Originally Posted by
Kiki Balboa
Sligo is in an interesting place this offseason.
There seems to be an emergence of a 'Top 4', with them being cut well adrift. At this stage, I would be surprised if that gap was closed by next year as those teams have solid cores and are looking to expand and improve with bigger budgets (St. Pats might change depending on the cup final).
However, they have possibly one of the best players and top goalscorers in the league in Keena. Dan McDonnell has said that Rovers and Derry are interested in breaking the leagues' transfer record to get him - plus there probably will be interest across the water for him. They probably are the best place team at the moment to catch the top 4, considering the bit of a mess at Bohs, and the anti-football at Shels (who might be in Europe next year though), both are far behind in my opinion.
So do they look to win now since they have a really important piece to get back into Europe and push the boat out looking for new players to surround Keena with some quality (but possibly lose him to an English club triggering his release clause) by increasing their playing budget to be more competive with the top 4, or do they be more conservative with it, play it safe with there budget and possibly cash-in with Keena? In what might be a very compeitive league, that might also flirt with relegation too if they go down that route.
I would say, only by keeping Keena would Sligo have a chance of getting into Europe through the league, which is worth 250k. That should be the calculation of what the fee for Keena should be based on for them.