McAtee Contract

Grimsby Live reporting that we've opened contract discussions with super John

Good move IMO. Only 1 year left on his contract. If we are to remain a force need to keep hold of our best players rather than dissect the group like the last time we got promotion.
Lets get Efete, Clifton and Fox down on long term deals also.

Isn't this just a bit on a non-story. For now!

Quoted Text

McAtee signed a two-year contract when moving from Scunthorpe United last summer and still has one year to go on that deal, but the club want to move quickly to secure the long term future of a player who has impressed this season with 14 goals from his 36 appearances so far.

Much may depend on the division the Mariners find themselves in next season, with contract talks on hold for now as the club prepare to face Notts County on Monday evening in the first round of the play-offs, with a trip to Wrexham awaiting the winner of the tie at Meadow Lane.

It might be as simple has .....Hey John   we saved you from having to play for Scunny last season so you owe us .....you are obviously too good for us ......tell you what you sign another contract so we can get more money for you  and we promise that when any team comes in  we will let you know and if necessary let you go for the right price

Quoted from Brazilnut

It might be as simple has .....Hey John   we saved you from having to play for Scunny last season so you owe us .....you are obviously too good for us ......tell you what you sign another contract so we can get more money for you  and we promise that when any team comes in  we will let you know and if necessary let you go for the right price

Players often sign new deals before leaving for a decent fee. Didn't Ryan Bennett sign a long-term deal before we sold him to Peterborough?

John McAtee is worth significantly more if he's tied down for almost 3 years than when he's got less than 12 months left on his contract.

They are just re-hashing the conversation from Matt Dean's pre match interview with PH, as they are wont to do.

Give him anything he wants, we will get his wages back when he moves on

Quoted from jamesgtfc

Players often sign new deals before leaving for a decent fee. Didn't Ryan Bennett sign a long-term deal before we sold him to Peterborough?

Yep, Mike Newell gave him a 4 year deal in the summer of 2009. Then promptly played him in midfield.

Quoted from Poojah

Yep, Mike Newell gave him a 4 year deal in the summer of 2009. Then promptly played him in midfield.

Absinthe can do strange things to a person...

Quoted from Maringer

Absinthe can do strange things to a person...

Makes the heart grow fonder, so I've heard.

Quoted from Poojah

Yep, Mike Newell gave him a 4 year deal in the summer of 2009. Then promptly played him in midfield.

When you bring a footballer of the calibre* of Paul Linwood to the football club, lesser players have to make way.




*not something that Linwood has ever drunk.

Well we can either sell him now and give all the money to our ex non-chairman, or build a team around him.

How we deal with this issue will be the clearest possible indication of the real ambition of the club.

I am pretty sure he will be here next season.

I believe he will still be with us next season and hopefully beyond.

At our club he is a fan’s favourite, one of the first on the team sheet, playing well and scoring consistently. The supporters are amazing and vocal especially away ( some of the best fans in English football ) which he plays in front of every week, I am sure GTFC can offer an improved contract financially and if he is ever short of a few quid am sure his brother will lend him it until Mcatee hits the heights of his career.

Also if he leaves GTFC he could end up playing reserve team football and losing the love of the game after the euphoria of playing in front of the GTFC supporters every week

Get him on a longer contract

I think it’s a good move to tie are better players down on longer contracts.

I think if he keeps improving and holds his form it will be very hard to keep hold of him, he’s got that bit of star quality to change games and there will be money in for him. Wouldn’t it be amazing if he shone in a successful play off campaign and rose through the leagues with us.

If we get an offer over £250k with a hefty sell on clause then I think we would accept it, and that would be a good return on a 12 month investment.

Many a decent player has only been here for 12 to 18 months and then moved on to better things. As disappointing as it would be in the short term, Hurst would just find another gem for us to worship.

Quoted from male private Nale

If we get an offer over £250k with a hefty sell on clause then I think we would accept it, and that would be a good return on a 12 month investment.

Many a decent player has only been here for 12 to 18 months and then moved on to better things. As disappointing as it would be in the short term, Hurst would just find another gem for us to worship.

I disagree. We are competing against several teams that have players commanding fees of £250k. If McAtee is worth that, all well and good. But he is worth more to our prospects than a bundle of cash which would in any event go straight into the pocket of Fenty.

No. We keep him, we give him a longer contract and we bring in other quality players.  I don't want to be down here for six years like we were last time.

Quoted from RonMariner

I disagree. We are competing against several teams that have players commanding fees of £250k. If McAtee is worth that, all well and good. But he is worth more to our prospects than a bundle of cash which would in any event go straight into the pocket of Fenty.

No. We keep him, we give him a longer contract and we bring in other quality players.  I don't want to be down here for six years like we were last time.

Not that simple though is it?

If an offer from a bigger club comes in, he may want to move on and not sign an extension, forcing our hand. The player has a say too.

Yes we must pull out all the stops to keep him  -  he is our greatest asset by a country mile.
His agent will of course be pushing for the best deal for him/them.
I fear the worst & the lad will understandably move on to higher things that we are unable to offer at this time.
However he may just sign a decent extension to an improved salary & then we can command a decent fee.
Aw balderdash I haveI just stated the bleeding obvious. Bring on NC & then Wrexham.

Quoted from ginnywings

Not that simple though is it?

If an offer from a bigger club comes in, he may want to move on and not sign an extension, forcing our hand. The player has a say too.

Of course.

But we should pull out all the stops to try and keep him. If he wants to go, fair enough. But I think the current regime is far more attractive than the previous one.  We have become accustomed to players jumping ship at the first opportunity but I think, I hope, things have changed and we are in a far better place to retain key players.

Hurst gave McAtee his first pro deal at Shrewsbury, then signed him at Scunthorpe where fans say he played well under him and then brought him here.

Hurst has signed McAtee three times, he's still young and Hurst seems to be able to get a tune out of him. I think we get another season out of him and if we are still down here at that point, keeping him might be hard.

Let’s just hope he signs an extension, sooner or later we know he’ll get snapped up by a bigger club, good luck to him when it happens, hopefully not for a bit yet though as he’s a player that we’ve paid to watch.

We should be safe this summer as he needs an operation on his shoulder, ruling him out of pre-season and potentially the first few games in August.  Would be good to keep his contract length at 2 years for a bit of security should there be interest next summer.

I'd like to see us act with a bit of ambition and try to keep investing in our best assets where possible.  Would promotion be worth more to us than a potential £250k transfer fee?  I'd say so.  Of course, it's entirely possible that if we fail to achieve promotion in the next 2 years, he'll be moving on.  But then we will hopefully have improved the rest of the squad enough to remain competitive and we'll get a return on our investment, with a nice potential sell-on.

The way to make him more saleable is to win a promotion, with him in that team and under an extended contract. Just makes business sense. Then, even if you don’t get promoted, your asset is protected.

Quoted from jamesgtfc

Hurst gave McAtee his first pro deal at Shrewsbury, then signed him at Scunthorpe where fans say he played well under him and then brought him here.

Hurst has signed McAtee three times, he's still young and Hurst seems to be able to get a tune out of him. I think we get another season out of him and if we are still down here at that point, keeping him might be hard.

I never knew the Shrewsbury link! Thanks for that

I’d be very surprised to McAtee leave this summer.

I can’t see a club coming in with of a bid of what we value him (I’d imagine about 500k-750k) while he has a shoulder operation imminent.

Come next January, assuming that his performances remain at the same level - I wouldn’t be as confident. Desperate teams throwing money around to strengthen in January could see a L1 or even championship team take the gamble.

… If we don’t go up, we all want to see him score against scunny too