Alfie May

Talk about anything to do with Cheltenham Town, CTFC 500 Club, League 1, ex players & Managers

Moderators: Admin, Ralph, asl, Robin

Jon Palmer
Posts: 5046
Joined: 13 Feb 2010, 20:19
CTFCfan99
Posts: 1259
Joined: 03 Feb 2015, 00:13
It feels like usually at CTFC a '3-4 week' injury ends up being 2+ months - let's hope that's not the case this time!
User avatar
Shade
Posts: 16832
Joined: 27 Sep 2010, 13:02
Location: Cheltenhamshire
CTFCfan99 wrote: 28 Jun 2022, 12:31 It feels like usually at CTFC a '3-4 week' injury ends up being 2+ months - let's hope that's not the case this time!
You're not wrong. And players who miss pre-season like this seem to have poor seasons. Or that's how it feels to me anyway.
RegencyCheltenhamSpa
Posts: 29759
Joined: 21 Nov 2009, 03:27
Great ruse to put off would be suitors.
User avatar
longmover
Posts: 2822
Joined: 23 Jan 2012, 18:55
RegencyCheltenhamSpa wrote: 28 Jun 2022, 12:57 Great ruse to put off would be suitors.
Classic Duff
Fuller
Posts: 2675
Joined: 27 Jun 2012, 09:23
I only said yesterday that one of our key players will no doubt go down with injury in pre season…..
User avatar
longmover
Posts: 2822
Joined: 23 Jan 2012, 18:55
Fuller wrote: 28 Jun 2022, 16:15 I only said yesterday that one of our key players will no doubt go down with injury in pre season…..
As will at least three of our new signings
User avatar
longmover
Posts: 2822
Joined: 23 Jan 2012, 18:55
some social media chat linking May with Bristol City, take with a pinch mind.
Fuller
Posts: 2675
Joined: 27 Jun 2012, 09:23
longmover wrote: 29 Jun 2022, 12:33 some social media chat linking May with Bristol City, take with a pinch mind.
I’ve seen BCFC mentioned but from what I’ve seen it’s Birmingham City.
User avatar
longmover
Posts: 2822
Joined: 23 Jan 2012, 18:55
Fuller wrote: 29 Jun 2022, 12:44
longmover wrote: 29 Jun 2022, 12:33 some social media chat linking May with Bristol City, take with a pinch mind.
I’ve seen BCFC mentioned but from what I’ve seen it’s Birmingham City.
they have less money than us :D
User avatar
Shade
Posts: 16832
Joined: 27 Sep 2010, 13:02
Location: Cheltenhamshire
longmover wrote: 29 Jun 2022, 13:18
Fuller wrote: 29 Jun 2022, 12:44
longmover wrote: 29 Jun 2022, 12:33 some social media chat linking May with Bristol City, take with a pinch mind.
I’ve seen BCFC mentioned but from what I’ve seen it’s Birmingham City.
they have less money than us :D
Saw someone on twitter linking May with Brum yesterday and a CTFC fan said no way, we are not taking a bag of crisps and a panda pop for May. Brum fan replied with "you'll be lucky if we can stretch to a panda pop as well" :lol:
User avatar
longmover
Posts: 2822
Joined: 23 Jan 2012, 18:55
I don't think we need any dealings with Birmingham City, thanks very much.
Fuller
Posts: 2675
Joined: 27 Jun 2012, 09:23
JP tweeted he understands the club have put a price of £500k on Alfie and there is plenty of interest.
He’s going soon I reckon but it’s pointless saying he worth blah blah blah. We’ll get what the best offer is.
More of interest is how much of any fee we receive goes into the playing budget. I very much doubt it will be what we would hope for, based on previous history.
paperboy
Posts: 2716
Joined: 05 Jul 2011, 22:56
500K is probably the figure that was negotiated when he signed his last contract, similar to Ryan Broom.
If three clubs offer that figure Alfie is entitled to speak to and go to whomever he chooses I guess.
Fees usually spread over a couple of seasons.
User avatar
Shade
Posts: 16832
Joined: 27 Sep 2010, 13:02
Location: Cheltenhamshire
The club have just tweeted the following, after JP's tweet about £500k got A LOT of negative reaction:

Cheltenham Town
@CTFCofficial
·
9m
Contrary to inaccurate reports in the media, it is not club policy to place 'valuations' on any players. Alfie May has two years left on his contract and no offers have been received for him. We are not looking to sell players at this point in time. #ctfc
User avatar
Shade
Posts: 16832
Joined: 27 Sep 2010, 13:02
Location: Cheltenhamshire
Personally, I don't think they could get away with tweeting that if it weren't true, as it could come back to bite them in the ass big time if we did end up selling Alfie for £500k. However, £500k has always sounded ridiculous to me when you think we sold a slow 31 year old centre back who can throw the ball a long way for £200k less than 12 months ago.

Alfie is a 24 goal League One striker, ffs.
Robin
Posts: 15948
Joined: 20 Nov 2009, 11:19
I mentioned on here several weeks back that many of you would be disappointed when you realise how much Alfie will go for. I'd be surprised if he's still here this time next month so we'd better pray that Charlie Browne is up to it.
User avatar
Shade
Posts: 16832
Joined: 27 Sep 2010, 13:02
Location: Cheltenhamshire
Robin wrote: 01 Jul 2022, 16:21 I mentioned on here several weeks back that many of you would be disappointed when you realise how much Alfie will go for. I'd be surprised if he's still here this time next month so we'd better pray that Charlie Browne is up to it.
Not believing what has been put on the club twitter then? You think after saying it's not true, they would then sell for a pittance and not expect riots on Whaddon Road?
Robin
Posts: 15948
Joined: 20 Nov 2009, 11:19
I believe the fee they want has leaked out, it's been known for a while too and comes from well connected sources. The club frantically denying it to save face doesn't mean it's not true. Also sometimes there is more to the fee than the face value i.e. what's agreed when a player signs a new deal.
User avatar
Ihearye
Posts: 3428
Joined: 05 Jan 2018, 08:08
interesting if that is the complete club tweet (am not on social media), that they do not say £500k is incorrect. Also, the no offers received yet, does point to him going as Robin says. Have often wondered if last season was an anomaly in Alfie's goal scoring.
Once he goes, it will make next season even harder than it already looks. As his energy alone causes defences problems. The fact we are playing a player in our friendlies who is only here to get fit, shows how lean our squad is with only a few weeks to go.
paperboy
Posts: 2716
Joined: 05 Jul 2011, 22:56
Think Robin is correct.

It would be astonishing if JP was wildly wrong.
It would be astonishing if Alfies agent didn't insist on a release clause at a certain figure.
It would be astonishing if CTFC was just about the only club on the planet that didn't know a value for a player.

MD said today that every player has a value.
RegencyCheltenhamSpa
Posts: 29759
Joined: 21 Nov 2009, 03:27
Shade wrote: 01 Jul 2022, 15:47 The club have just tweeted the following, after JP's tweet about £500k got A LOT of negative reaction:

Cheltenham Town
@CTFCofficial
·
9m
Contrary to inaccurate reports in the media, it is not club policy to place 'valuations' on any players. Alfie May has two years left on his contract and no offers have been received for him. We are not looking to sell players at this point in time. #ctfc
Good response from the club.

We don’t need to sell. It has to be an offer we cannot refuse.
little mo
Posts: 1717
Joined: 26 Dec 2012, 17:27
MK Dons this week sell Twine to Burnley for 4m and he scored less League one goals than Alfie last season. Yes he is younger,but Alfie is hardly an old man.
RegencyCheltenhamSpa
Posts: 29759
Joined: 21 Nov 2009, 03:27
little mo wrote: 01 Jul 2022, 18:27 MK Dons this week sell Twine to Burnley for 4m and he scored less League one goals than Alfie last season. Yes he is younger,but Alfie is hardly an old man.
Exactly.
Si Robin
Posts: 5351
Joined: 20 Nov 2009, 10:29
little mo wrote: 01 Jul 2022, 18:27 MK Dons this week sell Twine to Burnley for 4m and he scored less League one goals than Alfie last season. Yes he is younger,but Alfie is hardly an old man.
He's 6 years younger - that's a lot for a striker. The average prime age for a striker is 27, Alfie turns 29 tomorrow (Twine is 23 in 2 weeks).

Alfie has had a phenomenal last 4 months of the season, but it was his first season scoring 20 plus goals. Was it a purple patch of form, or was it his class finally coming through? We can't know for certain. What we do know though is that only 3 forwards aged 29 and over have been sold from the 3rd tier for more than £500k. That only 3 players in history aged 28 and over have sold for over a million (and all three of those were from clubs being relegated from the Championship).

And that's before you take into account that he may simply have a release clause in his contract.

We can bitch and moan about what we feel he's worth, but the fact is that we are a selling club, likely to have the lowest budget in the division. £500k is not to be sniffed at for a 29 year old who's had a great half of a season, assuming someone is prepared to pay it.
HamTown
Posts: 1089
Joined: 12 Dec 2020, 22:22
Well put Si Robin !
little mo
Posts: 1717
Joined: 26 Dec 2012, 17:27
Not for one second am i suggesting that Alfie is worth 4m (nor is Twine by the way) but what i am saying is,we are in real danger of under valueing and underselling a prize asset yet again just because we are " little old Cheltenham". Who gets the goals when Alfie goes. Please do not say Lloyd,he has had more than enough chances and can't hit a barn door with a friggin banjo,as Nesty once said of a past Cheltenham "striker".
Si Robin
Posts: 5351
Joined: 20 Nov 2009, 10:29
But it's not underselling or undervaluing. £500k is about his going rate.

Yes, that's probably not what we as fans want, but it's what the market will dictate.
User avatar
Ihearye
Posts: 3428
Joined: 05 Jan 2018, 08:08
SC left , came back and screwed us
MD has left and will come back and screw us
Robin
Posts: 15948
Joined: 20 Nov 2009, 11:19
Si Robin wrote: 02 Jul 2022, 07:53 But it's not underselling or undervaluing. £500k is about his going rate.

Yes, that's probably not what we as fans want, but it's what the market will dictate.
You've laid out some great perspective Si but let me ask you this do you think we can replace Alfie with £500k? Clearly not all of it will go back into the playing budget but if we assume the bulk of it does , some fag paper sums would give us maybe £150,000 for a fee and a two year deal for a player before that's gone. If I am right that would leave us searching league two and conference for players. Also we would realistically need some experience with that as the forwards we've got are all young, inexperienced and unproven at this level (Brown included).

It's going to happen in the next few weeks, I just hope we've got forwards lined up because losing Alfie and Callum is a lot of goals to replace.
Si Robin
Posts: 5351
Joined: 20 Nov 2009, 10:29
To this day we've not spent up to even £100k on a fee, and I don't see us doing so this summer, even with money from the sale of Alfie (FWIW, I don't think he's going anywhere this summer).

You can throw all the hypotheticals you like around, but we do this every year, or every time we have a player who is remotely successful - "If we sell him how do we replace him". It's not about replacing his goals, it's about ensuring the viability of the football club. We are a selling club, and always will be. The way we make money is by bringing in players and hoping to sell them for a profit. We bought Alfie for a nominal fee (probably around £20k) 2 and half years ago. £500k is a nice profit and we look elsewhere when he's gone.

Sometimes we land on our feet, other times we aren't so lucky. That's what Mickey Moore and the scouts are there for. When we signed Alfie his record wasn't great, in fact for a forward in his prime it was quite poor. He just about reached double figures in a championship winning team, and then last season he hit the purple patch of his life. I hope it continues, and we have him until January at least, but the chances are it won't, so if someone offers £500k we will more than likely snap their hands off.
Fuller
Posts: 2675
Joined: 27 Jun 2012, 09:23
Also bear in mind, if Alfie does go for a reasonable transfer fee, then Doncaster Rovers could well be due a cut of that fee if that was agreed at the time he joined us.
Often about 20% so easy to work out the sums.
User avatar
Shade
Posts: 16832
Joined: 27 Sep 2010, 13:02
Location: Cheltenhamshire
little mo wrote: 01 Jul 2022, 23:10 Please do not say Lloyd,he has had more than enough chances and can't hit a barn door with a friggin banjo,as Nesty once said of a past Cheltenham "striker".
Same could be said about Alfie until 7 months ago when all of a sudden he couldn't miss.
Robin
Posts: 15948
Joined: 20 Nov 2009, 11:19
Are you seriously comparing George Lloyd with Alfie May Shade? Alfie is light years better in every aspect of the game and was even before his goal glut.
little mo
Posts: 1717
Joined: 26 Dec 2012, 17:27
Robin wrote: 02 Jul 2022, 18:10 Are you seriously comparing George Lloyd with Alfie May Shade? Alfie is light years better in every aspect of the game and was even before his goal glut.
Agreed
Post Reply