Most Clarets fans will be aware that with the departure of Christian Kalvenes we will still have ten professionals seeking new contracts in the summer.
The 10 players out-of-contract in the summer are:
Nicky Weaver
Brian Jensen
Michael Duff
Stephen Jordan
Steven Caldwell
Clarke Carlisle
Graham Alexander
Joey Gudjonsson
Robbie Blake
Steven Thompson
Manager, Brian Laws has been keeping things close to his chest in terms of saying who will be going and who will be staying but one or two things have slipped out.
One person who will definitely be saying goodbye is Joey Gudjonsson. The Icelandic international midfielder has clearly not seen eye-to-eye with the gaffer and in as astonishing outburst to an Icelandic website was alleged to have said that Laws had lost the dressing room. He earned a two week suspension last month for his unprofessional outburst with the club saying no further comment would be made.
Another player in the news has been Robbie Blake, he too was alleged to have fallen out with the manager but both deny this. He has however made it clear in the local media that he strongly feels he could be leaving the club for footballing reasons. Blake fears he may not be given enough starts next season as the Clarets plot their campaign for an immediate return to the Premier League.
Brian Laws on the other hand appears keen to sign the 34 year midfielder on a new contract and seems positive that he will.
There has been no official news confirming the other players out of contract and it would appear that no final decisions will be made until after our last game of the season against Spurs at Turf Moor next Sunday.
There is some news though regarding our two centre backs, captain Steven Caldwell and Clarke Carlisle.
It would appear now that unofficial websites are being given the task of breaking news which seems a little surprising if not unprofessional. News broke over the weekend that Carlisle had contacted one such website to confirm he had already signed a new contract three months ago which would keep him at Burnley FC until 2011/12. The story goes he had been upset by fans comments on his own blog and that he wanted to put the record straight and confirm his commitment to the Clarets. It is somewhat baffling though as to why he couldn’t say exactly the same on the Official Burnley site or why the club couldn’t have announced the deal three months ago anyway.
It will be interesting to see if the club now announce any news on this matter but so far we can only treat the rumour as unofficial.
Carlisle, who is currently out injured, was linked with a move to rejoin Owen Coyle at Bolton but then so has most of our team! Clarets fans in the main will probably be glad that Carlisle will be staying. He may have struggled a little in the Premier League and made a few schoolboy errors in the back four but now we are relegated he could prove to be a strong asset once more in the Championship.
Another central defender in the news is our captain, Steven Caldwell who has struggled for most of this season with a persistent groin strain. He made his first start yesterday in 21 games away to Birmingham but feels his days may be numbered.
At least this time his words were covered on the Official Site:
‘I am open to discussion. I like it when people want me at their football club and I’m not saying the manager doesn’t.I just don’t know’
Caldwell goes on to say:
‘I am willing to speak to anybody at any time, but I have had no discussions so far so it seems like I will probably be leaving. If I haven’t been offered a contract then it seems like I am leaving, doesn’t it? It’s one of those things. Sometimes things change in football, people move on and clubs change’
In many ways although at least spoken on the Official Site, the statements are equally baffling and you can only assume they have been formally made to soften up the fans and prepare us for losing the player.
The sooner we know the fate of all our out-of-contract players the better and the sooner we can start planning to bring in new players to replace those leaving. We certainly do not want to be in limbo either in terms of deciding the fate of our current manager or sorting out our targets by the time the summer transfer window opens.
Please note the Editorial comments and opinions on this site are the personal views of the Editor and should not be construed in anyway to be representative of those of other Clarets organisations of which he belongs eg Clarets Trust. This applies to both the front page articles and posts in any of the forums
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