Burnley News 24/7Writer: turfmanphil 
Date:Saturday May 15 2010
Time: 8:11AM
UK time is: 22:17:42
Choose your club
Other Sites
Network Navigation
Vital Partners
'If It's Football, It's Vital'
Rumour Mill-Wolves Pray on Fletcher?
Wolverhampton Wanderers are reported to be willing to pay in the region of £6 million for Clarets striker,Steven Fletcher. The article in the Guardian also links the Scotland international with possible moves to Bolton and Birmingham.
It is Wolves though who appear to be in pole position with the offer. Mick McCarthy it is understood wants a partner for their £6.5 million stiker,Kevin Doyle who is now rated to be worth about £10 million since signing for them in the close season last summer.
Chairman, Barry Kilby has insisted that the Clarets are under no pressure to sell any of their players with Fletcher also indicating he would be happy to stay at Turf Moor.
Fletcher still has three years remaining on his contract but offers of this type if true are likely to severly test Burnley's resolve to hold onto the player.
Every player has his price and according to the Guardian, Fletcher is valued by the club to be worth £7 million.
Most Clarets fans would want to hold onto Fletcher as we prepare for an instant return to the Premier League next season and it will be a severe blow to lose such a player. If we do see the 23 year old leave Turf Moor, I hope this happens sooner rather than later so that we still have time to use the money we receive from his transfer to put towards a replacement.
We don't want this sort of transaction to take place towards the end of the transfer window when all the suitable players may already have been signed up by other clubs and we have little time to sort out a replacement.
It is ironic that two of the promoted clubs last season both of which survived in the Premier League are now apparantly in the market for one of our key players following our relegation.
Oh do I so wish it was us going to a relegated Wolves and offering £10 million for Doyle to partner Fletcher! Oh do I so wish it was us going to a relegated Bolton and sticking two fingers up to Coyle!
Sigh!
Seconds Out! Vital Boxing is here!
Vital F1 Prediction League - Join now for Monaco
Your Comments
Place your bets, who realistically thinks Fletcher will be playing in Claret & Blue by the time we kick off our Championship campaign?
turfmanphil
Probably not. But we should get good money.
ClaretClaude
Is he that good? Will he better us? I'm unsure for 6 million he will get us many more goals?!
PremiershipWolf
Aye it will all be about the 'good business' we have done again if he goes when what we really need to do is to keep the squad together as best we can to increase our chances of a promotion push,particularly if those players can also hold their own in the top flight, This will be a true test of the Board to see just how much grit,determination and balls they have to try and keep our best players. I hope Bolton,Brum and Wolves keep upping the ante between them and if does go that Bolton lose out!! ;-)
turfmanphil
PW it seems to me your 4-5-1 is a bit creaky in McCarthy's eyes and he wants to strenghten his options up front. it seems he is looking at more of a 4-4-2 with Fletcher partnering Doyle. There is more to Fletcher than just goals believe me,he can hold the ball up well and power himself through defences. I wish we had a Fletcher/Doyle partnership
turfmanphil
Fletch will score 20-25 goals in the PL in my opinion and it would be great if we could keep him. I had a discussion with Crosspool regarding Fletch late in the season ( and also a bet). I dont think we would get £7m for him and the value would be much nearer to £4-5m. It will be interesting to see the outcome on this one.
Claretdale
Only £4-5 million for a 23 year old with 3 years of his contract still to go having cost the club £3m? I hope we can do better than that. According to the club we dont have to sell so I hope if we do we take these Prem vultures to the cleaners
turfmanphil
I think he is worth more than what we paid for him. But is he as proven in the PL as Doyle was when Wolves paid £6m for him last season? I would say not which is the basis for my thinking that the fee would be lower. I am happy to be proved wrong.
Claretdale
In my view Fletch is as good as Doyle in goalscoring, is younger, and holds the ball up better. Check out the stats I did in WTBM - goals per minute. I think he could go for 8-9m but I agree 7 is more realisti
CrosspoolClarets
The longer we wait in this window the more we would get, but that would mean tmp getting unhappy if a deal then happened just as the window was closing... Can't be having that! So? Dunno. I hope we keep him till at least Xmas. Barring injury we'd maybe get even more then, unless someone thinks the PL bubble is going to burst. So, while emotionally I want him to stay, lead us back to the PL and become a dominant force there alongside JayRod, my business head tells me I am glad to leave all these complicated decisions to the Board and get in some beers for today's Cup of Shame, then walk the dog and potter about in the garden on Sunday before getting in some more beers for England's probable 20/20 humiliation. The Board are not going to get much of a summer break, what with relaying the pitch, seeking planning permissions, building projects, contract renewals, transfer deals and fending off media speculation. This is why I think they decided that, on balance, now was not the time to change manager.
Couch Potato
I would like to see the board keep fletch and I'am repeating most of what being said, first of all reading comments the player happy to stop at Burnley so why not keep him another year and see if we are in the Premier or the Championship and if he scores a lot of goals next season and we don't get promotion would he not demand a higher fee. I would also want more than 7 mill we are in the driving seat, yeterday we have been linked to Lee Grant with a price tag of 1.5 mill plus? so surely a proven striker in the Prem would be a snip at 7 mill. What message are we sending out to the fans that every player has a price lets keep the squad add some quality and give it a go next season.
Fedupclaret
CrosspoolClarets - how can you say he holds the ball up better than Doyle? I mean, how often do you watch Doyle? Clearly not that often as i would argue there are not many players in the Premier League that do it better than young Kevin... That is the best part of his game!? Hence his goals being slightly lacking... For this reason i am unsure of us wacking out 5-6 million for this lad, as Claretdale pointed out - we paid 6.5 million for an experience K.D... why would we spend similar or more for less experience?! I would like to see us put all our transfer budget on Peter Crouch/Robbie Keane... plus Curtis Davies and Reo-Coker.
PremiershipWolf
CP don't be so negative we'll stuff the Aussies tomorrow the England team are in good form.
Fedupclaret
Once again - Fedupclaret - how can you say he's a snip at 7 million?! Does that mean crap players like George Elokobi are now worth 4 million as he's played a whole season at left back for us?! I would argue he is still worth less than 500k - regardless of his experience... ONE SEASON in the Premier League... I would say 4.5 million is a more realistic price gain but hey...
PremiershipWolf
PW I thought your main target was Robbie Keene for next season.
Fedupclaret
Sorry to keep mentioning Doyle but Wolves did fork out £6.5 million for him from Championship side, Reading last season. I would have thought Fletcher by now would be worth at least that since he is three years younger than Doyle. The bit about a quick sale CP is that Burnley need to come off the fence quickly if they are to sell him and state a minimum offer they would be willing to consider.Let the interested parties then haggle. If the club though hang in and say we are not selling and then suddenly do with a week left in the transfer window, we will lose out until the Jan window opens unless other strikers have already been signed or lined-up
turfmanphil
Fedupclaret - he is our main target - but i'm saying what i would like... Peter Crouch is a hero
PremiershipWolf
PW I think you're going to have to pay few quid for Keene and if you get Keene does that mean Fletcher is going to be third choice behind Keene and Doyle I don't think Fletch will sign under that situation and thats without your hero being signed,
Fedupclaret
If we get Keane, i don't want Fletcher?! Ebanks blake is as good second best...
PremiershipWolf
They cann have him for 6 mill, but will they pay that much for him as I don't think he is a good PL player, but would be happy to keep him now we are in the Championship
sheclaret
Fletcher will stay . He's made it clear he's happy to stay with us unless the club decide to sell him. We're looking for an instant return to the premiership, so never mind what other clubs offer, he's an essential part of that plan. We're in a secure financial position so the board will obviously tell McCarthy and anyone else to **** off. If they don't, then we'll be given a pretty straightforward statement of intent.
WelshClaret
It all depends on what Fletcher wants to do I reckon. If he is prepared to stay then I think Burnley will hold onto him as a year in the Championship, with him scoring lots of goals, would not diminish his value. If he wants to go there is not much you can do but get a good price. I think 6 million plus is fair. PW he has the potential to be a truly fantastic player, his touch and energy is outstanding and some of his finishing has been special - the only fault has been putting away the 'easier' chances - especially with his head but he's only young so will pick that up okay. He will score a ton in the Championship so I'd like to keep him.
ozjean
Im sorry, did I hear somebody say Ebanks-Blake is as good as Fletcher? Oh yeah that's right his Premier League goalscoring record is outstanding. How could I overlook them two goals? As for Doyle being a proven premer league player when Wolves signed him - was he any more proven than Fletcher? One season with 13 goals, one season with 6!!!! The valuation stands - £7000000.
ClaretClaude
Take the £7m. Lets not forget some of the chances Fletcher missed this season. Lets not just concentrate on the all too numerous defence lapses; had Fletcher tucked away the chances a decent Premiership striker would have, we would have had a much better chance of staying up. If he wants to go/his agent advises him to, he will. Would it be be cheeky to ask that he also pays us a share of his signing on fee for the Youth Development Team??
Eyresy's Left Peg
Have Your Say
Recent Articles
Free Transfer for McCann and Others Leave! (Tuesday May 21 2013)
Tranmere is Fifth Summer Friendly! (Monday May 20 2013)
Rumour Mill-Jara to Reyes His Game at Turf Moor? (Saturday May 18 2013)
Heaton Rifles In To Sign Burnley Deal! (Friday May 17 2013)
Going North West for Two Further Friendlies! (Monday May 13 2013)
McCartan Goes-Why Don't the Club Shay Why? (Sunday May 12 2013)
Keeping the Heaton with Liversedge! (Saturday May 11 2013)
Clean Out or Wash Out? (Wednesday May 8 2013)
Burnley X-Files: Caldwell Out, Elliott In at Brum! (Wednesday May 8 2013)
Sparta at the Turf for pre-season friendly! (Wednesday May 8 2013)
Archived Articles
Vital Members League (view all)
| 1. | turfmanphil | 65 |
| 2. | Couch Potato | 31 |
| 3. | Grimsby Claret | 30 |
| 4. | 8clarets8 | 17 |
| 5. | cornwallclaret | 17 |
| 6. | VinRogue | 11 |
| 7. | Claretdale | 10 |
| 8. | WelshClaret | 8 |
| 9. | RickersTwickers | 8 |
| 10. | AndyHo | 5 |
League Results (view all)
| Latest Results | ||||
| Burnley | 2 | - | 0 | Ipswich |
| Wolves | 1 | - | 2 | Burnley |
| Burnley | 1 | - | 1 | Cardiff |
| Leeds Utd | 1 | - | 0 | Burnley |
| Blackpool | 1 | - | 0 | Burnley |
| Burnley | 3 | - | 1 | Bristol City |
League Table (view table)
| Team | P | W | D | L | GD | Pts |
| 8. Forest | 46 | 17 | 16 | 13 | 4 | 67 |
| 9. Charlton | 46 | 17 | 14 | 15 | 6 | 65 |
| 10. Derby County | 46 | 16 | 13 | 17 | 3 | 61 |
| 11. Burnley | 46 | 16 | 13 | 17 | 2 | 61 |
| 12. Birmingham | 46 | 15 | 16 | 15 | -6 | 61 |
| 13. Leeds Utd | 46 | 17 | 10 | 19 | -9 | 61 |
| 14. Ipswich | 46 | 16 | 12 | 18 | -13 | 60 |
Breaking League News
| Behold, Team GB.
» Blackburn : 24/05/2013 22:06:00
|
| Bowyer appointed new Rovers manager
» Blackburn : 24/05/2013 20:49:00
|
| LUFC Lees ready to fight for place in side
» Leeds Utd : 24/05/2013 20:48:00
|
| Redmond England Afterthought
» Birmingham : 24/05/2013 20:11:00
|
| Carson Quizzed Over Unusual Cheques
» Birmingham : 24/05/2013 20:09:00
|
| Rush - Baptiste Wages Too Much
» Derby County : 24/05/2013 20:00:00
|
| LUFC Green in final Ireland squad
» Leeds Utd : 24/05/2013 19:00:00
|
Current Site Poll (view all polls)
|
|
2 © - All content copyright Vital Network Ltd, not to be reproduced without explicit permission Copyright Issues
Please note the Editorial comments and opinions on this site are the personal views of the Editor and should not be construed in any way to be representative of those of other Clarets organisations of which he belongs e.g. Clarets Trust. This applies to both the front page articles and posts in any of the forums.
Cookie Policy
At Vital Football, we along with most other modern websites use small files called 'cookies' to create the most secure, effective and functional website possible for our users. Without these files our business model, based on advertising, breaks down and we would be unable to continue to provide the services that you are here to utilise. By continuing to use this website after seeing this message, you consent to our use of cookies on this device unless you have disabled them. For full details please read our Cookie Policy which can be found here. However, if you would like to disable cookies on this device, please view our Cookie Policy which contains an opt-out tool for disabling advertising cookies. Please also visit our information pages on 'How to manage cookies' if you would also like to block all other types of cookies. Please be aware that parts of this site will not function correctly if you disable cookies.