Dont talk bollox, clayton has had one mediocre season, Norris past his peak !!!!! so was strachan when he came to us according to a few of my mates !! ...........
Norris is awful, simple as. Clayton faded as any player would when played in almost every game with no competition. Norris is a mid-table Championship midfielder, if that.
I thought (hoped) we'd moved away from signing such journeymen under warnock. clayton and norris are similar players but if we had to have 1 with claytons much higher potential itd be a no brainer
? Not doubting Diouf is a better player. But Diouf is such a ****. He'll ruin your team spirit (if there is any) and he'll show Warnock up (not long ago he likened him to a sewer rat). I'd rather have Darius every day of the week.
The ironic thing about the Clayton situation is that if he was currently a Portsmouth player and we could snap him up for £500,000 we'd think it would be a great signing, and indeed it would be. I bet most of his detractors on here would be saying he's just the type of player we need. I hope he stays, at least we wouldn't then be talking abould replacing him with lesser players like Norris, Clingan etc.
Why is it talk of replacing him? Warnock has said if a generous bid does not come in for him then he can play for his place and prove that the shirt should be his. Clayton is NOT consistent enough for Warnocks liking, if he doesn't get sold for big £'s I fully expect him to start. If he does get sold let us hope we bring in a new player who is indeed better. If we do sign Norris it doesn't mean he is the direct replacement. We have released or sold or are selling, Mikka, Howson, Webber, Nunez, Sam, Brown might not sign, We never did replace Gradel - We need more than one signing in midfield!! If we sign Norris don't question is he better than Clayton as Clayton is still a Leeds player, is he better than Mikka?
Bollocks, Warnock has been told he needs to sell before he can buy and Clayton (and later McCormack, who we will "reluctantly" accept a bid for) is the unlucky player selected.
Ristac, you can bet your life Clayton will be sold, and for a sum nowhere near his worth. Players like him don't come up for sale very often, especially for the relative pittance we'll be getting for him, and there lies the irony I was referring to. We'll be selling exactly the type of player we'll be looking for. We should keep him and add a couple of decent midfielders to the squad so he doesn't have to carry the burden week in week out. His consistency will improve, and there's no doubting he has the talent.
His consistency only went down after about 10 games at the start of the season - it stayed down because he kept his place in the first team. With competition for his place he'll improve, he's a talented player. There's just no sense in selling him, the fee we'll get won't cover the signing of someone better or even as good.
Gawd's sake! Do you want Warnock to build you a team or do you want him to pick your favourites?? Let him do his job - let's face it, he knows the job and what's required better than any of us.
How many times, Whitejock, before you realise the limitations are inevitably going to hold him back regardless of how good he is?
Of course there are limitations, and he knows exactly what they are. He's not wet behind the ears. He will have come to an accord with Bates as to their ways of working/responsibilities - and he's now working though it. I would imagine he has total control of his budget and makes all signing/selling decisions. i'm positive he wouldn't have taken the job without this control. To me, it is evident that this is true due to the language he uses. We don't hear 'I've passed my list of targets to the chairman', which you hear all too often these days. He's old school, and he'll do it all himself. He's already on record as saying he's been in constant contact with players, blood-sucking agents etc. Give him time and give him the space to do the job that he's accountable for. Anyway, the point of my outburst was that I'm fed up listening to the squabbling over Clayton. It's been Warnock's decision to act in the way he has, and at this time his motive is unclear. He might not fancy the player as a regular for his team, he may be manipulating the agent, or he may be facing up to his limitations and generating spending cash, as he reckons he can do better than Clayton. Who knows? We've got to leave him to it. He's the expert.
The only truly positive move would be to call Clayton's bluff, but I reckon he's resigned to being sold so it's this pathetic, small club mentality of having to sell to buy.
I reckon, now that we have called his bluff, he will want to renegotiate. The greediness was probably his agent...
Whitejock, it's seeing another one of our better, younger players going the same way as Gradel and Howson that gets me. All to raise funds that for transfers. Funds that we already have. What's the point in plucking these gems from nowhere, polishing them up, only to sell them on and watch them flourish with another team? It's as though we're a training academy for the likes of Norwich. As for Warnock knowing better than anyone on here, I bloody well hope so! He absolutely does know what he's doing, and he has his transfer targets and his proven methods, but he's been told to sacrifice someone to raise funds, and that someone just happens to be Clayton, a player who'll be top class in 2 or 3 years. Unfortunately that doesn't fit into his 12 month plan. It's another case of short-sightedness on the part of the club.
