New Signings ?

[brendywendy]

agreed with the shit players

but doobs and shunt were far from that, one the source of many of our goals, the other hugely experienced, quality , and much needed cover for CB



oh, papes already said all that.....

If he was as quality as you made out his signing might not have coincided with our fall from grace. I also think you'll find that Little was our best source of goals and they dried up once he got injured and we were left with Hunt to provide.

so the signing of CB cover doobs was the reason we went down now?!

and if id have said shunt was our best provider id be forced to agree with you
luckily i said he was the source of many of our goals instead, so i dont have to.

[Royalee]

Who's to say he would have been skinned? He looked a lot better than his colleagues in the reserves.

[papereyes]

agreed with the shit players

but doobs and shunt were far from that, one the source of many of our goals, the other hugely experienced, quality , and much needed cover for CB



oh, papes already said all that.....

If he was as quality as you made out his signing might not have coincided with our fall from grace. I also think you'll find that Little was our best source of goals and they dried up once he got injured and we were left with Hunt to provide.

erm

so the signing of CB cover doobs was the reason we went down now?!

Its the wrong season - Doobs was direct cover for Sonko. Of course, a cynic might suggest that *then* was the time to go for someone like Cahill, what with him impressing on-loan at Burnley but with decent Premiership experience already under his belt but ... well ...

[Royalee]

agreed with the shit players

but doobs and shunt were far from that, one the source of many of our goals, the other hugely experienced, quality , and much needed cover for CB



oh, papes already said all that.....

If he was as quality as you made out his signing might not have coincided with our fall from grace. I also think you'll find that Little was our best source of goals and they dried up once he got injured and we were left with Hunt to provide.

so the signing of CB cover doobs was the reason we went down now?!

and if id have said shunt was our best provider id be forced to agree with you
luckily i said he was the source of many of our goals instead, so i dont have to.

It certainly contributed to our downfall although obviously it was not the main reason we went down, which was our wingers (e.g. Hunt and Oster).

[Hoop Blah]

I've no issue with the Duberry signing. He was a direct replacement for Sonko when we needed an experienced and reliable central defender.

Adding Sodje and Bennett to the ranks when we also had Bikey and the returning Sonko to compliment Ivar and Doobs (plus Cisse, Gunnarsson and then Pearce) was a waste of resources. A club such as ours with one of the smallest wage bills in the division just did not need 9 centre backs.

EDIT: Is it any wonder we had unhappy players disprupting the squad when there were so many of them around just twiddling their thumbs?

[brendywendy]

Its the wrong season - Doobs was direct cover for Sonko. Of course, a cynic might suggest that *then* was the time to go for someone like Cahill, what with him impressing on-loan at Sheffield United but with decent Premiership experience already under his belt but ... well ...

still, i can see why coppell didnt want a failed prem player loaned out to CCC clubs, on a big fee and wages etc

[papereyes]

Its the wrong season - Doobs was direct cover for Sonko. Of course, a cynic might suggest that *then* was the time to go for someone like Cahill, what with him impressing on-loan at Sheffield United but with decent Premiership experience already under his belt but ... well ...

still, i can see why coppell didnt want a failed prem player loaned out to CCC clubs, on a big fee and wages etc

How in the name of all that is holy was Cahill, then barely in his early 20s, ever a failed Premiership player? A young Premiership player - YES. One that was at a club that had just come into money and was complaining about a lack of opportunities - YES.

Failed?

Adding Sodje and Bennett to the ranks when we also had Bikey and the returning Sonko to compliment Ivar and Doobs (plus Cisse, Gunnarsson and then Pearce) was a waste of resources. A club such as ours with one of the smallest wage bills in the division just did not need 9 centre backs.

EDIT: Is it any wonder we had unhappy players disprupting the squad when there were so many of them around just twiddling their thumbs?

No, not really.

Although i think Sodje was earlier - first Premiership season. Given the runaround by Heskey in our third game and then out on loan for most of the second season - is he still at the club?

[Hoop Blah]

Its the wrong season - Doobs was direct cover for Sonko. Of course, a cynic might suggest that *then* was the time to go for someone like Cahill, what with him impressing on-loan at Sheffield United but with decent Premiership experience already under his belt but ... well ...

still, i can see why coppell didnt want a failed prem player loaned out to CCC clubs, on a big fee and wages etc

He wasn't failed, and I don't think he would've been on big wages either.

He was being kept out of the Villa side by a very solid pair of experienced players in Mellburg and Laursen at that stage. I think both were touted as PFA team candidates that year because Villa had such a good defensive record.

[brendywendy]

Who's to say he would have been skinned? He looked a lot better than his colleagues in the reserves.

probably cos he was playing in half speed kick abouts


i rate him highly
but using him in the prem, as a teenage kid, after sonks got injured would have been madness IMO

though you are as welcome to have an opinion as anyone else

[brendywendy]

How in the name of all that is holy was Cahill, then barely in his early 20s, ever a failed Premiership player? A young Premiership player - YES. One that was at a club that had just come into money and was complaining about a lack of opportunities - YES.

Failed?

my point was that we would have payed alot for him, had to put him on maybe more than most of the other players who had just played every prem game of the previous season and got us to 8th place, all for a player who couldnt hold down a place at his own club-for whatever reasons
im just saying, i can see their reasons for not going with that signing.
what i am not saying is that i dont think he would have helped.

[papereyes]

How in the name of all that is holy was Cahill, then barely in his early 20s, ever a failed Premiership player? A young Premiership player - YES. One that was at a club that had just come into money and was complaining about a lack of opportunities - YES.

Failed?

my point was that we would have payed alot for him ...

No it wasn't. You called him failed yet when pushed, you simply can't justify it. Why was he loaned out to the CCC? Because he was young and Villa wanted to give him experience. A 20 year old centre back failing to get a game for a big English club ... yeah. Failed.

still, i can see why coppell didnt want a failed prem player loaned out to CCC clubs, on a big fee and wages etc

And here's the kicker - its precisely the approach we took with players such as Harper, Sidwell, Shorey and Lita. Young, talented, clearly capable of improving. Certainly, it has to be on a different budget but the principle is there nonetheless.

Cahill was in the last England squad, btw.

[brendywendy]

How in the name of all that is holy was Cahill, then barely in his early 20s, ever a failed Premiership player? A young Premiership player - YES. One that was at a club that had just come into money and was complaining about a lack of opportunities - YES.

Failed?

my point was that we would have payed alot for him ...

No it wasn't. You called him failed yet when pushed, you simply can't justify it. Why was he loaned out to the CCC? Because he was young and Villa wanted to give him experience. A 20 year old centre back failing to get a game for a big English club ... yeah. Failed.

still, i can see why coppell didnt want a failed prem player loaned out to CCC clubs, on a big fee and wages etc

And here's the kicker - its precisely the approach we took with players such as Harper, Sidwell, Shorey and Lita. Young, talented, clearly capable of improving. Certainly, it has to be on a different budget but the principle is there nonetheless.

Cahill was in the last England squad, btw.

LOL at your sheer glee!


no, really, im not sure i need to justify anything, to anyone

but if i did i would say, that i was saying thats what the club would have thought about those sorts of players when discussing who to go for, and the fact that a guy coming in, who couldnt hold down a prem place(yet) would be on more than our established and successful players, and possibly cause rifts, and lose the very strong team spirit we had would have been a big factor in us not persuing it.
with hindsight, we lost it anyway, so it wouldnt have hurt, and i think he would have done well here, and helped us alot.
at no point did i say he was shit or we shouldnt have gone for him. just that i could see reasons why the management may have made those decisions
but dont let that stop your gleeful screeching, and telling my what i was thinking.

[Tilehurst Mike]

This thread seems to have gone completely off at a tangent and instead of speculation about New signings (surely UR&G's), is now talking about the merits and numbers of centre backs on our books, past and present!

FWIW, as much as I rate Pearce, his lack of pace and distribution(unless it improves) will always prevent him becoming an accomplished Premiership player.

[papereyes]

but if i did i would say, that i was saying thats what the club would have thought about those sorts of players when discussing who to go for, and the fact that a guy coming in, who couldnt hold down a prem place(yet) would be on more than our established and successful players, and possibly cause rifts, and lose the very strong team spirit we had would have been a big factor in us not persuing it.

The, errr, strong team spirit we showed in the 07/08 season where players refused to play reserve team matches and we had to ship one player out on loan because of the trouble he was causing?

Yeah. That strong team spirit.

We've been through why he was on loan and why he, in his early 20s, was behind Sweden and Denmark's first choice centre backs.

And you've ignored the bit about it being precisely the transfer that built a squad that got to the Premiership.

And then we're onto the last bit - the club went 95, maybe 99 % of the way to signing him and then Coppell decided not to. Coppell said as much at a fan's forum.

He had his reasons but it wasn't some grand plan of the club. The player was one that we'd identified as suitable (and I'm actually fairly sure I read that we'd had some contact with him). It just didn't happen.

No, really, im not sure i need to justify anything, to anyone

Maybe you'd have less people pointing out you're wrong if you thought that you did, once in a while.
I'm happy to fisk your comments to pieces. Its a pretty easy process.

[brendywendy]

LOL

please do

i hope it makes you feel better!


you have sincerely proven yourself the arch debator on here thats for sure,
i for one am very proud of you.

[Hoop Blah]

Don't get your knickers in a twist Brendy, passing comment on, and perhaps justifying your comments are exactly what the board is for surely?

You're usually pretty good at putting your hands up and admitting your wrong (force of habit I guess) but every now and again you stand by comments that I'm sure you nolonger actually think are right yourself.

[Royalee]

Who's to say he would have been skinned? He looked a lot better than his colleagues in the reserves.

probably cos he was playing in half speed kick abouts


i rate him highly
but using him in the prem, as a teenage kid, after sonks got injured would have been madness IMO

though you are as welcome to have an opinion as anyone else

He'd also had several loan spells and stood out - it could be argued that he was performing at a better level than Sodje when we signed him.

[brendywendy]

Don't get your knickers in a twist Brendy, passing comment on, and perhaps justifying your comments are exactly what the board is for surely?

You're usually pretty good at putting your hands up and admitting your wrong (force of habit I guess) but every now and again you stand by comments that I'm sure you nolonger actually think are right yourself.

LOL
im not wearing any.
and if i were they would be wholly untwisted.

justifying my comments is exactly what i did, but when my explanation/justification was dismissed as wrong i did kinda tune out.

ill admit when im wrong(which happens often) because i dont hold my opinions as gospel. and am neither gleefully triumphant when im right, nor shamefacedly apologetic when they are wrong.

in my mind i was clearly saying thats what i thought the club thought, and that i could see justification for their decisions at the time, regardless of whether i agreed then, or now.


i just dont understand why someone would be so deliberately obtuse and ignore the point i was actually trying to make(perhaps due to my poor communication skills) so he could make himself feel all big for disproving a point i definitely was not making, even after i said that wasnt the point i was actually making.
but ill take the views of the team board mafia on board, go away to practice posting, and hopefully ill return much better for the experience

[brendywendy]

Who's to say he would have been skinned? He looked a lot better than his colleagues in the reserves.

probably cos he was playing in half speed kick abouts


i rate him highly
but using him in the prem, as a teenage kid, after sonks got injured would have been madness IMO

though you are as welcome to have an opinion as anyone else

He'd also had several loan spells and stood out - it could be argued that he was performing at a better level than Sodje when we signed him.

i can do nothing but agree with that statement thats for sure!

you think its a good idea,& id be more cautious in thowing him in as a young teen at the top level.
perhaps he would have shone in the prem, perhaps the step up may have brought even more quality out of the lad,
who knows who is right,
i hope he is still here next time we make it up and captains us to champions league glory

[Sarah Star]

This thread seems to have gone completely off at a tangent and instead of speculation about New signings (surely UR&G's), is now talking about the merits and numbers of centre backs on our books, past and present!

We've moved on from there to the merits of Brendy's judgement and commenting now