A lot of worry and fear over who left who stayed (mainly who stayed). However, what Cook has done makes a lot of sense for the first part of the reshape. No contracts have been offered, and all assets with time available on their contracts (inc triggers) have been kept on. I know some have an idea of a clean slate (bin em' off and rebuild) - but that just isn't a sensible expectation. If you are a football agent you'd be mad to get your 'championship' quality client into a club without any/many players at all. Right now, Cook has merely extended his options on all the remaining players with contract triggers - which is 'free' to do. When Ashton comes in this summer, then Cook will be ready to rock an roll. This includes bringing people in, then selling or loaning out the players on the lower rung of the ladder of Cook's plans. Had all those players with options left on their contract left yesterday, we would have looked like a riskier option on paper to footie agents, thus running the risk of ending up with a Paul Jewell Retirement Home scenario next season. |  |