snapped up by other teams such as both smiths, lumsdon, miller, foster, windass and let the others like james, starosta, plummer, bennett and maybe thorpe come in on trial as it wasnt that likely that other teams would be overly interested - its strange that he did that with convery but not james?!?! unless of course that he's told certain players different and he had told certain players they were on trial

where did that starosta on a 3yr deal story come from? madness when you think that he was never in a position to offer contracts at that time

fair play to him for doing what he does - players show little loyalty these days and with a tiny budget like ours we need to use it as wisely as possible

[Quakerz]

Todd would definitely have been better off waiting until he was able to tie everybody to contracts before letting those two go.

He must obviously have replacements agreed to come in.

[divas]

Think its a tad harsh on both if true.

Craig James - although we know about his last stint here, he could have at least been offered a 'back up' players role!

he's a waste of a wage, even as backup he's a liability, todd obviously thinks he can bring someone else in thats better, and we may not have the money for a reserve left back - what he may choose to do is offer someone a contract that can play a few positions - which is what it sounds like as the left back he's after can also play centre back.

where does mark bower play?

[Charlie_Darlo]

I'm glad Todd has seen these two for what they really are, crap. Well done Colin.

Good riddance to bad rubbish!

And for those that criticised some of my recent posts - I told you so.

[aveda]

As none of us were privy to the conversations and agreements in place between the club and the players it seems a bit harsh to be condemning the club as going back on their word.

[divas]

Todd would definitely have been better off waiting until he was able to tie everybody to contracts before letting those two go.

He must obviously have replacements agreed to come in.

unless he thought that might be even harsher - ie tie the players down thinking the whole bunch were staying, only for the rest of the squad to find out 2 werent being kept on - it does nothing for morale either way (if they actually all got on) mind.

as i mentioned tho - it depends what todd actually said to james and starosta when they came to the club, whether he definitely offered them a promised contract

[GK1]

they were offered contracts, CT sed sorry to them and that he got it wrong as manager to bring them here

[quakersam]

Starosta should have been kept, he looked useful. Feel it's a tad harsh on the lad as he's come up against Premiership/Championship opposition. Arnison didn't look that much better either

[real_darlo_85]

Are we in a position to pick and choose though given the budget we're supposedly on now? Even if James and Starosta are not your most talented footballers, morally, it seems wrong and at least they are players who will fill a couple of positions. Also if Starosta is being replaced by Arnison I don't see much of an improvement there to be honest.

[darloneil]

he(colin todd) has not said there going anywhere he said he was looking at them!! and why oh why cant we just get behind the players we have? does it matter if there not world beaters we are so lucky to have a team to go and watch

just get behind the players, who ever they are and, give them some well needed support!!! its about time the boo boys started cheering for a change, and just be happy and thankfull with what we have got, you never know they might surprise us all

heres hoping for a good season

[darloneil]

he(colin todd) has not said there going anywhere he said he was looking at them!! and why oh why cant we just get behind the players we have? does it matter if there not world beaters we are so lucky to have a team to go and watch

just get behind the players, who ever they are and, give them some well needed support!!! its about time the boo boys started cheering for a change, and just be happy and thankfull with what we have got, you never know they might surprise us all

heres hoping for a good season

[al_quaker]

At least it shows Todd can be ruthless. Which is a good thing. I personally think we should keep Starosta, but then I havn't being seeing him in training every day.

[real_darlo_85]

he(colin todd) has not said there going anywhere he said he was looking at them!! and why oh why cant we just get behind the players we have? does it matter if there not world beaters we are so lucky to have a team to go and watch

just get behind the players, who ever they are and, give them some well needed support!!! its about time the boo boys started cheering for a change, and just be happy and thankfull with what we have got, you never know they might surprise us all

heres hoping for a good season

Totally agree Neill, totally agree!

[darloviper]

I know for a fact that Craig James has not left the club. Not sure about Starosta

[GK1]

how do you know??