Obviosly not

from Teamtwaddle

Lee's contract wrangle ++ Magpies midfielder Robert Lee will sit down with Bobby Robson in the next few days to discuss a new deal. Lee has had more ups and downs than most this season, after not receiving a shirt number back in August under former manager Ruud Gullit. His career at St. James' Park seemed to be over but the arrival of Bobby Robson gave Lee a new lease of life and his performances helped Newcastle achieve mid table mediocrity after a disastrous start to the campaign. Despite the former Charlton midfielder's resurgence Lee may still leave the club if he is not offered the correct package to keep him in the North East. "Robert has done a fantastic job for the club this season and but he is 34 and I'm not sure about a two year deal," claimed Robson. A number of clubs have reportedly expressed an interest in Lee with West Ham at the front of the queue.

-- Anonymous, May 16, 2000

Answers

If you looked at this situation on paper with no compassion you probably wouldn't give Lee another two years but YBR will, won't he?

With the anticipated influx of a couple of international class Central Midfielders what will he do?

-- Anonymous, May 16, 2000

He signed a new 3 year deal 7 days before Kenny left. He has one year left to run and either signs a 2 year deal (basically a 1 year extension to the existing one) or gets a free transfer at the end of next season.

He's one of the top earners so I dare say there will be some wrangling over whether his most likely decreasing appearances will warrant the same salary. I also wonder whether he will be prepared to turn out for the stiffs when not needed in the 1st Team - he was extremely reluctant to do so under Gullit, but the reason for that probably owed a lot to how it was phrased [understatement of the day].

No chance of raising any cash over a move now, I'd be more inclined to let him see out this contract as far as Christmas before making a decision. See how he copes with Enrique/Bassedas/Dyer or whoever taking his place in a lot of games and see what his attitude is like. Any grumbling and he can p*ss off early.

-- Anonymous, May 16, 2000

Your a hard man to please softie :)))

-- Anonymous, May 16, 2000

Horrible but true, not so softie.

-- Anonymous, May 16, 2000

I don't want to be harsh, I've always loved Rob Lee, but when someone is costing you 1.5mil in wages you have to expect a certain return on that. He's been excellent this season, but what would we have got to replace him if we'd persuaded him to move to West Ham or Southampton last Summer? The reality is that he's a depreciating asset and we are likely to get diminishing returns on him. The 'extra' season we just had was well worth the money because we needed his kind of battling to avoid the drop and for that wonderful Wembley goal which I will always treasure.

The tough decision is now whether we want a man who has lost much of his pace and ability to get forward in support to anchor our midfield, or whether we want to teach Dyer and Co how to do their share of tackling back so that we have some more options going forward. At least we know that whatever Bobby chooses to do it won't be about personality.

-- Anonymous, May 16, 2000

I'd keep him - still a fab player and useful squad member for years to come.

-- Anonymous, May 16, 2000

There's a lot of sentiment attached to Rob Lee - especially given his re-surgance this season. If I'm not wrong, he's been here 8 years now, thus warranting a testimonial in another 2 years. I think he deserves one (if anybody on over #1m a year can do!) for his contribution to NUFC over those 8 years. But I wouldn't continue with his current salary if he doesn't figure in a lot of games.

Perhaps he can take on a more backroom role? Or maybe it's just a bit too early in his eyes to hang up his playing boots? Realistically - do we expect to see him play as many first team games next season? I don't.

-- Anonymous, May 16, 2000

My favourite player. The only one whose been around since the start of the Premier League (Howey's hardly been around has he?). I remember being in Wales when we signed him, I read it in the Express and then asked a West Ham friend if he was any good. H e told me he was fantastic and was on the way to West Ham. Oh, the look on his face when I showed him the pic of Lee and Keegan at the press conference....tangent alert.....

Back to the point, i think Lee's worth a two year contract, at the moment he's the best we've got and supposing we sign 2 central midfielders in the summer. We still need him as cover, yes, his wages are a lot for cover, but come on we want to compete don't we? Now I would be happy to have Lee on the bench for every game next season, or in the stands if the players we have are beeter than him. But remember this is Newcastle, where injuries come in 7's. If we lost Speed and Lee this season we'd have been in the sh*t, we need quality players as cover if we are to get anywhere near the top 6 next season., Keep him, pay him, he's always been worth it and always will be IMHO.

-- Anonymous, May 16, 2000

Other than age, I don't really understand why people feel RL won't play many games next season.
Since Bone-Head 'resigned', he's played in virtually every game: his stamina and fitness levels are good: his performance level excellent: frankly I can't think of too many better midfield layers in the PL this season. Rob was never particularly pacy, and I don't feel he has lost all that much.
Looking at Dacourt's transfer fee, it looks as though it would cost #8-10mm minimum to adequately replace Rob. Given other priorities, I'd be quite surprised if RL doesn't start the season in the team and be a major contributor to the squad yet again.
Sooner or later of course he will need to be replaced, but I suspect we may well bring in someone who will allow Lee and Speed not to have to play in every single game, and hopefully good enough to replace Rob in time, but don't write the guy off too early. IMO, he still has a lot to contribute.

-- Anonymous, May 16, 2000

The key to being a top manager is sorting problems out before they happen, rather than just reacting quickly to them when they do happen. Rob Lee had an excellent season with us, but looking back we were very lucky that he did maintain his fitness and form for the whole season, more or less. We shouldn't trust to luck that next season will be the same. Bobby Robson will therefore undoubtably buy in at least one more defensive minded midfielder.

It's therefore compeltely down to negotiation. I would still pay him current wages for another year, and think he is worth that, even if he doesn't play as many games. But another year on top of that? I share Bobby Robson's concern. Sorry Rob..but it's down to you. If you perform next season as you did last, then there'll be other decent offers around when you're on a free transfer, but we can't commit to pay you your current wages the year after next. If you really want to stick around, then we could agree what might be a reasonable fee, but nowhere near what you're getting. BAll's in your court..

-- Anonymous, May 16, 2000

Whenever the subject of Rob Lee comes up I'm humbled into remembering just how poor a judge of this game I can be. I for one, was very upset when he came because he replaced a player I loved - Franz Carr. Franz could do some unbelievable things with a ball - indeed he turned Julian Dicks inside out so many times in one game that the exasperated Dicks gave him the most blatant forearm smash I've seen on a ground and walked straight off.

Of course, truth to tell, Franz was a one man show, playing his own game on the wing. Ideally, he should have been given a ball on his own and the game could have continued without him, and sometimes it looked as though that's what was happening. Keegan could see this and I couldn't at the time. Eight years later I still feel that I haven't got rid of all the egg off my face.

So I'll pass judgement on this one over to YBR. Rob Lee has been brilliant for this club. I won't say a word against him.

It's always amusing nowadays when the phrase "a great servant to the club" comes up. There aren't too many servants getting more than #20k a week. (-;

-- Anonymous, May 16, 2000