Keith Andrews to leave Bolton Wanderers as likes of Josh Vela and Medo to step forward

Dougie Freedman will not stand in Keith Andrews’ way if he plans to quit Wanderers this summer.

The Whites boss has told the experienced midfielder that Medo Kamara and Josh Vela are ahead of him in the queue for a first team spot and expects him to find another club before the start of the season.

Sheffield Wednesday have been heavily linked with the Ireland international in the last couple of weeks, while Huddersfield Town also maintain a long-standing interest.

Andrews stayed behind while Wanderers travelled for their Scandinavian tour but it is understood that he returned to Euxton at the start of this week to train with the development squad.

He will now link up again with the first team, and while Freedman insists there is no bad blood between himself and the 34-year-old, he has now put the decision on where he plays his football firmly on Andrews’ lap.

“You can only take so many players on tour and I’d explained to Keith that I wanted to take a look at some of the younger ones, Josh Vela in particular,” he told The Bolton News.

“Keith wants to play week-in, week-out and I can’t guarantee that.

“At his age he should want to be playing every week and rightly so, he’s been a good professional around this place.

“As we speak he’s got a decision to make. He either goes and gets first team football somewhere and gets himself sorted or he’s happy to be in the squad. That’s all down to him.

“I think his preference would be to play, and of course, I understand that.”

Sheffield Wednesday’s complex takeover has stalled Stuart Gray’s transfer plans this summer but sources in South Yorkshire say the Owls boss is a keen admirer of Andrews, who he had previously worked with at Wolves.

Huddersfield laid their cards on the table early – even offering the club captaincy in an effort to tempt him to the John Smiths Stadium but talks appear to have come to a grinding halt.

Freedman believes Andrews will have options if he decides to move on.

“I’m sure there will be clubs interested in him because he did very well at Brighton last season,” he said.

“He is a good professional and there is no problem between him and me at all.

“I need to look at the whole package – financially, who’s coming through. And I just think that with Medo and Josh Vela coming through I need to look more into the future.

“I’ve been very honest with Keith and he’s conducted himself very well.“

Source

he will end up doing a Mears and staying all season and hardly play. I can't imagine Wednesday and Huddersfield would be willing to pay him anywhere near his current alleged salary.

Not really news this - we were at this stage before the negotiations re paying off his contract which the club are clearly not in a position to do.

Seems like Dougie has a choice to make. Pay him off with the money he would have put towards a striker or hope that someone comes in with an offer that is acceptable to Andrews so that we still have a chance of getting the striker Dougie wants.
Even if we get a striker on a free or get a loanee, the wages have to be paid so Andrews would have to be off the books I reckon.

More great management. Telling a regular in a play-off chasing team that he's behind an injury prone kid whose never had a decent game and a player who couldn't cement a place in last season's disaster.

Thanks Dougie. Great way to create competition.

This situation (like Mears before it) shows just what's wrong with the whole set-up regarding players' contracts nowadays.

Players hold far too much power.

It's patently obvious to everybody that Andrews will never turn out for Bolton ever again - Christ, he's behind Vela in the pecking order now!

He's on big money and the club want him to go, that's obvious.

However, he's holding all the cards because, unlike in the real, non-football world, his employers would have been perfectly entitled to "manage him out of the business", ie say "Sorry Keith, it's not working, here's a month's notice, off you go, son" right up until 5 weeks ago because under EU and English employment law, you're allowed to do this as the employee in question has no real rights until they've completed two years service.

I'm not saying it's right but it is legal.

However, footballers aren't subject to the same laws and regulations as us poor people, so Keith knows there's cock all the club can do and he can, in theory, sit at home every Saturday for the next 11 months, drawing his exorbitant wages and playing Call Of Duty on his X-Box.

The manager doesn't want him and he clearly doesn't want to play for the manager (otherwise he'd have come back to the fold and said "I'm back and I'm ready to make my name the first one on the team-sheet every week!" but he hasn't) , so we're stuck with this mess.

We can't force a move on him if he doesn't fancy it, so all Freedman can do is try and prick his conscience by saying the things he has in this interview about professional pride and the like, in the hope that Andrews finally agrees to move on and start playing football again.

I know it's a difficult one, but I can't help thinking that clubs need to start building in some protection when they put contracts together.

No idea how, but it needs to happen.

I've not read anywhere that Andrews has refused to play for BWFC, I don't think it's fair to pair him with Mears in this respect. From what I've read this is more the club saying you're not wanted, please find yourself another club.

I have no time for ponces but the club only have themselves to blame. They gave him a 3 year contract on silly money and they have to accept the consequences. Be honest, how many of us would change jobs if it involved a 50% pay cut?

Agreed, Andrews getting a contract as big as that is up there in the top 3 most shocking Coyle deals - In amongst Sordell and Pratley.

Fully agree.

You can't blame Andrews and if he's anything like me, he's probably thinking "Froze me out, did you...? Right then, I'll show you. £30k a week for fuck all...? Yes please!"

It's squarely the club's fault, not Coyle's directly, as I presume he wouldn't have been involved in the actual contract negotiations - Gartside signs the cheques, so the's the fuckwit in all this.

Just hope they've learnt from this and the Mears business.