Expiring contracts and the 25 man squad rule

There have been a number of threads dealing with which players might be moving on, who should perhaps earn a new contract or be retained and which areas need strengthening. In a situation where there was no limit on squad size or money available then giving fringe players a chance to prove themselves at Premier level might be ok but that is not the situation.

So regardless of whether a player actually leaves the club or just misses the cut and ends up out on loan or stuck in the reserves how should those gaps in the squad be made available for new signings?

I expect most or all of you are familiar with the 25 man squad rule but here is a quck recap. Only 25 nominated players and an unlimited number of under 21 players can take part in league games. An under 21 player for the coming season will be regarded as anyone born on or later than Jan 1st 1992. There is a ruling on 'home grown' players too which should not affect us next season even though Scottish players are not regarded as home grown (unless they have come through at an English or Welsh club from a young age).

The club have finished the season with 26 players who would count as over 21 and 3 who have had decent league experience that would count as under 21 (Harris, Ralls and Nugent). If spaces in the squad are to be opened up who looks likely to miss out? According to a Wikipedia page on Cardiff City McPhail, McNaughton and Helguson's contracts all expire this summer.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012%E2%80%9313_Cardiff_City_F.C._season#Contracts

The next most vulnerable players would seem to be Lappin, Smith, Conway, Cowie, Gestede and maybe Parish whose contracts run out next summer. Hudson's and Bellamy's do too but i see them as being definites for the squad next season anyway.

The remaining players all have contracts running out in 2015 or 2016 and seem by and large safe for next season at my guess. The biggest doubts among these players are obviously Kiss and Velikonja because of the way the have been all but absent from the current first team squad all season. I still believe that Velcro will be pushed forward next season and hopefully be an assett in the Premier. Has Kiss gone backwards and out of Malky's plans or just being prepared for Premier football to which he might be more suited? I honestly can't make my mind up on that one but hope he stays and begins to fulfill the potential Malky obviously saw in him by giving him a contract until 2016.

I guess some of those who might miss out (Lappin, McNaughton) will really indicated the areas we will need strengthening in. Two full backs, two central defenders and a free scoring striker would seem to the minimum requirements next season but cases could be made for an experienced central midfielder and one or more wide players too.

I am looking forward to after match celebrations following the Bolton game and the planned open top bus tour and gathering down the Bay. As much as i will be celebrating i will be inwardly thanking those players who have given a lot to the cause this season and previously to get us where we are now but will, inevitably miss out next season.

Nice piece Toastie.... I agree with your observations but have heard on the street that Velcro had become Teflon and wont stick around next year....


I think the most poignant image of our season will be SuperKev shoulder high living his dream moment.... the moment he achieved everything he'd strived for in a City shirt... but also the moment when his City dream ended....

Valley Trash wrote:Nice piece Toastie.... I agree with your observations but have heard on the street that Velcro had become Teflon and wont stick around next year....


I think the most poignant image of our season will be SuperKev shoulder high living his dream moment.... the moment he achieved everything he'd strived for in a City shirt... but also the moment when his City dream ended....

Yes it must be bittersweet for Kev but hopefully mostly sweet. Players know this kind of thing happens all the time and maybe even if he knew that the Prem was likely to be beyond him that the joy of a title winning season was realistic and has now been achieved. I can only add this for him

If you are right about Velcro then i think we will definitely need 2 new strikers in to strengthen the squad.

This make Arkay sad.

I think we will need to free between 5 and 10 spaces in our 25 man squad and the maths alone suggests that the Toast man's speculation as to departeees may not be far from the truth. Ruthless Malky?

Arkay Dubya wrote:This make Arkay sad.

There, there mate... On the plus side our wives will no longer be currency used to appease the great silver haired deity SuperKev

so whos going to shag our wives.when.super kev fucks off??

There are some players that we could shed and I would not miss too much:

Mcphail
Velcro
Kiss
Cowie
Lappin
T Smith
Helguson
Nat Jarvis (over 21)
Dare I say it, Conway.

A list I would be sad to see go, and would love to stay, but not devastated:

Bellamy (purely thinking of wages) In the twilight of his career and possibly just costing a little too much to be just a squad player
McNaughton :-(

Sent out on loan for the season to the championship:

Ben Nugent
Joe Mason
Rudy Gestede
Joe Ralls


So that makes 15 spaces in the squad. I don't think Malky will replace 15 players however so I think we will all be pleasantly surprised about who stays.