Shocking it really is

Hope we got a buy back or sell on clause.

£5M for a CM who scored 10 goals last season and they was not all Pens like Lampards

Gardner i feel would have been the best player to keep for our promotion push!

£5M is a bargin, if thats the boards choice then what they playing at, Gardner is a Bluenose and i would have thought he would be one to keep.

If we are willing to sell him and for so cheap then i cant see us keeping many of the others who would be far less happy to stay here.

This will open the floodgates now, as if we can sell Gardner for £5M then we may be open to selling Foster for £8M, Johnson for £7M and Dann for £9M

We cant replace Gardner like for like for £5M, i would have expected at least £6M

So if the lure of Prem Football is too much for a Bluenose even though we have Europa Football then god help us.

I recon as JK says maybe the board best sell everyone and let Hughton build a side from scratch.

I but they would have to give him time, as selling players who can have a great effect for us is not going to garuntee Promotion.

This could be like when Bruce came in and a lot of rebuilding could be needed, but do the board expect us to get promoted.

Well if the board cant face the fact of not getting Promoted due to not having the cash to sustain us, they should have sacked McLeish when the football was poor last season.

McLeish i feel is to blame, but i do also think our board have bitten off more than they can chew and can only have any chance of running our club in the Prem because they dont have the cash!

Oh well

The KiD

as i said under another post:- 'Very disappointed if Gardner goes, obviously he's not a Blues fan. He could stay till Xmas to see where we are in the table and gone in January if position not good.' I would add £5 million is nowhere enough for a man who scored 10 goals frrom midfield in a team that was defensive and scored very few in total. He could have said that he would stay even with pay cut for relegation his pay is plenty enough. So called fan, treacherous toad more like good riddance. Let's hope another club shows interest or we up the asking price.

£5m is madness.

Sunderland have just recieved £20m for Henderson who is clearly not 4x better than Gardner. I can only think that if he does goes for as little as 5 then we must be right in the brown stuff financially.

Bolton fan here

Crikey, some of these responses are unbelievable. 'McCleish is to blame' and 'obviously he's not a blues fan'

Come on guys, think about it. Gardner will move because he is a good player and a better team want him. You can't blame him for wanting a better career can you?

And how is it McCleish's fault? He ain't even there anymore

I'm disgusted by the bid, if Gardner hadn't scored 10 goals then I would say fair enough because his all round game isn't the best but the fact he got goals from the midfield indicates he is worth atleast £7,000,000.
If we can get atleast £2,000,000 back from the money (Which I doubt) then we can get somebody decent to cover that hole. We seriously have a small squad and I'm worried come the end of the market we won't have enough players to compete.
The reality of relegation is starting to kick in and this is the start of it, expect to see Foster, Johnson, Dann, Ridgewell and Jerome follow Craigy out the door.

at 'The ReeebokRobot'

If he was a blues fan then is it much to ask a player who is only mid twenties to give it till Xmas at Blues then if a return to the Premiership looks unrealistic for the club let him go then. That's what I would do if I was lucky enough to be playing for Blues unless the club wanted to move me on.

Roddy Blue

That sounds terrific in a perfect world...

...but this world ain't perfect

Somebody might not come in for him at xmas, he might even be doing the club a favour as they might need the money.

There comes a time when a person has to go for his best option and that, for Gardner would be moving to a premiership team, regardless of who he supports

I thought the Board said there wasnt gonna be a fire sale???
Gardner for 5M... what are they thinking
Bolton have offered that for Jerome

he played for Villa, wasnt he supposed to support them b4 a move to Blues was on the cards ?

loyalty in football died long ago.

I take the point that he might be doing the club a favour if they need the money, i hope they get a bit more than £5 million though. The only other variable is injury. If he stays and gets an injury his chance might be gone of a move to the premiership. I don't think failing injury, his ability will drop so he should still be able to move later.

Sadly 24caratOldGold I think your right. Steve Bull was one of the last and best in this regard.

I do think McLeish is to blame. because he is the main reason we was relegated.

Had we stayed up i doubt players would be leaving.

I cant blame Gardner, we dont know if he has a wage cut clause, if so we should have offered his Prem wages to stay.

Sunderland are a bigger club fanbase wise, they have not done well considering in the Prem but the potential is there for Sunderland to be a Top 8-10 every season and you cant blame a player choosing Championship with no garuntee of Promotion for a side that can be a regular Top 10.

I am disapointed at the price, and how the club are willing to get him to go right away and not persuade him to stay.

This does stike me as the club not wanting to hold on to him and so i worry that indeed that JK is right and the board have no money and so have to SELL SELL SELL.

They also gave Hughton Promotion will only do, he is a good Manager and one for the future not just given a get promoted or fired scenerio.

The KiD

I was surprised they didn't give Hughton a two or three year contract.

Craig Gardner can kiss his *SS , never mind the blues badge. If he hadnt dived against Wolves, perhaps we may never had been relegated! It would have made a huge differnce if we had 11 men and not 10 on the pitch.
He made his point very clear when Tom Ross interviewed him he wanted out.
A true Blues supporter/ player KISS my *SS.


KRO

He did have a season ticket for Roker Park when he was a kid,

I'm sure of it.

KRO

Im a little disapointed that Gardener has gone, even more dissapointed it only for 5 million. Why didnt we hold out for more if we were going to sell him???
I would have liked Hughton to have come in, tolg CG he was going to make him captain and build a team around him, he is exactly the type of player we needed to take us straight back up.

KRO

If it really is only in the region 5-6M then Bruce must be laughing his socks off.

I thought the Chinese were shrewd business men.

You live and learn...

Well thats what i thought.

We should have sat down with Gardner and said you are our future we will build the sqaud around you and when Carr retires you will be captain.

We could even offer him to stay with us and if we are not doing well by Xmass let him go, but if he stayed and we did get promoted then reward him with a new 4 year deal and increase his wages by 20%

Oh well....

Maybe Gardner had made his mind up about going to Sunderland before we got Hughton in, or maybe the board have no plans to keep anyone.

So no one is a hands off, and that everyone would be sold as long as we can make a 150%+ return on what we paid.

i.e Foster £9M, Johnson £7.5M, Dann £6M, Gardner £4.5M etc etc.

So what i am saying is they cost £18M and as long as the board can make £27M+ back they would all be sold.

That could mean £5M Gardner, £7-8M Johnson, £8M Foster and £8-9M Dann for £28-30M back, where i think we should had been looking at £35M+ for them. Or double what we paid.

What makes you laugh is how we was offered £5M for Jerome and yet we want £8M If we want £8M for Jerome then Gardner is worth £10M+

Anything over £4M should have been taken for Jerome really, so we make our money back.

The KiD

Hey i know i think those who really still stick up for McLeish and dont blame him should maybe just go support Villa.

If Sunderland sign Foster, Dann and Johnson we can go support Sunderland be back with Brucie boy

The KiD

I thought they could have built a team around him as well. Perhaps there eager or need to get some money in quick so CH has some to spend and can then bring players in. Otherwise they might have to speed up sales of the more valuable assets; Foster, Dann and Johnson in order to get players in and start to gel them together. If they can delay sales then they can get more for them.

He hasn't gone yet but for £5million that is a steal!

Was easily one of the best midfielders last season. However, if he doesn't want to be here.. good riddance, shut the door on your way out.

I would rather have players who want to play for the team and give their all, not so called Bluenoses who help get us relegated then bottle it.

5 million for a 24 year old Englishman who has just scored 10 goals from midfield in a team that got relegated?

Is Pannu f*cking stupid?!

When you put it like that brummer.......

Thats a definate yes from me.
I valued him around 8 million to be honest looking at it from your point of view I would now say a few million more than that
I hope the board arnt just selling us down the river

Remember though, Jerome scored 11 the season before last. Some of our fans would be happy to give him away now! It's a funny old game.

If steve Bruce keeps buying our players, he could end up on GARDNing leave next season.