S-H wrote: ↑Fri Feb 03, 2023 7:50 am
Hardly the same, but I get your point.
It’s double standards however which way we look at it.
I clearly get that Rice is a huge asset and one that’ll bring the club in millions, however, it still confuses me how he was given the armband. Nothing will ever convince me that the club adulation of Dec hasn’t had a significant and detrimental impact on our season.
Player clearly doesn’t see his future here yet he is allowed to play where he likes regardless of the impact to our playing style and is given the armband.
I think Rice would have carried on giving his all with or without the armband so seems a strange decision.
Wilko1304 wrote: ↑Fri Feb 03, 2023 8:23 am
Captains are a figurehead, anyway. You need multiple within a squad, and a good captain knows they aren’t the only leader.
Nowt’s on Rice, if there aren’t leaders in that squad, it’s on recruitment
I think part of the problem is the shoes he stepped into. You get the sense Noble was much more than that off the pitch.
I agree though that you need ownership, leadership and accountability all over the pitch once the players step onto it.
MB wrote: ↑Wed Feb 01, 2023 1:54 pm
If he wouldn't sign a new deal then I struggle to see it is bad business as he'd have walked in the summer so giving him minutes just makes him a better player for whoever he then joins.
Maybe there have been failings earlier in his time with us. I don't know enough to comment, but the big spell missed due to his injury won't have helped.
I don't know the ins and outs either but the injury may well have seen him miss out on chances for more first team football. Whether it is bad management, bad luck or bad administration I just have a feeling, and from what I have seen of the lad, that we will look back and say it was a shame we couldn't keep him. I know there have been a few players we weren't sure about and were disappointed when they left such as Diangana and Ngakia. Neither of those really impressed me that much. Diangana even had a run in the first team but I never thought he looked like a star in the making. He is doing alright these days for the Baggies but still not pulling up trees.Imay very well be wrong about Ashby. There are so many variables in a player's eventual outcome, but he has pace and an eye for a cross or shot that you don't see in many rightbacks that I liked. I reckon he will have at least Stanislaus level of success if he stays fit and keeps his head.
He is probably earning more than what we were willing to offer. He may also feel more confident in biding his time up there to break into the senior team whereas at WHU he probably felt he would go the way of Cullen or Coventry.