To be fair I think he played Zigic simply because he couldn't bring anyone else in for Birmingham. I will be surprised if he actually ends up signing him here. Lovenkrands I don't think will be too bad as a back up player. We will definitely need a striker to fill Holt's shoes no doubt. I think if Vaughan can remain injury free he has goals in him, Morison if he remains consistent too and if Jackson was to improve his finishing he has goals in him. On top of them 3 we bring in another good striker and Lovenkrands as back up I don't think thats bad at all. The problem is, who? Abdelloue looks decent player to me but after reading up on him could be outside are wage budget.
I cannot grasp some of the figures. Holt according to the DMail could cost up to £5M plus change. Yet according to the media, Demba Ba has a buy out of only £7M. I know he would be out of our price range wages wise but his scoring record is more or less every other game and he's 27. But some clubs would be willing to pay a lot a week. Look at the reports on what Reading are reputed to be offering. Why would WHU want Holt when there are guys like Ba around? I do find it all rather confusing.
pretty gutted. forget the money - 5.5 million wont quite cut it if we cant score next season. people saying his head has been turned, but i genuinely believe he'd prefer to play his football here...still feel we could have come back from the initial stand off - what a sour end to it all... i'll be really worried if we sign either zigic or lovenkrands...more than worried, i'll become disillusioned with what we are trying to do here...
If bridges can be built and he stays that would be great. If he is determined to go to get a big payday on someone else's bench then as long as we get a fair price for him that's OK too. Disappointing to lose such a legend in such tiresome circumstances but such is football. The bottom line is that cash is king - if we gave him what he wanted I'm sure he'd be more than happy to stay. If we can't or won't and someone else will and is prepared to pay the right price then good luck to all parties.
For heaven's sake, why would anyone become "disillusioned". Are you saying that DM has suddenly lost his grip? Or that Chris Hughton is a lousy replacement for Lambert? That they can't be trusted to make sensible decisions in the best interests of NCFC?
Glad he is moving on now after his twitter comments etc.. Shame to end this way but such is football. I'm confident we will bring in a suitable replacement and certainly not left 'disillusioned'.
holt has been offered an olive branch by the club for more talks since hughton was appointed and as i understand it, has point-blank refused to negotiate. he wants out, it appears he's wanted out for some time too. the extra year on the contract is a small part of it - he won't stay here because we can't give him the money he feels he deserves. he appears to have fallen out with the club on a grand scale and the only way forward is for him to leave. don't worry about zigic - hughton has stated to midlands journalists that he never rated him - he was forced to play him at birmingham due to lack of alternatives. as for lovenkrands, i wouldn't say no to him as a squad member...
I doubt someone as nice as Hughton and someone who always speaks positively in media would say ne never rated him? Where did you read that? It's probably true that he thinks that but why would he tell journalists that?
we won't know until he moves, but i think he' taking a big big risk - holt in the norwich team is better than holt in west ham or any other team. It works. it's all about the money though by the sounds of it. how many strikers do west ham need? Baldock, Cole, Maynard, Vaz Te, Nolan, Holt? we do have options within the squad to pick up his leadership qualities though.
it was off the record. i asked journos up there because i heard zigic was wanted by lambert and asked if they knew anything and they said hughton told them he doesn't rate him and would definitely sell if given the chance
Why would he say he doesn't rate him when his record says all it needs to? I fail to see how any manager cannot "rate" a player with that record, if true that's a very worrying statement Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2
The only reason I can see this happening is because I'd imagine Holt's contract dates back to your lower league days and in that case it'll be championship level at best...For a 31 year old he's gotta think long term and so do you... Hughton at Newcastle adopted a very secretive approach which has been continued by Pardew (you will track players throughout the year and then pounce when everyone least expects it! Lovenkrands isn't a bad shout to be honest - not as a replacement but as another body...He didn't feature for us last season but we had one of the best attacks in the Premier League (Ba, Cisse, Ben Arfa - when all fit) and there's no shame in sitting behind any of them...The fact is though, that when called upon (Carling/FA Cup games) McLoven came up with the goods and scored important goals...He's a little fox in the box (in more ways than one if Steven Taylor's shower comment is anything to go by) and gets in the right places at the right time. He's lost his blistering pace but is still a more than capable Premier League striker/sub...I'd be happy to see him stay in the England as he seems a decent lad and had some great moments with us without moaning about lack of starts or making his mouth go like a lot of our other players!
our wage cap is approximately 20k a week. holt is amongst the top earners but has thrown his toys out of the pram because we aren't prepared to budge on the wage cap. he also wants an extension to his already 3 year deal (of which he has completed 1 year). the club aren't prepared (quite rightly in my opinion) to adjust either the wage cap (which is there for a reason) and offer a 31 year old an extended deal on top of a pretty new deal which would be a gamble should we not get the same kind of performances from him as he ages. holt jumped the gun by demanding this before the club was ready to negotiate and was still in the midst of sorting players whose deals were actually running out now. it strikes me his agent has turned his head, told him how he could get double the wages elsewhere (west ham would probably not shirk at 40k a week). i think he's been very badly advised and it'll be a decision he'll live to regret unfortunately. i think he's fallen out with the board massively over this and it is now unretrievable and if i've been told correctly, it is now just a matter of time before a deal is sealed. agree about lovenkrands by the way - a player who has always been underrated in my opinion. could be a good option late in matches and he still maintains good relations with hughton
I can't wait to hear supers opinion of holt when he takes a bungy jump in the norwich area to get a penalty and somebody sent off!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
In all seriousness, I read alot on here saying that Holt won't be the same player at Wet Sham as he was at Norwich, Who's to say that Norwich will be the same team without Holt? What sort of extension was he looking for, if it was only a year that would have taken him to only 34, not exactly past it!
if it were just about the extra year it would be simple. but why should he get a three year deal at 31? most clubs don't award players of that age with a large deal like that, so he should accept that. he's still go two years left. why the urgent clamour for an extra year. why can't he wait like everyone else has to? he claims he wants to stay yet he has to leave because he can't get another year. its nonsense - if it was about the extra year but he wanted to stay he'd make sure he performs well for us until christmas and then be back in the managers office demanding that extra year. its not about that - its cos his agent wants a pay off. as for whether norwich will be the same team without him, who knows! he didn't play much before christmas but we were in fine form. we aren't a one man team so as long as we can get at least one striker to replace his goals then we'll be fine. much rather have him out if he's going to be disruptive than keep him, no matter how good he is. club comes first. holt is a very distant 2nd in that respect.
