Is Marc Playing For A Contract?

I've already said that circumstances suggest Marc Williams won't be offered a new contract as a Christmas present. His involvement in the squad since his return suggests I might be wrong; I certainly hope so! The question now is, if offered would he sign it?

That might seem like an odd question as it seems to be the accepted wisdom that Williams is desperate for a contract and, given the chance on the pitch, will battle like mad to get one. Well, he'll certainly battle like mad, but that's because it's in his whole-hearted nature to do so. I just can't imagine ever looking at Williams coming off the pitch and thinking that he'd left a shred of effort behind. Whether desperation to remain at The Racecourse would be a factor's a different matter.

I might be wrong; he might be very keen to stay at the club he has represented with honour throughout his career. But what have we done for him lately? Given him a short-term contract, just one short year after he was one of the outstanding players in our division, then farmed him out on loan so he could "play for his contract" while spending half his current deal out of sight. Then, two weeks ago when he returned to the bench, he stayed there even though the game was screaming out for his sort of enthusiastic endeavour, Mathias Pogba having been thrown on ahead of him to no avail. Oh, and we rather harshly released his brother too. That isn't how to make someone feel wanted, is it?

So perhaps Williams might decide, even if he does enough to earn a new deal, that he needs pastures new. That spell at Kidderminster might have helped to convince him that making a break from what he's known all his career might not be as big a wrench as he might have feared. And there's likely to be no lack of suitors; like I said in the last paragraph, it's not long since he was our outstanding player, and plenty of managers will be willing to take a punt on him because of that. Judging by the fawning commentary of Mark Cooper on Premier Sports when Kidderminster played Southport last month, there might well be a spot waiting for him in Darlington, for starters!

I hope I'm wrong. I'm a Marc Williams fan, and I'd love to attend his testimonial at The Racecourse in a few years' time. If he's offered another six month contract at the end of the month though, and in the current circumstances I suspect that's the best we'd come up with, I think I'd advise him to say no though.