Wes Thomas departs

[DangerousSausage]

Wes Thomas has left the building. He hadn't been playing, and had been training on his own due to the COVID-19 situation. Now, inevitably, he's asked the club to terminate his contract, which Notts have reluctantly accepted. He played 38 games in the famous black and white and occasionally green, and scored 10 goals. All the best to him for the future.

That leaves us with Wootton, Effiong, Sam and Knowles up front. Do we need to get active in the transfer market?

[Super_Danny_Allsopp]

Let's hope the protecting his family thing and Covid as the reason for not bothering to train was genuine.

Call me a pessimist, but I have my doubts. Perhaps Covid-19 hasn't quite made it to Hertfordshire. 

[CliftonMagpie]

Does it really matter?

He's left and for the most part he was a good servant of the club. I wouldn't put the club past doing a pretend and asking for his release, the fact he wanted to avoid training which I feel Wes Thomas has every right to do, a lot of fans instantly wanted him out. If the money can be spent to bring in another couple of players, it will be best for the squad.

[Super_Danny_Allsopp]

10 minutes ago, CliftonMagpie said:

Does it really matter?

He's left and for the most part he was a good servant of the club. I wouldn't put the club past doing a pretend and asking for his release, the fact he wanted to avoid training which I feel Wes Thomas has every right to do, a lot of fans instantly wanted him out. If the money can be spent to bring in another couple of players, it will be best for the squad.

If he claimed his reason for not working was Covid anxiety - or whatever you want to call it - and then he signs for somebody else and his Covid anxiety miraculously disappears, then it matters.

If that happens, I hope Notts use their lawyers to claim back the wages they wrongly paid to a player for not working for no valid reason. 

[Piethagoram]

 

[Super_Danny_Allsopp]

2 hours ago, Piethagoram said:

 

Yep.

I imagine his fear of Covid has evaporated. Funny that. 

[liampie]

if he does sign for a new club and does not play, then i would not get my pants in a twist over it. its dubious of him to ask for a release if this is the case but at least it frees up the wages. i wish him all the best, think we can only speculate further once we know the full story.

[Super_Danny_Allsopp]

35 minutes ago, liampie said:

if he does sign for a new club and does not play

I would be flabbergasted if a club signed him and paid him not to play. 

Have I been transported to some alternate reality? 

[liampie]

1 minute ago, Super_Danny_Allsopp said:

I would be flabbergasted if a club signed him and paid him not to play. 

Have I been transported to some alternate reality? 

no, you just seem super picky these days.

clubs do arrange transfers with players for their long term goals, but i am unsure if i believe all this hustle and anger about him leaving us for another club. he might sign for a club eventually  that are on prepared to pay his wages whilst he self isolates. its not as unlikely as you are acting. he might not sign for somebody in this transfer window and might decide he is comfortable enough to live off his savings.

who knows? but being angered before the facts seems alienated to me.

[Super_Danny_Allsopp]

4 minutes ago, liampie said:

no, you just seem super picky these days.

clubs do arrange transfers with players for their long term goals, but i am unsure if i believe all this hustle and anger about him leaving us for another club. he might sign for a club eventually  that are on prepared to pay his wages whilst he self isolates. its not as unlikely as you are acting. he might not sign for somebody in this transfer window and might decide he is comfortable enough to live off his savings.

who knows? but being angered before the facts seems alienated to me.

Wes Thomas is 34. Not exactly somebody you are developing for the future.

That doesn't make a lot of sense though does it? As Notts were already paying him to do exactly that. No club around our level, in the current climate, would sign a player to pay him while he self-isolates for an indefinite period. Especially not a 34 year old. 

I think it extremely unlikely to the point I don't know why we are even considering it.


If he signs for a club, it will be to play. I'm not bothered he has left (quite happy actually as it frees up a decent wage as Wes Thomas clearly had no intention of playing), nor would I be particularly bothered if he had gone under normal circumstances to be closer to family or whatever.... However I will be bothered if a player has been hoodwinking the club, in the present financial situation for NL clubs, and playing the 'Covid' game to have a nice relaxed time sat at home, only to sign for another club when it suited him. That is borderline fraud. 

[liampie]

@Super_Danny_Allsopp its all assumptions at this stage, perhaps he will retire?

[menzinho]

Leigh Curtis tweeted that Boreham Wood were interested in him. 

They've had the benefit of the grant money saga, but also recently sold Sorba Thomas to Huddersfield Town - believed to be around £500,000. So they could definitely offer a lucrative deal...

In terms of signing another striker, NA likes to work with 4 so unless Knowles goes back I think the 4 we have now will be the ones we stick with until the end of the season.

 

[upthepies]

I would rather see where things go before jumping the gun, whatever is the reason behind Wes Thomas's departure we can only go off what's been reported. I think we've lost a good striker at this level but he could be replaced with some effort.

[DangerousSausage]

I'm not going to wind myself up about a hypothetical scenario. If he doesn't want to play a contact sport during a pandemic I can understand that and wish him well. In that case, this is probably the end of his career.

Twitter accounts float rumours all the time, of course they'll stoke the rumour mill when a proven striker leaves his club. But that doesn't make it true. Of course if he joins another club and starts playing, that puts a different complexion on it (especially when you consider the transfer fee the club missed out on), but that hasn't happened (yet).

[upthepies]

The local Grimsby newspaper has hinted on his antics, but again things have to develop before fans get out their pitchforks. If it's true that he was destined to sign for another club before switching to us, then some fault falls onto ourselves. Would the same fans be outraged that did this?

[Countyman]

I doubt most fans are bothered about the reasons why, he says it's Covid related then that's what it is. If the clubs happy to release a player linked to another club, than I don't see much to complain about. It's best he departs and we use his wages wisely, I have always felt Wes Thomas did his best for Notts.

It's a shame to see him move on but I have accepted it.

[allardyces tash]

No news yet of Wes Thomas signing for anyone, it looks to be unlikely to me that it will happen any time soon. It would seem his motives for leaving are due to covid concerns.

[Joshua]

I think Jimmy Knowles is doing well and could cover Thomas who I think we will miss in some way.