[Archived] Stephen Warnock

[Tris]

We signed Perez from Bastia. Just did a quick look on the Marseille website and he went back to Bastia before then going to Marseille a season later.

We also bought Valery from Bastia before then selling him back to Bastia...Corsicans.

We loaned him back to Bastia for the last few months of the season, he then went on to join Marseille that summer (1999).

tnd - he cropped up at Galatasaray a couple of years after that.

He was absolutely class for us - one of Woy's best signings.

[T4E]

How is Owen Hargreaves a perfect example of "a direct corrolation between this exposure and players looking to move on." and the World Cup "hastening his exit"?

You yourself state that United had an interest in him before the World Cup, and he himself has wanted to play in England for a number of years.

What influence a changed public perception of him has on his desire to leave and United's willingness to buy have I just don't know. All his World Cup performances have changed is his valuation, nothing else.

So I don't think Hargreaves is a perfect example of what you're saying, unless I have misintepreted your post.

You certainly do seem to have misinterpreted my post. Where have I stated that United had an interest in him before the World Cup? If they did, I am not aware of it, and it certainly was nowhere near as intense an interest as they appear to have now.

Prior to the World Cup Hargreaves was touted around the Premiership at circa £5m. Now he's being talked about going to the best team in the land for 4 times that amount. The World Cup performances for England made him more desireable to bigger clubs, so much so that they are willing to pay well over the odds for him. The World Cup has changed his valuation as you quite rightly say - his value however is purely limited to whatever a club is willing to pay for him. Suddenly United are willing to stretch to £20m - unimagineable before the Summer.

As for the "atleast we'll get inflated fee for them" arguement - see my previous post on this matter. We have received large fees numerous times - Duff, Shearer, Sutton - have we ever reinvested any of them in a way that left us stronger than prior to the sale?

[Eddie]

No to your last point, although it is possibly unfair to include Sutton in that when you consider that we were also relegated.

[broadsword]

People that watched a lot of him knew exactly how good he was. Exactly the same as Bentley. However it took a few good performances on the biggest stage of all to push him towards World Class status and justify United's interest in him.

Clear as day, that says to me United were interested in him, but he had to perform at the World Cup for that interest to be justified. Semantics, maybe.

I still don't think that playing at a World Cup hastens a player's departure. You're only talking about Hargreaves in terms of his value going up. Of course Man Utd were interested in him before hand, there were rumours going around. At no point have you offered persuasive evidence that playing at a World Cup leads to a player being transferred when it wouldn't have happened if they'd stayed at home. Would Man Utd really buy Bentley because he'd played at a World Cup, otherwise they're not interested? Do their scouts only turn up at World Cups? Of course they bleeding don't.

At no point have I said "at least we'll get an inflated fee for him".

[Eddie]

I think he's talking about me there.

[broadsword]

Whatever, it's given me a flipping headache.

[gumboots]

At this moment Bentley and Warnock want to play football. They've both come from bigger clubs to enable them to do that. They won't go back to a big club yet and probably not until they can be relatively certain they'll get into the bigger clubs first team on a regular enough basis to make it worth moving. There will come a time when the offer will be something we and they can't refuse but that won't be hastened by their playing for England in the near future. The sooner Bentley in particular gets into the full England squad the better because then he'll see that he doesn't have to move to get selected. Of course, after that he'll want the Champions League but not yet for a couple of years I don't think

[1864roverite]

Perez was a right back, before deciding he was homesick and buggered off to Marseille.

Perez went back abroad as his son was seriously ill with bronchial problems that was put down to the damp weather of Lancashire and our wet atmosphere.

Aside of that I thought he was a class player

[Jan]

Perez went back abroad as his son was seriously ill with bronchial problems that was put down to the damp weather of Lancashire and our wet atmosphere.

Aside of that I thought he was a class player

I thought it was a daughter

[T4E]

Clear as day, that says to me United were interested in him, but he had to perform at the World Cup for that interest to be justified. Semantics, maybe.

I still don't think that playing at a World Cup hastens a player's departure. You're only talking about Hargreaves in terms of his value going up. Of course Man Utd were interested in him before hand, there were rumours going around. At no point have you offered persuasive evidence that playing at a World Cup leads to a player being transferred when it wouldn't have happened if they'd stayed at home. Would Man Utd really buy Bentley because he'd played at a World Cup, otherwise they're not interested? Do their scouts only turn up at World Cups? Of course they bleeding don't.

At no point have I said "at least we'll get an inflated fee for him".

Fair comments - I take on board what you're saying. I may not agree, but I can appreciate the way you express yourself.

We've got to the point on this one where I have no further comment to make that I havent already, I'd have to repeat myself, and no one likes a thread that goes round in circles. Definitely a candidate for "agree to disagree".

You're wrong though

[broadsword]

[neekoy]

Owen Hargreaves is the perfect example. People that watched a lot of him knew exactly how good he was. Exactly the same as Bentley. However it took a few good performances on the biggest stage of all to push him towards World Class status and justify United's interest in him.

Prior to the World Cup, we all would've laughed our backsides off at United offering £20m for Hargreaves. Now it doesn't seem too ridiculous at all. It's no coincidence.

It still seems ridiculous, as does the highlighted statement

Bentley was never as good as he is now, I am sure that Mr Wenger had watched quite a bit of him and thought better then to keep him. Same goes for Hargreaves, United's interest was not 'justified' because of of couple world cup performances, when Bayern won the CL in 2001 hargreaves came out and said his future was in the premiership and preferably with the Mancs.

The only thing driving Hargreaves price up is now is some clever work from Bayern and his agent and the World Cup hasn't hastened his departure because he has been linked wih the Premiership since the last bloody WC

Bentley's departure will be in direct correlation to his excellent form going forward with us, not 1 or 2 appearances for Engurlund

[HairwayToSteven]

It still seems ridiculous, as does the highlighted statement

Bentley was never as good as he is now, I am sure that Mr Wenger had watched quite a bit of him and thought better then to keep him. Same goes for Hargreaves, United's interest was not 'justified' because of of couple world cup performances, when Bayern won the CL in 2001 hargreaves came out and said his future was in the premiership and preferably with the Mancs.

The only thing driving Hargreaves price up is now is some clever work from Bayern and his agent and the World Cup hasn't hastened his departure because he has been linked wih the Premiership since the last bloody WC

Bentley's departure will be in direct correlation to his excellent form going forward with us, not 1 or 2 appearances for Engurlund

Back to topic. I got some homo erotic feelings today when I read this and this. What a fantastic signing.

[Manc Rover]

To think of all the dodgy left backs we've had in the past, it's great to have one that's pure class. Wonder if Woy Hodeson saw the same clas in Callum Davidson all those years ago!

[1864roverite]

Personally I think its a fantastic advert for BRFC. It is nice for a player to come out and say what he has in the press, it sort of rams home to players with hankerings of moving to bigger and better clubs that the grass is not always greener on the other side.

Bellamy is a prime example.

[Eddie]

It still seems ridiculous, as does the highlighted statement

Bentley was never as good as he is now, I am sure that Mr Wenger had watched quite a bit of him and thought better then to keep him. Same goes for Hargreaves, United's interest was not 'justified' because of of couple world cup performances, when Bayern won the CL in 2001 hargreaves came out and said his future was in the premiership and preferably with the Mancs.

The only thing driving Hargreaves price up is now is some clever work from Bayern and his agent and the World Cup hasn't hastened his departure because he has been linked wih the Premiership since the last bloody WC

Bentley's departure will be in direct correlation to his excellent form going forward with us, not 1 or 2 appearances for Engurlund

I disagree. A player will be considered when he is simply performing for his club, but if he gets the chance for his country, particularly England, it allows everyone to see that he can make it at the very top level and really highlights his quality. You aren't a better player because of the fact that you play for your country, although I'm sure the experience gained is invaluable to a player's career, but before you have shown yourself to be really up to the task top clubs, and particularly their fans, are always going to have a little bit of doubt with some players. Bentley has improved a great deal in the last 18 months, Hargreaves has improved a lot since the 2001 Champions League final, but both are good players (Bentley nowhere near as good as Hargreaves at the moment) and anyone who had been watching them closely would have told you that they have always had that potential. Players values almost always go up once they have played for England and their chances of getting a move to a bigger club also increase, that is simply a fact (the World Cup has the same effect).

[LeChuck]

Eddie, that post was over two months ago, let it go.

Back to topic. I got some homo erotic feelings today when I read this and this. What a fantastic signing.

A perfectly timed article in light of recent events, it sounds entirely genuine as well.

I said for a while when we were linked with him that he'd become a fan favourite, I think he's already managed to do that with his excellent runs forward and 100% committed attitue. £1.5 million for a 25 year old left back of his quality? Another superb piece of business by Sparky.

The beauty is I think there's still more to come from him. That was the first six months of regular Premiership football in his career, if he can rid the tendency to make the odd rash decision then we'll have a good a left back as anyone outside the top four...possibly even including the top four.

[Roar of the Rover]

I'm Really happy to hear him say that. We were linked with him earlier and he said the complete opposite.

[RevidgeBlue]

"I just wish I had done it earlier."

Nice to hear him coming out in public with that. Hopefully the penny will start dropping with a few more players.

Mr McCarthy (and Mr. Bellamy) please take note.

[thenodrog]

Best bit about all this as I have said before is that agents will be falling over themselves to send their stagnating young guns to BRFC for a year or two of development. We'll never again be a MU or a Chelsea so this really is the next best thing. All we need to do is to see to Mark Hughes's best interests.

[Billy Castell]

Warnock is a better defender than Cashley Cole. Maybe a better all round player as well.

[Eddie]

Yeah not sure about that.

[youandwhosearmy]

Personally I think its a fantastic advert for BRFC. It is nice for a player to come out and say what he has in the press, it sort of rams home to players with hankerings of moving to bigger and better clubs that the grass is not always greener on the other side.

Bellamy is a prime example.

cough Chris Sutton

cough Damien Duff

[Billy Castell]

Yeah not sure about that.

Sorry, but Cashley is a vastly over rated player in my opinion. His positioning is suspect, he can't tackle hard when its needed, and gets caught out on the counter attack far too often. Like Darren Anderton, Jamie Redknapp and to a lesser extent Wayne Rooney, Cole is over hyped by the media because he's a moderately talented English player who plays/has played for a 'big club'. To be honest, I'd have Wayne Bridge as 1st choice and Cashley as an attacking full back should tactics needed to be changed if I was Jose. Warnock is as good a player as Cashley, but does not have the media hype as well.

[Presty On Tour]

also cole has the popular stunning looking girls aloud star, formally known as miss tweedy (now mrs cole) on his arm for a wag which will give his media attention no harm...... well.....