May have been mentioned here already but I saw a long post on social media saying how Forster had some issues with depression after his knee injury and a breakup? The club stuck by him and supported him and he was on reduced wages while not playing was the rumour. No idea if this was brought up here or if it’s true. (EDIT - posted the picture of the post I saw) I personally think McCarthy started well last season but has let in some dubious goals this season. Our keepers seem to start really well then fall off a bit. Hopefully not the same with Gunn.
Not surprised at all...he looked shot to pieces in his last few appearances for Saints...idiot fans can't have helped, though they wouldn't be the cause. Harder to recover from than physical injuries...people can't just sign your plaster cast and have a good laugh with you. I wish him well and hope he can resume his career here or elsewhere. I cannot even begin to imagine what it would be like for him to come on for his first game back with all those eyes watching him...hopefully without any sarcastic jeers from 'fans'. Good luck, Fraser.
If i was in the market for a GK I think I would look at 1 of Burnley's before looking at 1 of ours, for 2 pretty poor teams we seem to have 6 of Englands top 10 goal keepers.
If we have to sell Alex to generate £15m, I'd rather take the risk of not doing that. We cannot afford for our defenders to have a good game, then allow perhaps the indecision of a keeper brought from the cold for political reasons, a brain fart goal that undoes all that. Can you imagine the damage that would do? Wait till the summer. Millions have been lost already, lets not make the situation worse.
It is a risk, but if it means we can bring in a quality striker or CB, it’s probably one worth taking.
Who would even buy McCarthy? Struggling to think of a team that are desperate for a keeper that they would shell out relatively big money for one. I guess he could be going to one of the big clubs as the HG no 2, but would they spend £15m on someone for that? Usually they just get some older guy out of contract (Stuart Taylor, Rob Green etc) If you wanted an English keeper I'd be looking at Butland ahead of McCarthy.
Don't think there is much difference between Butland and McCarthy as players and the difference could be that McCarthy may be available. Is Butland?
McCarthy's new 3 year contract was a weird decision for everyone really, hadn't we already signed Gunn just before?
I'd say Butland is a fair bit better. I have no idea if he is available but with Stoke looking like finishing mid table in the Championship I could see him wanting out if a PL team came knocking. Still goes back to my original point though of which PL team would be looking at investing a fair amount in a keeper, I can't think of any off the top of my head, and I can't think of any where McCarthy is definitely better than the starter there either, except for Huddersfield.
Yeah, was a strange decision at the time. I guess if we can sell him though then at least we get a fee for him as I think his contract was up this summer prior to the new contract.
The best news about all of this is that Fraser has apparently made a good recovery from a very serious and debilitating illness and secondly I echo the sentiment about being proud of the club for sticking by the lad in his time of need. If he can return to the player that he was a few years ago then there will possibly be a future for him here as long as he can stay strong mentally. If not, then there will definately be a future for him in the game elsewhere, good luck to the lad.
It would appear that we are not bringing a keeper in for political reasons, but more that Ralph rates him? Or maybe he voted Brexit and he’s getting punished?
Club politics. Sell a player with value, keep and play a player on a large contract who you can't shift.
