Good for Bobby and his new family. Can't say I'm happy at the prospect of another season of HSV ball, but can't fault a man for wanting to double his salary.
I think there's at least an outside chance that HSV turns it around soon, much like Stuttgart was driven to action by the ignominy of being a big club relegated to 2.Bundesliga. Hamburg has a sensible coach, fired some of the dead weight and cleaned house in the front office - now they need to scout more young, motivated talent to beef up the roster.
Depends on what happens between now and the end of the window. The midfield is a running sore, but getting the dead wood (sorry, not ) off the payroll opens the possibility of taking some decent midfield players on loan. People will have seen what Gisdol was able to do with Papadopalous and wonder if it would work for them/their clients. If it works, they can trade their way to bringing good young talent onto the books in a season or two. If assurances to that effect have been received, then resiging makes some sense - if it works. The problem is that if it doesn't, Bobby is going to be stuck there on a buyout clause that prices him out of the market.
I also think that while the midfield was pretty out of sync in most games I saw, there was also a great deal of unwillingness to even try to play through the midfield which seemed to cause a bit of a negative feedback loop. Midfield played tight. Made stupid mistakes. Defence gave up on midfield, played over them. Midfield played more tight. Made more stupid mistakes. Wash. Rinse. Repeat. While Holtby, for instance, never impressed me in England or Germany, I never thought he was quite as bad as he looked for Hamburg. He might not be able to raise his game at all, but with a few decent players around him I don't know that it's out of he question either. He's really the Hamburg middie I'm most familiar with from play with other clubs. He was a reltative disappointment at Spurs so it's not overly surprising he's not awesome, but he is also in his prime (and should not be expected to be an AM) and wasn't completely out of his depth on an ambitious Spurs side... Hopefully they get someone to playmake and let him play B2B.
More from MoPo Bobby's a "modern striker" credits his "endless running" etc. etc. Key player. Gregoritsch exepcted to be gone. http://www.mopo.de/sport/hsv/neuer-...so-schwaermt-sportchef-todt-von-wood-27854632
Gutted he decided to stay in Hamburg. No idea if Koeln rumor had any truth. I expect HSV to be much better than people think next year and I expect Koeln to realize that without Modeste goals life gets tough. Still think HSV need a Kalou type player to destabilize teams. Bobby is pretty north and south. They need a chess knight not a rook.
The certainly need either a better playmaker than Holtby or a small striker/SS type to play off Wood's double teams... or both?
The point is you need to be somewhere that wants you to play at your best and actually see your best efforts fully utilized. It's tough to really break in at a team because you are oftentimes taking someone's job and that someone has friends within the team, management and coaching staff so they don't exactly roll out the red carpet for trialists and young guys who aren't super highly rated. For Bobby to move again so soon for an uncertain future at a better club (atm) would be a bit silly. I think he realizes he is near his ceiling and wants to establish a financial future for his new family. Also his new wife might have had something to say about moving so soon. Maybe she wants to put down roots. I can think of a million reasons he wouldn't leave Hamburg. If they were relegated he probably would have left. This is a World Cup year now and he needs to be playing to be selected for the national team's rosters. There is also the spectre of his injuries that could end his career at any moment. He is considering all of this, not just thinking to himself what is the strongest club I can play for and compete for minutes at. I think this is his final destination until he comes for the really big dollars in MLS in a few years like Dempsey and Bradley did when their value was at it's highest or thereabouts.
I understand there are many factors to consider. That is why the idea of the first rule being stay where they want you is silly to me.
The corrolary is only go when they really, really want you. The top clubs have too much money. Millions is cheap for them. They discard guys too easily. Bobby has no real cred yet. A handful of impressive goals in one season. He should stay and build his case.
the first rule is probably there are no rules. HSV did, it appears, spend more than they wanted to to keep Wood, which is a sign of high regard and high expectation. It's not a surety bond, but it's not bad either. He will have a bit of latitude to start producing. But he'll also, of course, have to play better than the competition at the end of the day (or month anyway.)
Guys (and @beerslinger23) I agree with all you have said. I understand the situation and have no problem with Wood staying at Hamburg for many of the same reasons you've cited. My original comment on this subject was not specific to Wood's situation just as the comment I was responding to wasn't. IOW, everyone else can stop telling me why Wood should stay at Hamburg.
well it's not as if Wood scored 35 league goals and Madrid was courting him. He has more to do to prove that he can succeed at this level. Another year and he should be good to move up.
BTW, was not disagreeing either. Just noting that in this case, word on the street (or at last word on my poorly translated WoPo was that the board was trying to not spend, and were "encouraged" to pay enough to keep Wood, so someone has faith in him. That can be a double edged sword, of course, but it's a good sign for September.
I didn't think you were and by "everyone else" I meant future posts, not you guys who've already commented. Hopefully they spend a bit on better players too. I've only skimmed this thread the last few weeks (vacation, yay. But it's back to work now, which, means more time for BS ), so I haven't kept up if they intend to (or have already).