It seems to be the subject of the moment, so I thought I ought to write about what has actually happened.
Luton Town haven’t signed Alex Woodyard. The tweet circling social media is a fake, a badly worded fake that doesn’t use the correct colour for the Luton hashtag and doesn’t even have a capital H for Hatters. Also, when a player is unveiled, 995 of the time a club will put some form of picture below the message. Even Lincoln United do that now.
It’s a shame that such a blatantly fake tweet can receive such a huge amount of attention. The messages I saw on my phone when I finally sat down this lunch time included ‘I can’t believe the news about Woodyard’ and ‘Well, it’s better he moves on if he wants to’. Hang on, so now we’ve gone from a fake tweet to Alex Woodyard being unhappy in the space of three tweets? Damn.
I got slated for discussing Danny and Ipswich Town a while ago, shortly after he came out and said he would be remaining at Lincoln and that was good enough for 95% of fans. When Alex said the same in January, did it not carry the same gravity? Does a player saying it mean less than a manager? He turned down Luton because he claimed he could achieve what he wanted here, do we doubt that more than we doubted the manager?
The other side to this is the number of fans who are saying we’ve can do better, he always passes sideways, etc etc. Lincoln City have just been through two of arguably the best seasons in history, with a National League title, Wembley appearance and FA Cup Quarter final. Alex Woodyard has played in almost every single minute of those two seasons, how on earth is he not good enough now? I find it utterly staggering that him performing the tasks he’s asked to by our manager earns him some form of condemnation. In fact, at times I find it completely angering. I’m certain his backward balls and sideways balls are aimed at retaining possession and ensuring we get the ball to one of the players who is looking to hit Rhead on the diagonal. Don’t blame the player for heavens sake, blame the system. Only we won’t, will we? Because the system has brought so much success.
Could @LincolnCity_FC be set to lose Alex Woodyard? We are told numerous @SkyBetLeagueOne clubs have bid for the midfielder but none have met the release clause. pic.twitter.com/orY7Hplycq
— BBC Radio Lincolnshire (@BBCRadioLincs) May 29, 2018
The fake tweet and resulting furore has caused BBC Radio Lincolnshire to get the actual facts, yes there have been League One bids for Alex but no, they haven’t met the release clause. If those bids were Luton, wouldn’t they just meet the release clause like they did in January? The likelihood is that other clubs are interested, it is inevitable. The possibility is that someone will meet the release clause, that too seems likely. After that though, why is Alex’s word worth less than our manager, when he’s featured in every minute of those wonderful two seasons? He might stay, he might go, but it isn’t something to be celebrated. Yes, we’d move on but maybe we should worry about that if or when a club meet the expected £225k release clause.
It’s similar to those clamouring for the return of Terry Hawkridge, saying we miss his link up play and his pinpoint crosses. Interesting, especially as he started just 24 of our National League winning matches, scored three goals (two of which came in the final game) and provided one assist every three games he started, a ratio the same as than Billy Knott and worse than Adam Marriott (one every two), Jack Muldoon (one every two and half games) and Lee Angol (one in three).
We’ve reached a stage where social media suggests re sign a plyer who wasn’t deemed good enough last year, for cash remember as he’s under contract, and move on a player who played every minute of a play-off campaign in League Two and saw us lift a Wembley trophy.
I’m flabbergasted this afternoon, genuinely. Fake tweets, ever-present heroes being written off because of it and half-decent players from the National League being heralded as the next best thing. The world’s gone mad.
If Woodyard is being seen as good enough for league one why would we want to lose him. Over the two seasons he has been our best player. I would be sad to see him go but if the release clause is met and he wants to go to better himself then we should say thanks for the great memories and all the best.
Excellent report. I think & hope Slex will be with us next season.
This is all reassuring Gary! Best to ignore the clueless tweets from some. As much as we might want to think otherwise, Lincoln probably have the same % of fans who make ridiculous comments as any other team. (Not referring to constructive criticism just the ‘fine, off you go’ type comments.) Sadly with social media they can be quite loud. I tend to treat most of what I read with a pinch of salt and wait for more authoritative sources like your blogs and the club website.
agree entirely… every club has idiot fans, Lincoln clearly no exception. Just ignore them as they will aleays be there.
Woodyard is clearly a really good player, players careers are short so if he decides to go up a league or 2 then absolutely fair enough. If he stays then great.
Thank you for shedding light on all this. Hawkridge was a very good squad player, nothing more, nothing less. IMHO. Whereas Alex is the heartbeat of the side.
I don’t understand what anyone gets out of fake news but I suppose it is a fact of life. If someone offers the release clause trigger and Alex decides to go I would wish him all the best. He owes us nothing and has worked tirelessly and consistently towards our success. He deserves everything he gets. Gary mentions the system though and it would raise fascinating possibilities for reshaping the team if Alex does go onwards and upwards.
Nathan Arnold has already commented on Salford being years behind what he is used to with the Cowley’s so I cannot see Alex moving up a division and joining a club without the incredible science and now facilities that City have. He has shown his loyalty by turning down extra money to stay with the present regime because they get the maximum out of him. He will be in the division higher come may next year and he is playing with Bostwick and Frecklington.he is going nowhere!
Is it true Danny Cowley is lining up Ronaldo as a replacement for Alex?
Don’t be silly, Ronald would never come to City, Bale might though ?
Well said Gary, you tell ‘em.
Silly season has started early & there’s plenty of silly feckers out there!
Alex is integral to what we do, we don’t want to lose him & he would be very difficult to replace. If there was a player at Woodyards level, for less money, why on earth would teams be trying to buy Woodyard???
Usual close season drivel being tweeted because people are bored and there’s no much news about. Alex is immense and 99% of the fans love him. Also he’s Danny’s adopted son – that’s why Danny’s ordered a summerhouse for his new place – it’s where Alex will live…..
I have the greatest respect for Terry Hawkridge and all that he did for Lincoln City but he was only offered a one year contract 12 months ago and I don’t recall him doing anything this season at Notts to suggest that was a mistake so why all the sudden speculation about a return to Sincil Bank?
As for Alex Woodyard, there is no doubt he is one of the outstanding players in the “group” as Danny calls it and very probably the most valuable given his age, ability and potential. I hope we hang on to him but I must admit I am one of those who squirms somewhat when he seemingly spurns an opportunity to send the ball forward and sends it sideways or backwards. I’m no expert or footballing tactician but I know what excites me. It’s that inch perfect pass like the one from Marriott to Arnold in the dying minutes of the replay against Ipswich and I think, no, I know Alex has the ability to carve open opposition defences with passes like that and I want to see it week in week out. I don’t ask much do I?
Anyone criticising Woodyard wants their head checking. I’ve never seen a better, more intelligent midfielder at SB. Absolute lunacy.