Age is of no relevance whatsoever, if he was 38, then fine. 28 is not old by footballing standards. Strikers are judged on goals, as he has scored 25 goals in a **** team, that finished in a relegation place that warrants a look. As I know an Owl pass holder that would happily swap 'Carthorse Madine' for Beavon, his words not mine, on the basis of having seen Beavon twice, and seen Madine for a full season
I'm not disputing that - my only problem with your point was that I specifically mentioned age and then you used all these players who we 21 at most when they left the non-league. To be honest I'm just rather skeptical because of McLean - he has a Fryatt-like record in League One but look at him in the Championship. It'd just be nice for us to sign a decent proven striker for once and not hang our seasons hopes on those that have never played in this division. Ie Reading got Le Fondre, but they still had Roberts, Church and Hunt to turn to if he failed.
He was originally spotted playing for Dulwich Hamlet. I don't actually know bugger all about Dulwich Hamlet, other than they must have had some good scouts over the years, in addition to Wright, they also had George Elokobi, Simeon Jackson, Leon Cort, Peter Crouch, Marlon King and Alan Pardew amongst their ranks.
Also, how can I possibly have left out the greatest ever non league signing? Mr Dean Windass! Signed from non league North Ferriby United aged 22. If nothing else, starting off later, tends to add years on at the other end of your career. Deano scored the goal to get us promoted at the age of 39. Stuart Beavon came from non league aged 25, 3 years isn't a great deal of difference.
You're acting like because it's happened once or twice, it's likely to happen every time a team signs a non-league player. It's actually pretty rare.
I aren't acting like anything, merely stating a point. Non league players have been picked up by league clubs and gone on to prove themselves at the very highest level, age I'm afraid actually has nothing to do with it. You were insinuating he was too old, and a one season wonder. As I am sure players like Beavon will go on to prove themselves, iPad ****e just highlights and deletes large sections at will!
There is no quarantee with any signing. In the 70's Derek Hales(Charlton) and Alf Wood(Millwall) used to score for fun at those clubs then they moved to Derby and Hull City respectively and could barely hit a barn door between them. If it was easy to pick and choose goal scorers then we would all be doing it. Laterly Torres and Carroll are equal examples of moving clubs and then drying up from what they used to be.
Why is this such an issue with people? Just because you are young doesn't mean you are automatically going to set the world alight. Would you turn your nose up at Rickie Lambert because he's just turned 30? Of course not. Adversley, Mark Cullen is 20 years old and has 1 senior goal since his debut, 2 years ago. Everytime a young lad makes a first team appearance, under the age of 18, everybody automatically thinks they are going to be a superstar and you get transfer rumours involving Manchester United, Arsenal, Man City, Liverpool etc. It's not ****ing football manager, it's real life. Being 17 doesn't make you a quality player. It just means you MIGHT, with the right training and nurturing, have the potential to go on and become a decent player. But even at 26 (case and point Liam Hearn) players are still learning and developing. I'm not saying Stuart Beavon would be a good signing, in fact I think he would be worse than what we have, but it's not because he's 28, he's just League 1 standard. I'd take Marc Pugh from Bournemouth, he's a tidy player, or even Francisco Sandaza from St. Johnstone.
This may surprise you but I wasn't trying to suggest that Mark Cullen was better than Rickie Lambert I don't know how you've managed to get all that from what I said. I'd just rather have someone who is already decent at 22/23, who has the potential to get better and have a better sell-on value, as opposed to paying for someone like McLean or Beavon for at an inflated fee of £1.2m+ and then letting them go for next to nothing 2 years later. If anything I'm talking financial sense, not (as you somehow perceived) living in Football Manager land.
How about a straight swap with Wycome. Simpson for Beavon and Beavon wont need as much wages as Simpson is on (£11k a week apparantly). The fact that Beavon has scored so many in a poor and relegated team shows that he has something to work with. Nowt to lose at all.
I see Coventry have released Sammy Clingan, Herman Hreiderson & Freddy Eastwood, don't know how good they are these days but I know they did used to be good. Could be worth trials in the pre-season games, as long as the managerial side is sorted.
Coventry looked to have a few good players when they beat us. Was Clingan the number 4 who played centre mid for them. Whoever he was he would be a good punt cos he dominated Mckenna and Evans that game.
I was speaking generally, it wasn't really aimed at you alone, I just get frustrated when people use age as an excuse not to want to sign a player. With regards to actually signing them, I'd have been happy to sign McLean for a season if he had scored the goals to get us up, then if he wasn't good enough, get rid. It's cut throat but he'd have served his purpose. A little bit like Wayne Brown.
http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/11688/7749680/Chase-on-for-Osborne Decent Target ? http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/11688/7749609/Bogdanovic-eyes-English-stay Target ? Could we get them ? P.s, Strovolos, how do you rename your links on here, I can do it on Microsoft Office, just not on here
