Great performance again for the Republic. His star is certainly rising. I do feel in his case that so much of his development is down to the way we play and the input and love he gets from the club.
I believe we have an option to extend by a year but I could be wrong. We will be hard pressed to keep him if he keeps raising his profile as he is with Ireland. We have the same dilemma with Smith and a few more players only a bit further down the line. Wiles and Rathbone are having exceptional seasons and Barlaser is getting back to his best. Not to mention the manager - his stock continues to rise. These are nice problems to have.
I'd say that's gunna be true splinter. Promotion would hopefully see a few signing , but even that might not be enough considering the wage gap we have.
It is probably more difficult for us than many others because we seem to be fighting relegation or in the running for promotion every single season. That must make it hard for us to budget and some players will want to know what division we are likely to be in before they commit. No doubt if we dont go up some of them might try and get a better deal at a Championship club. If you dont go up though that might suggest that they arent good enough for that division. I think increasingly at our level there is a lot of turnover of players every summer. We have done well this season to keep most of what we had last season and add a bit of quality on top. We havent missed Olosunde. Crooks was great for us but I rate Rathbone as at least as good although a different sort of player. Some on that list we wouldnt really miss to be honest. There are half a dozen or so on there I would like us to either keep or get a fee for if they leave. I'm sure we will at least try to do what we can to sort things out asap but for the reasons mentioned that might be easier said than done.