Jamie allen (2 Viewers)

[torchomatic]

Oh yeah definitely.

I'm very unsure what you do with Sheaf long-term.

Sell him. Not sure what other option we have. Club comes first.

He's either injured or coming back from injury and getting up to fitness.

 

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[Skybluedownunder]

Also when he’s on song Sheaf is absolutely class. FA Cup run last season, dominated Wolves and Man Utd.

If we go up this year I think we’ll need that Ben Sheaf at some point.

I think that rumour that Man Utd were interested in him were absolutely bullshit.
[mention]Saddlebrains [/mention] can you confirm?


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[Saddlebrains]

I think that rumour that Man Utd were interested in him were absolutely bullshit.
[mention]Saddlebrains [/mention] can you confirm?


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They did actually send a scout to watch him funnily enough

Interest stopped quite abruptly though

 

[Yorkshire SB]

Sell him. Not sure what other option we have. Club comes first.

He's either injured or coming back from injury and getting up to fitness.

My concern would be, who’s buying him, and for how much?

Injury record is so poor I just can’t see major investment from the sort of clubs who’d be interested.

 

[Skybluedownunder]

They did actually send a scout to watch him funnily enough

Interest stopped quite abruptly though

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[play_in_skyblue_stripes]

I was at Norwich and for me Jamie's performance that day has turned our whole season around. It was a disastrous ending and 'why oh why?' did BTA not take that chance to make it 2-0 late on but we were so much more competitive and worked as a team that day. Its all improved since that match and Jamie Allen was key that day.

Jamie has not played in every game and in truth Jack Rudoni and Oliver Dovin have had the most obvious impact on the fine results. However without Jamie Allen we would be nowhere near where we are now in the table.

 

[rockwoodfleet]

They did actually send a scout to watch him funnily enough

Interest stopped quite abruptly though

Couldn't afford him

 

[ovduk78]

Couldn't afford him

Couldn't agree on a fee, we only wanted £10m but they kept offering £35m
I wonder what fans would be happy with for him now, we all think Grimes is better and he only cost £4m, would fans be happy with less than £4m

 

[Captain Dart]

I think we will only get about £3m for Sheaf, I suspect he is taking care of himself because he knows he is away in the summer. In many ways fair enough, he has to look after his own interests.

Overall the club might have mishandled the situation, had they have sold him last summer and brought in a replacement we might have had a better start to this season, could hardly have been any worse.

 

[Mucca Mad Boys]

I think we will only get about £3m for Sheaf, I suspect he is taking care of himself because he knows he is away in the summer. In many ways fair enough, he has to look after his own interests.

Overall the club might have mishandled the situation, had they have sold him last summer and brought in a replacement we might have had a better start to this season, could hardly have been any worse.

I don’t think so.

If Hamer couldn’t get a prem team to buy him and COH only got a top end Championship team to sign him as a free agency after a career best season… where would Sheaf end up?

His best interests are probably getting promoted with us which could happen this season.

 

[fernandopartridge]

I don’t think so.

If Hamer couldn’t get a prem team to buy him and COH only got a top end Championship team to sign him as a free agency after a career best season… where would Sheaf end up?

His best interests are probably getting promoted with us which could happen this season.

I don't know why this narrative that he wants out and has downed tools has come from, just utter rubbish, It was the same with MVE earlier this season.

 

[Londonccfcfan]

Just gets better. He rewritten his own script a few times now.

Hes the only player from the league 1 season.(i think)...not sure if Eccles got a game in league 1.

Quality player. Love him.

 

[covcity4life]

They did actually send a scout to watch him funnily enough

Interest stopped quite abruptly though

He's not man U quality even though they have fallen.

A Fulham or palace maybe. They both doing really well too mind you.

Still it needs to be remembered that he could do a job for us yet so let's not get on his back. If he goes in summer he goes but until then he is a ccfc player and may yet have a part to play in our fortunes

 

[shmmeee]

Just gets better. He rewritten his own script a few times now.

Hes the only player from the league 1 season.(i think)...not sure if Eccles got a game in league 1.

Quality player. Love him.

Wilson?

 

[fernandopartridge]

He's not man U quality even though they have fallen.

A Fulham or palace maybe. They both doing really well too mind you.

Still it needs to be remembered that he could do a job for us yet so let's not get on his back. If he goes in summer he goes but until then he is a ccfc player and may yet have a part to play in our fortunes

The way he's being written off by many on here is just bizarre. Lampard has made it fairly clear he rates him. If he moves this summer most likely it'll be for non football reasons imo.

 

[Brighton Sky Blue]

He's not man U quality even though they have fallen.

A Fulham or palace maybe. They both doing really well too mind you.

Still it needs to be remembered that he could do a job for us yet so let's not get on his back. If he goes in summer he goes but until then he is a ccfc player and may yet have a part to play in our fortunes

Injury prone and had a bad season so far, both parties need him to turn it around.

 

[torchomatic]

The way he's being written off by many on here is just bizarre. Lampard has made it fairly clear he rates him. If he moves this summer most likely it'll be for non football reasons imo.

Mainly because he's played in less than half of our games this season due to injury and in the majority of those he was poor as he was coming back from injuries.

Gets injured, comes back for a couple of games, injured again. Whether Lampard rates him or not isn't really the issue.

The amount of games he misses is. For me anyhow. Maybe no one else minds.

 

[Earlsdon_Skyblue1]

Bit of bickering in this thread (shock) so made me think about our midfield

And amazingly, for me anyway, I had Sheaf as the 4th choice out of 5. Prepared for pelters of course But how I would rank them in order of importance to us now

Grimes
Rudoni
Torp
Allen
Sheaf
Eccles

I said exactly this less than 2 months ago and practically got laughed off the forum. I keep checking my inbox and notifications for apologies, but I think something must be broken with SBT!

Grimes, Rudoni, Torp, and Allen are all names that deserve a place on the team sheet and you wouldn't want to deny any of them. As others have said, if it wasn't for Wright scoring 3 goals, any of the midfield on Saturday (particularly Allen) would have been worthy of MOTM. Some frighteningly good performances between them recently.

 

[Mucca Mad Boys]

Bit of bickering in this thread (shock) so made me think about our midfield

And amazingly, for me anyway, I had Sheaf as the 4th choice out of 5. Prepared for pelters of course But how I would rank them in order of importance to us now

Grimes
Rudoni
Torp
Allen
Sheaf
Eccles

What would your opinion have been last season? This demonstrates that form comes, goes and fans are fickle. At the end of the day, Allen was fit and available for most of last season and was firmly behind Eccles, Sheaf, Palmer and COH.

Allen has always been a useful role player and has found a niche within Lampard’s tactical setup and deserves credit for the performing the role to a high standard.

I’d be surprised to see Sheaf leave in the summer, promotion or not and would be equally surprised if Lampard didn’t have a role in mind for him. He’s not been stripped of the captaincy.

 

[Mucca Mad Boys]

I said on another thread somewhere on here and got the usual 'I'm stirring shit' comments, but there is a frustration with these 'niggles' from within the club also

Lampard made a point of stating Josh Eccles carried on with his knock as he wants to do what he can for the team, Sheaf on the other hand feels a twinge or soreness etc and immediately he's unavailable unless he feels alright

Was also what was the source of the rumours at Sunderland away where I and others were told he 'didn't fancy it'.

Now again, I reiterate im a huge (less now tbh) Ben Sheaf fan, but we are at the stage now where unless he is fully fit and putting in performances worthy of club captain, for what we hope are 11 games to get us to the promised land, then it's right for him aswell as us as a club that he moves on

The difference between this season and last is that we needed him a lot more last season because we didn’t have the numbers. This season has been so stop-start, he needs to get right and I don’t trust the view that he’s ’not feeling it’.

I may be recalling things incorrectly, but at one point, Allen, Sheaf and Torp were injured and Lati and then Kelly played with Eccles in midfield for a brief period? Torp attracted a lot of criticism because he didn’t look fit (he wasn’t) and the narrative has flipped.

Last season, he had some great form, was highly regarded and only Luton had concrete interest in him. What does he expect this summer? He’s struggled for fitness and form so if Lampard has him in his plans, he’d be stupid to force a move when the club have an option on his contract. We don’t need to sell.

 

[Mucca Mad Boys]

Sell him. Not sure what other option we have. Club comes first.

He's either injured or coming back from injury and getting up to fitness.

Why would you knee-jerk sell a depreciated asset?
He was our player of the season last season…

 

[torchomatic]

Why would you knee-jerk sell a depreciated asset?
He was our player of the season last season…

It's not knee-jerk. Every season he misses more and more games. If he can get back to fitness then great, I would be as happy as anyone, but if not then the Club comes first. Are you happy with a player that misses over half the games every season through injury?

If this was any player other than Sheaf then there would be outrage.

 

[Terry_dactyl]

Just gets better. He rewritten his own script a few times now.

Hes the only player from the league 1 season.(i think)...not sure if Eccles got a game in league 1.

Quality player. Love him.

Eccles definitely got at least one game as I remember him coming off the bench 1st game at St Andrews…against Southend?

 

[Mucca Mad Boys]

It's not knee-jerk. Every season he misses more and more games. If he can get back to fitness then great, I would be as happy as anyone, but if not then the Club comes first. Are you happy with a player that misses over half the games every season through injury?

If this was any player other than Sheaf then there would be outrage.

He’s missed half the games for one season.

One thing you don’t account for is that when Sheaf played, he averaged 82.5m per game (similar to 21/22 and 22/23) which, for reference is about 10m more per game than Eccles. In the context of having a small squad and the muscular injuries he gets, he’s probably been overworked. In the exact same way Torp kept getting muscular injuries in 2024 (as a whole), he wasn’t 100%, he kept playing and was more susceptible to injury.

If we went through people’s opinions on Torp, it was the same story - get injured too much. I’m sure @saddlebrains’ source reported Torp was a bit of diva (apologies if this is incorrect/someone else source).

With a larger squad, particularly in midfield, we ought to manage his and other players minutes a bit better.

 

[torchomatic]

He’s missed half the games for one season.

One thing you don’t account for is that when Sheaf played, he averaged 82.5m per game (similar to 21/22 and 22/23) which, for reference is about 10m more per game than Eccles. In the context of having a small squad and the muscular injuries he gets, he’s probably been overworked. In the exact same way Torp kept getting muscular injuries in 2024 (as a whole), he wasn’t 100%, he kept playing and was more susceptible to injury.

If we went through people’s opinions on Torp, it was the same story - get injured too much. I’m sure @saddlebrains’ source reported Torp was a bit of diva (apologies if this is incorrect/someone else source).

With a larger squad, particularly in midfield, we ought to manage his and other players minutes a bit better.

I get what you're saying, but the games he's played since he's been here: 22, 31, 37, 35, 30.

Fitness and injuries have always been a problem and, I agree, we relied on his a bit more in the past.

We have a lot more quality in depth in midfield now and he won't necessarily be "the first name on the team sheet" anymore. Torp and Grimes in particular are ahead of him, I think.

I have no issue with Sheaf staying and being part of our squad as long as he realises he is now a squad player not necessarily an automatic starter. There's no denying when he's at his best he is great, but it seems a long time since we've seen that Ben Sheaf, and when we do it's not very often.

 

[JSL]

I feel there are better candidates for club captain too

 

[torchomatic]

I feel there are better candidates for club captain too

I definitely agree with that. He doesn't seem to lead well on the pitch. He doesn't get in the ear of the ref. There are a few likely candidates for me in midfield and defence who would make a good captain.

 

[Grendel]

Why would you knee-jerk sell a depreciated asset?
He was our player of the season last season…

He is depreciating anyway - he wouldn't be an automatic starter anyway now if fit

 

[JSL]

I definitely agree with that. He doesn't seem to lead well on the pitch. He doesn't get in the ear of the ref. There are a few likely candidates for me in midfield and defence who would make a good captain.

I think Frank is trying to work it out by letting a few have a go such as Kitching, Bidwell, Allen, Lati, Eccles etc of late. It will probably be Grimes eventually

 

[Mucca Mad Boys]

I get what you're saying, but the games he's played since he's been here: 22, 31, 37, 35, 30.

Fitness and injuries have always been a problem and, I agree, we relied on his a bit more in the past.

We have a lot more quality in depth in midfield now and he won't necessarily be "the first name on the team sheet" anymore. Torp and Grimes in particular are ahead of him, I think.

I have no issue with Sheaf staying and being part of our squad as long as he realises he is now a squad player not necessarily an automatic starter. There's no denying when he's at his best he is great, but it seems a long time since we've seen that Ben Sheaf, and when we do it's not very often.

Like anyone, they have to earn their spot. Leading up to Jan, many people said they’d drive Kitching to Blackburn before the window opened. Since Norwich away, he’s been a trusted Lieutenant for Lampard and trusted with the captain’s armband for a handful of games.

It’s been a bad season for Sheaf because he’s not found any rhythm and it’s been setback after setback. He is under contract for 1 more year and we have an option on this and Sheaf must know his best chance of Prem football as a starter is with us. It’s not even too late for him to make an impact later on in the season.

Torp has been great, I’m eager to see him play alongside Rudoni and Grimes but I can see the balance being off. The trio either has to have a ball winner (Sheaf) and/or a Duracell bunny (Allen) imo. Torp has been steadily improving this facet so he could really stake a claim if he plays well v Sheff U and Burnley.

He is depreciating anyway - he wouldn't be an automatic starter anyway now if fit

We won’t know that until next season. Even so, you’d need to replace his attributes so there’s probably more value in keeping him.

 

[Captain Dart]

Why would you knee-jerk sell a depreciated asset?
He was our player of the season last season…

He is in the last season of his contract with an option to extend it next season. I think the club will take one of 2 options.

1. Trigger the option and sell, though that seems a bit unfair.
2. Extend to next season and the season after but if it doesn't work out sell next summer.

Once he is in the last season of a contract he has to go otherwise we get nothing.

 

[Mucca Mad Boys]

If he is in the last season of a contract he has to go otherwise we get nothing

We have a year option apparently, so he would have 2 years left.

 

[skyblue_55]

Just as Hadji has come back , Sheaf is a quality player , who although seemingly injury prone , might well come back stronger than ever ?
He is watching from the sidelines & must be fuming about his non participation , seeing what is possible again

 

[Captain Dart]

Just as Hadji has come back , Sheaf is a quality player , who although seemingly injury prone , might well come back stronger than ever ?
He is watching from the sidelines & must be fuming about his non participation , seeing what is possible again

Yeah, what the ITK posters are saying may or may not be true.