At 29, the fast bowler is coming to his peak and has a year remaining on his current deal. His current contract will doubtless see him among the best paid in the club, but it is unlikely that he couldn't get a better deal elsewhere.
On his recent England duties, he will doubtless have seen and heard the sums on offer around the circuit, presumably being interested in the salary undoubtedly picked up by David Willey in his move to Yorkshire, that was announced today.
I am sure that Mark and his agent are looking for the best available deal at a key stage of his career and the next three years are likely to be the most potentially lucrative for the player. His injury issues are behind him, his pace is good and he is a very good bowler. In what is a short career, I don't blame him or the agent for their stance. Whether Derbyshire can match those demands is a moot point.
Every player has his price and it is all well and good to say, as I read elsewhere earlier, that we should do what it takes to keep him. With respect, that is nonsense.
Derbyshire will make the best offer they can afford to the player, but that is all. They won't break the bank, for the simple reason that we have to finance a squad, not just one player.
If Mark gets - and I'm plucking a figure from the air here - an extra £20K a season, why shouldn't Wayne Madsen and Wes Durston, respective captains, get parity, or better? Don't you think that the agents of other players might not want their client looked after too?
If we are to retain the best of the youngsters, we need to look after them. If we want to bring in a couple of Kolpaks, we need to have the money to do so. If we hope to recruit from other counties, we need to have a budget to do that.
David Willey going to Yorkshire blocks the path of an existing player or two on their staff and there will be one or two of them unsettled. It is the case with any signing and it may open doors for other counties, including Derbyshire, to pick up good county cricketers.
I hope Mark Footitt stays and plays for us for a number of years, but Derbyshire will balance his demands against the returns. He is a fine four-day bowler, but doesn't play T20. Logically, if a more affluent county comes in for him and money is his sole motivation, then he will go, perhaps even before the end of his contract. As we all know, they aren't really worth squat these days, when the benefits are seemingly all with the player and little with the club, if a player wants to go.
A better summer for us would have helped and no one can blame Mark for looking at what is out there, perhaps resulting in some silverware in his career. Yet how many counties, outside of Yorkshire, can guarantee that?
I have no doubt that discussions will continue through the autumn and winter and we will all keep a wary eye on developments. Just trust the very good people at the club to do what is required. We may or may not keep Mark, but I wish him the best either way.
But either way, the club will continue.
And I await your comments with interest...
as much as it pains me to say it, I don't blame Mark at all for thinking his career may be helped by a move and not only financially. At times this season he must have reflected on things and been gutted at some of the pathetic performances by Derbyshire - even to the point where it must have seemed pointless giving it his all, knowing that the batting was likely to let down all the sterling efforts of the bowlers. I think Mark will leave and I don't think it will be solely money which influences his decision. He has a genuine chance of international cricket but the opportunity will not be there for much longer. Sadly it would seem that the die is cast .
ReplyDeleteRoger
Its not jst about money pf.... Its about success and winning.
ReplyDeleteAll these matches in every format of the game we have lost from a winning position will not have helped.
He must wander off sometimes after bowling us time and time again into a match winning opportunity only for our batsmen to let us down over and over again.
Joining England however is the straw that has broke the camels back.
With his record over the last two seasons if he was playing for a Notts/Yorks/warwicks he woyld have been picked in front of Wood and would now be looking at a Central Contract for England.
I lovecwatching him bowl, be a great shame to loose him.
But I do agree do not keep him for silly money.
I wouldn't be suprised if he was back playing for Notts before the end of the season.steve m
ReplyDeleteI would mate..no point in that and don't think settled that quick. He will win nothing there..perennial under-achievers...
DeleteNot sure how it stacks up that Mark would be blaming his team mates for losing some close matches. He only played two T20 matches and went at 10.25 per over. He lies 5th in our RLODC averages and his economy was sixth out of seven bowlers.
ReplyDeleteI don't blame him but he is simply cashing in on his superb red ball wicket taking skills and hype surrounding his test squad call up.
I rather think Footitt may have already peaked and is now looking at a slow but inevitable decline. it,s hard to know which side of the fence to view this from. On the one hand he has ambitions which he may feel he cannot achieve by remaining with Derbyshire. On the other,he spent four seasons getting paid for being constantly injured and performing extremely erratically when he was fit. There were time when his future looked very bleak and he owes Derbyshire a great deal. He won,t be here next season,of that i,m certain and perhaps an early departure may be of benefit to all concerned. He will be a significant loss but we have to accept it for what it is and move on.
ReplyDeleteCricket is not everything. I will be very sad to see Mark leave the club, as will many others, but Mark is family man and he needs to factor into his decision any house move or additional travelling. Mark has been allowed to develope here at Derbyshire and any move to another club will bring with it new coaching staff who may be seeking to further their own career. My fear when Mark went on training camps with England was that the coaching staff would try to tweek his action and end up moving him backwards a couple of seasons. As you often say the grass is not always greener,
ReplyDeleteIs it time to start looking at a new coach, the 2 overseas New Zealanders have done well , but since the promotion team , we have gone backwards not forward, and had 2 poor season under the new coach
ReplyDeletePersonally I would do all we can to keep him, and if a that means more money then fine - there is plenty of dead wood on the squad to make savings there. But in reality it has to be about more than cash for Mark. Surely the thing is that the team is seemingly going nowhere, and so he would be mad to stay in division two if he gets a better offer that could lead to success, and a possible test place. Not picking out best other bowler, Palladino, can't have helped either. but let's be clear - unlike with Gronewald, there will be no silver lining if Footitt goes. It will be an unmitigated disaster. If Madsen were to go as well I'm not sure what real, division one potential quality we would have left. Perhaps a realistic tilt at promotion this season would have made a difference.
ReplyDeleteShould make the members forum during the agent match pretty tasty!
I can't blame him. He looks around the dressing room and must wonder who else is going to assist him in getting to the top division (and better England hopes) with us.
ReplyDeleteI think its common knowledge that the selectors don't like picking players in Division 2, especially the teams that spend regular time there. I suspect the message from the England management would be prove yourself in Division 1 and you will have a better chance to play international cricket and at his age who could blame him. As I mentioned yesterday the loss of all our experienced bowlers plus not picking our only other one in 1 day games, Palladino, (and therefore not improving his general happiness I would guess) is in my opinion a backward step.
ReplyDeleteSomeone mentions Madsen leaving and I do find it strange he passed on the 1 day captaincy's at the very last possible minute. Surely if he wanted to concentrate on his batting he would have decided this at the start of the season rather than wait to the day before our 50 over campaign? That whole scenario seems odd so will wait and see on that one
One door closes.....
ReplyDeleteLancs have inexplicably allowed a 31 year old opener with 9,500 FC runs, 21 centuries and an average in the high 30s in Paul Horton to leave the club.
There is talk that having been vice-captain last season (and not putting a foot wrong), he didn't take fantastically well to having been demoted and that maybe he and Giles didn't necessarily have the best relationship as a result. To be honest, considering Lancs issues with openers, something has to have gone on (he also, reportedly, was the one who convinced Ashwell Prince to give us another season, so that's our top order runs gone!)
But this is a good opener, a leader on and off the pitch - and one of county cricket's best slip fielders to boot - and he'll have at least 4 or 5 good years in him.
Worth a punt for Derbyshire? Issue I could see is wages and that he'd probably want to be VC at least and I can't see Billy Godleman taking that lying down.
Good call mate but am sure others will pursue Paul - he is a good cricketer with, as you say, much to offer. I could see him doing a job, but he might also block the path of Ben Slater, unless one of them became a number three, as Billy is now hard to drop...
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