S-Clarke

The leadership and 'good to have around' angle is being played a lot with this one, but can we just rewind a bit and remember the squad he managed to 'lead' and 'inspire'? One of, if not the worst ever top flight team in history. That is not showing up top leadership or inspiring quality what so ever, in fact it shows that either no one really gave a shit about what he said if he was really throwing a rocket up people last year, or he didn't really do anything and was passive (which is just how he plays) He has had some pointless personal abuse directed at him, which isn't really needed - but it's all born out of frustration really. 99.9% of the fan base know he isn't good enough for where we want to be, he certainly shouldn't be the one 'leading' us into this new era that's for sure. As others have said, it's put a huge dent in the new setup before they've even really begun. We needed ruthlessness this season, not more rewarding failure and mediocrity. If we continue to do that, we'll be in L1 before we know it.

Probably not, he was one of the least culpable towards that though!

I don't think he's first choice, that's why 3 years is even more weird. In our current CB setup (without selling) it has to be THB and Bednarek, and even if we sold Bednarek or THB, you'd put Edwards in ahead of Stephens.

Potentially a club out of the running for Ramsdale, if they were ever interested that is - id interest from other clubs. Can't see any other gaps in PL clubs for a keeper at the mo. Of the clubs which are looking, Newcastle are pushing to sign Trafford and Manchester United have given Onana the ill-fated backing. Not sure where else he goes if he leaves? (Plus he's keen - if not certain - in his need to stay in the South for personal reasons)

But we've even lurched from owners, board members, DoFs, managers, scouts and we still make these frankly odd decisions. I hope this is the only ''WTF'' moment we have this pre season, as we can't afford any more! Is it too much to ask for to just have some common sense people running my football club? People that actually see what us guys see!

It's very much reminiscent of the Fraser renewal, and then a second renewal the summer after. It did us no good as we were lumbered with a highly paid player who didn't actually play for us in his final years. Cost the club millions. I'm really not sure what the motivating factors are on this. It's perplexed me.

Same, even when he was contracted with us when we last came down, there wasn't ever any genuine/strong interest from PL clubs. I don't know why that is. I think he'd be a lot better at some middling PL clubs than their current options, as a starter too. He seemingly doesn't seem to have many admirers in England though.

It's one of those club decisions I think, didn't want to upset the apple cart and move the captaincy around I imagine. Will won't complain as I'm sure he's a good lad in training, I hope he keeps him far away from the 11 though.

I will sit firmly on the fence on this one, I have no idea how it will pan out. This is the same club who signed Onuachu, Carillo and Mara at the end of the day. Attribute wise he has bits we've missed, 100%, so looking at it from that aspect it's a positive. No idea how that will translate though as he's fairly unproven. Hopefully they've pulled one out of the bag with this one.

I keep seeing this flogged out, ''we need more of his type'' ''we've had so few committed players over the last few years'' Let's not forget who has been front and fricking centre for the last few years? Jack bloody Stephens. Who showed the most ridiculous level of leadership and braindeadness last season when he got sent off and suspended for ages? The bloke has always been a liability for us, that didn't change even if we were in the Champ. To be honest the talk of him being a good lad is pretty pointless if it still contributes us to declining at a rapid rate. You cannot deny that this guy has been a massive part of our decline over many seasons. It's not all on him, it would be harsh to say that, but he has been front and centre of this shit fest and I really hoped we'd use this summer as an opportunity to do away with these sorts. This is a total brain dead decision by those now in charge at the club, and it's really put me on a downer as I'd hoped we had people in charge who now knew what they were doing. Seemingly we still don't.

He's not really though. We were at our best when we played Bednarek and THB. Whenever Jack came into the team, usually shoehorned in some way, we conceded goals and looked all over the shops. He's a lower half Champ CB, at absolute best. He is not someone who should be anywhere near the starting 11 of a promotion chasing team. There's no 'protecting' value involved here, as he's never going to command a big fee - 3 years or 1 year.

He's only 28 ffs?

This makes me question the decision making of those in charge, unfortunately. I had hoped we had a new clean sweep and the new folks had a general idea of what was needed long term. Jack Stephens certainly isn't that. He's a good lad, certainly gives his all for the club, but he's so, so limited and not good enough for where we want to be. He's the sort of player we needed to be shifting if we had long-term plans to be established in the PL. I doubt those plans now. If this is the start of a 'theme', I can see us going with Bazunu as first choice keeper once Ramsdale is sold and Will Smallbone holding the CM.

They've having a good old fashioned meltdown over on their forums.

And he also said (not an exact quote) ''I have a style, a way of playing, but at the end of the day I want to win, and you have to adapt to do so sometimes''