[Archived] Nicko's Thread

[LeftWinger]

billy sharp was top scorer in league one last season-hes scored about 3 goals this season in championship..

He hasn't scored in the Championship at all. He's only made 7 starts and 7 sub appearances...but still it does show the gulf.

His only 2 goals for Sheff Utd were against Morecambe in the cup.

[herbergeehh]

billy sharp was top scorer in league one last season-hes scored about 3 goals this season in championship..

Billy Sharp, what a legend. Who was the other guy again?

[they_think_its_all_rover]

Michael Bridges was a very good player who suffered almost chronic injuries. He's not playing for Sydney FC because that's his natural level, he's playing there because he's crocked.

Saw him play a few times at the start of the season for Hull. He got a chance to show he's still got it when Hull beat Wigan in the Carling cup... he didnt take it.

Bridges is at Sydney FC because he doesnt get along with Phil Brown...Why? because Brown became very frustrated with him... he became Hull's version of Pedersen.

Decent running off the ball... is all over the place and may have the odd touch of the ball and put in a decent pass once every blue moon... but other than that, he walks onto the pitch and fades away.

Funnily enough, he might be on his way back to Carlise... or to Hartlepool.

[they_think_its_all_rover]

Billy Sharp, what a legend. Who was the other guy again?

Andy Keogh... now at Wolves.

Makes you wonder about all this fuss surrounding Beckford at Leeds doesn't it? I'd love to see it if they get promoted and see Wise being all bigheaded about how their the biggest club in the championship e.t.c. and then see them get whooped every week

[mattyboy6000]

If not fair then still highly relevant as several players in our first team seem to have clauses like that. A minimum fee release clause is just another way of saying 'we're a selling club if an offer of £XX million comes in'. Why should we sell for anything less if it's a star player?

which players have such clauses in their contracts though?

but yes i can't disagree with your second point.

[thenodrog]

Arsenal have sold the likes of Henry, Pires and Viera in recent years but I wouldn't class them as a selling club per se.

How about calling ourselves a 'Trading club' then Simon. Sounds much better ... but means the same.

[thenodrog]

to an extent i agree but your example of duff is hardly fair. he had negotiated a clause in his contract where a certain level of offer would trigger his right to negotiate a move, at the time, none of his suitors - principally liverpool, would have dreamt of offering so much. however, Abramovich then bought chelsea and changed that.

Hindsight tells us that the at the time unbearable sale of Duff was actually a fantastic piece of business. Just like with Shearer we most definitely had the best of him.

[T4E]

The only way to really thrive as Den said on the Bentley thread is as a general rule to keep hold of your best players and add gradually around them.

Do you believe a gradual approach will enable us to sustain our current standing as one of the top 10 football teams in this country? Particularly when all of our rivals around us can afford to build at a much faster pace.

Our slow building strategy was fine before all the new money entered the Premiership. Things have changed, and we must roll with the changes, or be left a long way behind.

[John]

Do you believe a gradual approach will enable us to sustain our current standing as one of the top 10 football teams in this country? Particularly when all of our rivals around us can afford to build at a much faster pace.

Our slow building strategy was fine before all the new money entered the Premiership. Things have changed, and we must roll with the changes, or be left a long way behind.

T4E and Theno - you are looking at the transfer market too simplistically. Clubs with more money than us are struggling to get the right quality in. Teams around us are trying to build their teams around their best players.

Plus we would have to pay decent money in the first instance to replace our best players - Cruz, Bentley and maybe even Samba.

Hughes is a clever, decent, young manager and the fact is, he would not entertain what you are advocating. Or should I say has not in time as manager here.

[den]

Hughes is a clever, decent, young manager and the fact is, he would not entertain what you are advocating. Or should I say has not in time as manager here.

and who would be brave enough to tell Hughesy's prospective replacement that he must keep us in the Prem at all costs, but he must also sell his best players?

[Sandiway Blue]

Nicko? - Burley on betfair is backed down to 1.07 for the scots job.Have you any news yet?

[Fife Rover]

Nicko? - Burley on betfair is backed down to 1.07 for the scots job.Have you any news yet?

He's got the job. It is being announced officially tomorrow morning. Source--- BBC1 Scotland 6pm News.

[Manchester Blue]

Hard to believe every single player who's been through the academy in recent years hasn't been up to the grade. Teams like Boro, Villa and Citeh seem to be developing that side of the club at a fair old pace and with much more success than us.

Fully agree with Revidge here, we've been saying this for some time now. Surely a club like ours would make the Academy a priority as it seems to be one way we can get quality talent through. However we haven't seen any talent come through in years and that would have seen a big reshuffle in any other line of business.

It's all well and good saying you can only work with what you have but many Prem clubs have brought several players through and are making our academy setup look distinctly second rate. When stories about the Germans are posted it just adds to the worry.

[USABlue]

We need to look extremely closely at the Academy set up.

Who's in charge there? Is it Bobby Downes? Hasn't he had more than one spell in charge?

Have we ever produced anyone whilst he's been at the helm?

Maybe they are grooming him to run the Club Shop

[thenodrog]

T4E and Theno - you are looking at the transfer market too simplistically. Clubs with more money than us are struggling to get the right quality in. Teams around us are trying to build their teams around their best players.

Plus we would have to pay decent money in the first instance to replace our best players - Cruz, Bentley and maybe even Samba.

Hughes is a clever, decent, young manager and the fact is, he would not entertain what you are advocating. Or should I say has not in time as manager here.

This is exactly the point John. We paid circa £5m for all 3 for gooness sake! If my auntie had ###### and all that BUT IF RSC keeps on as he is doing, IF Bentley becomes an England regular and IF Samba learns how to defend in the air as well as on the floor there's a good chance that they could now be worth 5, 6 or even 7 times that total amount. How many more bargains are developing out there as we speak? The world is one big place. btw Can I ask our members who had heard of any 2 of em ... or even any of em before Sparky brought them in? Be honest now.

Hughes strength seems metaphorically speaking being able to distinguish between diamonds and polished glass beads. How he does it I don't care. Cloughie was the same. Tactically not the best but his talent spotting and man management were good enough to help unfashionable minnows like Derby and Forest to the title and a couple of European Cup wins! People seem to think that if he had to sell his better players that Hughes would move on. I'd argue that he might not be easily tempted if he was rewarded financially commesurate with his success and expertise.

[Eddie]

I had heard of Bentley and Santa Cruz. I had followed Bentley's career quite a bit as he had been touted as such a propsect when he first appeared at Arsenal and then did ok at Norwich. As for Santa Cruz, when he moved to Bayern he was considered one of the best young players in the world. I had never heard of Samba, but then neither had Hughes until an agent decided to put a word in.

[thenodrog]

I thought YOU would have eddie.

[John]

Yes, Hughes got ridiculously good value for money for those players.

However, he is an excellent judge of player and there was also an element of luck involved. Also, these players have to be available in the first place in order to sign them.

As I said before, you are looking at the transfer market as if you can just go out and buy who you want. It does not work like that, whether you have money or not, it is much more complex.

It seems to me that you are more obsessed with financially rewarding Hughes for his transfer work.

ps - Before they joined, I heard of Bentley and Santa Cruz by the way.

[tony gale's mic]

Can I ask our members who had heard of any 2 of em ... or even any of em before Sparky brought them in? Be honest now.

with bentley and RSC i had, and i'd imagine many of our members will have too. as has already been said, they were both touted as very exciting young prospects.

[T4E]

Yes, Hughes got ridiculously good value for money for those players.

However, he is an excellent judge of player and there was also an element of luck involved. Also, these players have to be available in the first place in order to sign them.

As I said before, you are looking at the transfer market as if you can just go out and buy who you want. It does not work like that, whether you have money or not, it is much more complex.

It seems to me that you are more obsessed with financially rewarding Hughes for his transfer work.

Good managers will sign more good players than they do bad. In Hughes' case the good outweigh the bad in a massive way. It's arguably his greatest asset - and we're stifling it.

I'll add another example - look at Everton. They sold Rooney at the right time, for the right amount of money, and have ended up much the stronger for it. No one sees Everton as a selling club. Moyes has signed some excellent players since.

I'll add again - it's not about "selling all our best players" - its about maximising value. It would only take one big sale every few seasons. If you put all the emotives to one side, it's the most sound business strategy we can hope to implement.

[Fife Rover]

This is exactly the point John. We paid circa £5m for all 3 for gooness sake! If my auntie had ###### and all that BUT IF RSC keeps on as he is doing, IF Bentley becomes an England regular and IF Samba learns how to defend in the air as well as on the floor there's a good chance that they could now be worth 5, 6 or even 7 times that total amount. How many more bargains are developing out there as we speak? The world is one big place. btw Can I ask our members who had heard of any 2 of em ... or even any of em before Sparky brought them in? Be honest now.

Hughes strength seems metaphorically speaking being able to distinguish between diamonds and polished glass beads. How he does it I don't care. Cloughie was the same Tactically not the best but his talent spotting and man management were good enough to help unfashionable minnows like Derby and Forest to the title and a couple of European Cup wins! People seem to think that if he had to sell his better players that Hughes would move on. I'd argue that he might not be easily tempted if he was rewarded financially commesurate with his success and expertise.

I cannot tell a lie Theno; I had never heard of any of them. There now.... EEEHHHH Ah feel berrer f' thad.

Oh, and just by the way, was Cloughie rewarded for his talent spotting by any of the clubs he managed? (answer honestly now Theno!)

[John]

Clever example using Everton & Rooney. Pity we don't have one of the world's top players on our books, and the biggest club in the world trying to sign him.

I doubt Moyes would look to sell Arteta or Cahill now, unless either of them really wanted to leave. Moyes has had the luxury of continuity at Everton.

Hughes would hate having to sell his best player every season, and have to replace them firstly, then hope to add further quality. Continuity builds successful sides.

[thenodrog]

Continuity builds successful sides.

Have you forgotten that Jonny Bosman saw off continuity in football John?

[thenodrog]

I cannot tell a lie Theno; I had never heard of any of them. There now.... EEEHHHH Ah feel berrer f' thad.

Oh, and just by the way, was Cloughie rewarded for his talent spotting by any of the clubs he managed? (answer honestly now Theno!)

I knew an honest man would turn up sooner or later Fife. There's not many of us about. If you need confirmation I'll own up to thinking that Bentley was pants for the first 6 months that he was here. I guess in hindsight that he must simply have been playing to orders eh?

btw .... Cloughie was certainly well rewarded for his talent spotting! Just not officially.

[tony gale's mic]

I knew an honest man would turn up sooner or later Fife. There's not many of us about. If you need confirmation I'll own up to thinking that Bentley was pants for the first 6 months that he was here. I guess in hindsight that he must simply have been playing to orders eh?

btw .... Cloughie was certainly well rewarded for his talent spotting! Just not officially.

:lol: honest?! you think we'd actually make up that we had heard of them before? believe it or not, some of us are a little more outward looking in our footballing scope than just the 11 players who line up on the pitch for blackburn every week. they werent that obscure, samba excepted.