A Wanderful Ream Has Come True: Tim Ream @ Bolton [R]

Every team's player of the year has other factors involved.

Wow, thanks for that. I hope other leagues follow suit. Think it will make promoted clubs less likely to stay up?

Ream probably stays with Bolton in the Championship right?

I mean they just acquired him 5 months ago. It was known then that they would be in relegation danger. His contract has got to have relegation clauses as far as future salary if they are in the Championship.

Is a year in the Championship really a bad thing for Ream either? Would there be a market for him on another Premiership team, it doesn't seem a sure thing. It would probably mean a relocation to Germany, France, even Belgium.

Ream won't leave, unless a team comes in for him.

Belgium? France? Really? (Germany is just a hilarious suggestion, since it probably has more top tp bottom quality in than the Premier League this year.) Why do so many US fans under value Ream? The announcer today was singing his praises all game. He also nearly scored the winner, which would have left him clear Man of the match today? I think he stays, but it is entirely possible that a Premier League team buys him. After all, the Arsenal interest was real, and he has done nothing to dissuade them since coming in, starting within two weeks and doing very well.

US fans should be much more pleased with what Ream has accomplished this year rather than sending him off to Belgium

I don't think the championship will help Ream. He can refine his game and get used to English football. Plus he will be playing on a winning team (hopefully).

Bolton, here is what will happen.

1. They will lose a lot of revenue not being in the Premiership.
2. Certainly, they will want to bounce right back up next year.
3. First decision they will make . . "Is Coyle the man?" I am going to say yes.
4. That decided, which players will they sell to raise money and lower the salary?
(I am hoping Prenn can contribute here, too) Some of this will depend upon what teams/the market (often the recently promoted teams with needs) will bear.

Some players who will be offered:
Martin Petrov
Jussi Jääskeläinen
Chris Eagles
Nigel Reo-Coker
David Wheater (they might have stayed up, had he not gotten injured just last week)
Ryo Miyaichi (back to Arsenal)
David N'Gog
Tuncay Şanlı (back to Wolfsburg)
Ivan Klasnić (rumored to have personality conflict with Coyle)

The healthy Ream who performed well at the end may have some market value to teams needing to shore up their central defense. Actually, he may be easier to sell than Holden (with the unknown as to his coming back from injury)

Bummed for Ream, but this may be the best thing for his development. He'll have to learn to be ultra-physical in the C'ship, and he'll be on a team that's likely to win more than they lose for at least a year. If they were back in the Prem next season, it would have just been scrambling to defend each and every week - something he already does pretty damn well.

Apologies to any Bolton fans for being so machiavellian about it - I understand that this is a terrible day for y'all.

that is the exact consolation i take from it as a YA fan. Ream needs to deal with physical play. if there is a league where he can learn to deal with physical play. it is the league of bumps and bruises below.

Besides Ream and Holden, only Eagles, Reo-Coker, Wheater, and N'Gog of those players can have their contracts sold. The rest are out of contract or on loan.

Regarding deuteronomy's questions:

Bolton have Knight, Jussi, Klasnic, Robinson, Steinsson, K Davies, Gardner, Sean Davis, Sam Ricketts, Blake and Petrov out of contract, all of whom are on a hefty wage.

I would give K Davies and Ricketts new contracts and release all the others. Personally I'd like to give Petrov and Klasnic new deals too but I doubt they'd be interested to be honest, and anyway they've only got a season left in them.

I'd say our saleable assets are as follows: Mark Davies, Reo-Coker, Lee Chung Yong, Holden, Ngog and Eagles. If we can avoid selling more than 3 of them, we should look to bounce back.

Bolton also have an agreement with Chelsea to loan a player for the season, as part of the Cahill deal. That should come in useful.

I'd be interested to see to what extent Prenn agrees.

this isn't the NFL, there are no guaranteed contracts. A contract can be terminated at any time

I'm certainly not an expert, but I'd be pretty surprised to see Wheater get sold on a torn ACL, and I'm not sure that NGog fetches enough to let him go instead of trying to develop him. Eagles certainly came on late in the season, and I'm not sure what happens with him. He and Mark Davies are the two biggest wild cards for me. I'd be shocked to see Reo-Coker stay around.

Would not be shocked to see Ryo come down with Bolton on loan. He's not ready to go back to Arsenal.

If Bolton keep Holden and Lee (who aren't going to fetch what they're worth both coming off injuries like that) and can build around them, they'll have a very good shot to yo-yo, even if a lot of other guys are sold off.

Well, this will be interesting. They were so close. They almost stayed up & even got the help from City but were a bit unlucky & relegated. It will be interesting to see what happens with Ream & Holden. They are actually the more likely players to stay with Bolton I would say because of Holden's injury & Ream being signed not too long ago. Anything could happen though. I'd say if those 2 do stay it could mean they come right back up.

This is an interesting tidbit. Coyle has done well in signing attacking players on loan, including Sturridge and Miyaichi. Hopefully he can get another impact player for their Championship campaign.

Regarding Klasnic's personality conflict with Coyle, yeah, I'd say so, if his "up-yours" gesture that he made at Coyle after scoring the winning goal against QPR is any indication.

Ream played really well today. He was winning headers against Crouch, something I wasn't sure I'd see from him. He improved a lot in just a few months of consistent playing time, so it's a shame they were relegated. It's frustrating that you can point to the Stoke player just knocking the ball out of the GKs hands as being the difference for them.

This is almost how I was seeing it playing out. I'm sure you follow things more closely than I do, but I was thinking this would be a bad time to sell Lee (or Holden. or Wheater) because he's coming off injury and his value would be at a low ebb. Also he'd be a good player to build around long-term. I guess if you expect him to leave next year, it wouldn't be a bad sell though. I wasn't sure on Eagles or Mavies, but your projections sound reasonable in both cases.

What the heck are you talking about.

NFL contracts are not guaranteed.

Srsly, last I heard a contract was binding.

MLS contracts "not" always guaranteed . .
http://www.soccerbyives.net/soccer_by_ives/2008/07/mls-and-guarant.html

NFL, almost a joke, not guaranteed . . .

http://www.examiner.com/article/why-guaranteed-contracts-are-bad-for-the-nfl

I was right. Guaranteed contracts are in the NFL, not in European soccer. btw I read a couple of your other posts, I love that snarky elitist tone you are going for!

http://blog.steinbergsports.com/post/8716968971/guaranteed-contracts-come-to-the-nfl-an-analysis

You have that backwards. NFL contracts are all essentially year-to-year,that's why the signing bonus is so important. Contracts in European football are binding for both parties.