Steve Woods released with immediate effect ??

If true, it's very sad news indeed. Woods has been a great servant to the club.

However, it's certainly not a disaster. Especially with a lot of fans - most on here - calling for Ellis to get more games. With the return of Todd and Brough not far off, we have plenty of cover at centre-half.

Maybe this is why Ellis always seems so keen despite never really getting his chance, he must know more than we do...

I saw steve in sainsburys on tuesday evening, picking up a prescription from the chemists. I just presumed he had a bug of some sorts.
Really hope this isnt true as hes been in great form lately and I believe the defense is better with him in it.

I think every one will hope there is no truth in this Joe and would hope he is in the team on Saturday, but some feel they really know this to be a fact. I'll wait to see if the club makes any statements.

I have heard that he has gone - I find it totally bizarre. Last Saturday he was in the starting line-up and on Wednesday he was no longer at the club (and still no word on Friday).
I've seen many players leave by having their contracts paid-up or terminated during seasons past - but not for an almost first-team certainty who is producing some of his best form for years and the team are approaching the business-end of the season with him as first choice and several other players injured or unavailable.

The person who informed me of this isnt a 'TUFC contact' per se and didn’t know the reason for this shock departure so I've absolutely no idea why it has happened. Bucks surely hasn’t suddenly decided to dispense with his services now for no reason on a whim - surely Woodsie hasn’t suddenly decided to leave right away - and if he did would the club pay-up the remainder of his contract?
Surely it cant be purely financial - if we were in a mess with money we wouldn’t have brought-in a clearly unfit Christie - who cant be cheap.?

Good luck Woodsie - wherever you end-up.

what a shambles for one of the long servants of our club, No matter what has happened between him and buckle he should play saturday for a great send off.
People that don't go on the forums are not going to know he's gone and will only know on saturday when he doesn't play or someone in the stands tell's them
CRYING SHAME FOR A GREAT PLAYER
Goodbye woods and good luck x

Yes as the thread title states, Steve Woods has been released with immediate effect and the club has paid up his contract. I really am very saddened and upset that a player who has been our best defender this season, leaves under what can only be described as a cloud.

How can a player play for us one weekend and be moved on by the middle of the next week. We are not talking about some fringe player here, but one who really has been a great servant to our club.

I think we all know it is do with Woods being out of contract at the end of the season, some believe he was told he would not be offered a new contract, why there is talk that he was told it was not up for discussion until the end of the season.

My understanding is that Woods was happy to train and play until the end of the season, but I did hear a few weeks ago he was not looking to play for us next season and If that is true I find it hard to believe he would be too upset if he was told he was not going to be offered a new contract.

With the players already under contract for next season and the real need there must be to reduce the players wage bill next season, there are going to be players out of contract who are not going to get offered a new one for next season.

The real concern here is how well this has been handled by Bucks, there is some suggestion that the club could not just terminate Woods contract unless they had good reason, but I really can't see Woods doing anything unprofessional, he has been in the game far to long for that.

I hope the club put out a full statement and only because we now have a growing list of players who have left the club with a big question mark after their name. We have had threads on here running that have questioned Bucks man management skills, so I for one would like to know what really has gone on here.

No good Merse saying some things must remain inside the club, yes there will always be some things that much I agree, but we have lost our captain and best defender at a time when we really have a chance to go for promotion.

If there is a plus to take from this news, it is that Ellis should now get the chance to show is real worth to the club, a young man who was so unhappy not too long ago and one who found Bucks was not really willing to talk with him, that is a fact and was of some concern to me when I found out.

What a way for a good servant to go, no farewell from the fans, not last game where we could say our thank yous to him, I hope the club has a very good reason for removing Woods from the club and If it was the case they didn't, then we as paying fans need to ask just what is going on.

Of course its always a bit of a sad day when a player with such long service leaves, I don't buy into this emotional stuff though....

Woods was a decent player for us......not a player though, that i can honestly say I ever really took to.
Its probably just me but I like my centre halves big, strong, brave and no nonsence....Woodsie, apart from the Leroy promotion season (when he took a few pens) never scored enough goals for a defender that was up for every corner.
The main reason for me that here is a guy, that i felt, was a wee bit reluctant to stick his head in.....where it hurts, in either penalty area......ever recall him coming off for a stitch or two to a head wound and then going back out there, in all the games he played for us?.
Nice footballer with a decent touch and by all accounts a decent chap......his leaving, however, i feel won't weaken us at all. Todd, Hodges, Robertson, Ellis and Brough are all his equal, if not in some cases, better options.

Woods was on a "league contract" money wise (apparently) and must have known with the abundance of younger under contract centre halves around him at the club, he was unlikely, in this climate, to get a new deal.

See ya Woodsie.......time to move on now.