Given gone?

[Mister E]

Hopefully

Why 'hopefully'? He hasn't moaned once to my knowledge. It isn't his fault he is well paid and only a backup now.
I wish him well but recognise that for both our sakes (i.e. his and the Villa's) he needs to go.

I think you've just answered your own question: hopefully he'll go because he needs to, for both parties.

I don't sense any animosity.

[Phil from the upper holte]

What a crazy contract decision that was.  Hope we're not having to pay him off to get shut, although I suspect we will.

If he asks to go we don't have to do we?

[Percy McCarthy]

What a crazy contract decision that was.  Hope we're not having to pay him off to get shut, although I suspect we will.

If he asks to go we don't have to do we?

Well it's all just a basis for negotiation really isn't it? Under the contract, we have obligations and so does he. We'll no doubt meet somewhere in the middle, and a lot will depend on the offers he gets. The better they are, the better it will be for us.

[DrGonzo]

He's has to be on around £3mill a year. If he accepts 18 months pay off we'll still be better off.  Scary numbers.

[richardhubbard]

Get Brad no2 as cover for a year and bring a cheap 3rd keeper in as cover

[Villadroid]

Wiki says Villa paid £3.5m for him and has appeared 34 times.
The Daily Star say he's on £60k a week (£6.24m in wages over two years), and that he will accept £5m to leave rather the £9m his contract entitles him to.

So if he is kind enough to offer to leave for only £5m he would have cost Villa £14.74m.

He's played 34 games for Villa, which means every appearance will have cost Villa £433,000.

Good business?

[ozzjim]

What a crazy contract decision that was.  Hope we're not having to pay him off to get shut, although I suspect we will.

If he asks to go we don't have to do we?

Well it's all just a basis for negotiation really isn't it? Under the contract, we have obligations and so does he. We'll no doubt meet somewhere in the middle, and a lot will depend on the offers he gets. The better they are, the better it will be for us.

I don't see the point. Given is not going to sit on the bench until the end of his deal, he just is not the type.

As such, if he gets a couple of offers, as long as we allow him to go without a fee, I think he will go without a payout, professionalism will take over from him. If it doesn't, sit on it for 12 months. He will then. And we still have a good back up. Simple choice, go, play etc without  payout, or sit on your arse. A bit of backbone from the club should see it though.

[supertom]

We're not going to have to pay him off. Someone will come in for him. He'll have enough takers. We don't have to look for a big fee, maybe a million. Just getting those wages off our books is the main thing. I also think Given will happily cut his wages substantially to play regularly for the last 2-3 years of his career.

He'll get signed up before the window closes. He's too good not to be playing, either top flight, or a top end championship side.

[eamonn]

We won't get a fee for him or Ireland - their wages are far too prohibitive for most clubs and any suitor knows that. If we don't have to pay either off we will be doing very well. Neither move worked out for various reasons, chalk it up, move on. We go again. At least with Lambert's low-risk strategy we're not likely to get burnt again financially for a while.

[Chris Harte]

http://www.thisishullandeastriding.co.uk/story-19112608-detail/story.html?#axzz2UaQKCKki

There you go. Read down just a little.

Bye bye, shay.

[Ad@m]

Whilst I agree that Given doesn't seem to be the sort to enjoy sitting out a contract, if he's on £60k a week as has been reported that's worth £3m a year to him.  He must realise that his next contract has every chance of being his last so if someone wants to halve (or worse) his wages he might decide that it's just too much money to lose.  He's also quite happily spent the last 12 months on the bench without complaining so who's to say he won't be happy to spend the next 3 years to sit on the bench.

I think it's naive to think we'll be able to move him on without it costing us anything.

[paul_e]

Whilst I agree that Given doesn't seem to be the sort to enjoy sitting out a contract, if he's on £60k a week as has been reported that's worth £3m a year to him.  He must realise that his next contract has every chance of being his last so if someone wants to halve (or worse) his wages he might decide that it's just too much money to lose.  He's also quite happily spent the last 12 months on the bench without complaining so who's to say he won't be happy to spend the next 3 years to sit on the bench.

I think it's naive to think we'll be able to move him on without it costing us anything.

I think the reality is somewhere between the 2.

It's his last chance to earn money in his playing career but it's also his last chance to have a meaningful playing career.  If he gets an offer of 20k a week for 3 years and we offer 2-3m on top I'd be amazed if he didn't accept, he seems like someone who'd rather play than sit tight and earn more.  I'll be very surprised if this isn't what happens during the summer.

As an aside - Andy Marshall - I can understand his playing contract ending and not being renewed as he's getting on now but I'm fairly sure he's part of the coaching team, has there been anything about that side of his role?  I've not seen anything.

[PaulWinch again]

I've got no problem with Shay, he played well the season before last and hasn't complained. Good luck to him when he goes.

[eastie]

I've got no problem with Shay, he played well the season before last and hasn't complained. Good luck to him when he goes.

This.

[Mister E]

Wiki says Villa paid £3.5m for him and has appeared 34 times.
The Daily Star say he's on £60k a week (£6.24m in wages over two years), and that he will accept £5m to leave rather the £9m his contract entitles him to.

So if he is kind enough to offer to leave for only £5m he would have cost Villa £14.74m.

He's played 34 games for Villa, which means every appearance will have cost Villa £433,000.

Good business?

About as good as Heskey, who cost us around £1m per goal scored.