NP has said that he wants to bring in some experienced heads as well as younger players. Now, what qualifies as experienced? Neil Danns is 28, is that experienced? The only reason I'm asking is that the two forwards we have been linked with, Steve Howard and Dele Adebola, are big fat lumps. They are 35 and 36 respectivly and I'm not sure they will do a job if we are aiming high next season. Also, Dele Adebola is a Nigerian 35 and we all know what that could mean.... Anyhoo, I know Deano was getting on, but he came from a different/better pedigree than the aforementioned and coupled with Hull being his birthplace, it's like there was a big of magic about him when he put the shirt on. We brought in Nobby last season and his contribution has been minimal to say the least. So why are we targeting players who will be retiring in a couple of years?
Thought Danns was 25? I dont really care how old they are as long as they are good enough, and teach the younger players the trade then what more can you want? Look at Beckham, you wouldn't complain if you had him or Ryan Giggs now would you!
I think at 28 Danns has the sort of level of experience necessary to compliment the youthful potential of Stewart, Deviate and Cairney. However, at 35 and 36 we are looking at somewhat 'over-experienced' players.
No that's true I suppose. Howard isn't terrible I guess, but Adebola as a target? Jesus wept. His goal scoring record speaks for itself. Now, if you want experience, I see that Torsten Frings was released today.....only kidding, I wonder how long it would be before he is linked to Leicester....
I think the problem is some people confuse "experienced" with "old", the same way they confuse "young" and "hungry". We do need experience, but that doesn't mean we should just look for the oldest players, I think Danns would be a good example of a player who is experienced but isn't on their last legs.
I think Neil Danns is exactly the sort of experienced player we need. Howard was 35 last week, but he's still been doing a good job recently and he's the sort of player we need, so I'm not too bothered about him joining(I'd be disappointed if Adebola came in, but then that's just one of Burnsy's exclusives, so I'm not sure there's anything in it), Chris Iwelumo is another one who could do a similar job. Nobby was brought in when we were skint and it looked like we'd be playing the likes of Cairney, Cooper and Cullen and he wanted a steadier hand, I don't think he can be considered representative of Pearson's signings. Either we bring in a player like Howard, who can do a job for us and cost us little, or we rustle up ã3-5m to get ourselves a Morison or a Graham, which considering how much the Allam's have just had to put in, probably doesn't seem too appealing at the moment.
Yeah, I do like Howard, didn't he play for Luton against us in League One? I think I was just frightened at even the thought of Adebola coming here....Danns is spot on, hopefully he will sign in the coming weeks. I remember Andy Hessenthaler coming here (he hasn't aged well, his face looks like melted cheese), I also remember him being old and not that great. Bit of a long shot, but judging by the season he has had, would anybody want Gary Taylor-Fletcher back? His contract expires at the end of the season, if Blackpool stay up he might not get a look in. Would make an alright target man!
The problem I have with both Adebola and Howard is that they are NOT going to play anywhere near full seasons for us. Dele Adebola made 4 STARTS last season and 25 sub appearances scoring 2 goals. Howard made 11 STARTS and 18 sub appearances scoring 4 goals. That says to me that neither of them can complete a full game and are in a similar bracket as Nick Barmby (only without the quality!) Is that going to be our answer up front? Of course not!
Well in my view Nige fcuked up buying Aaron McLean, and he fcuked up even more paying ã1.3m for him!! WHAT? Because of that, combined with the lack of money now, we are NOT going to solve the "Need to score more goals", unless something changes.
The stats don't tell the whole story though, if you look at Ricardo Fuller he has similar stats, 9 starts, 19 sub appearances and 4 goals, but we'd all be ecstatic if he was signing. Players like this, if they're a bit down the pecking order, are often just brought on the last ten or fifteen minutes to hold the ball up(I know Fuller is in the Premier League, but the same principal applies).
I don't think there's any doubt that we substantially overpaid for Mclean, ideally we'd send him back to Peterborough in a part exchange with Craig Mackail-Smith.
I don't think you're right there Lambo. I remember going on the Leicester forums a while ago and reading their opinion about Howard. They said he was no longer able to play for a full 90 minutes. These are big guys! I just cannot see them playing 40 odd games a season at the age of 35.
Maybe so, I really don't know enough about them to do anything other than speculate. Maybe we're just going to play them in the first half, then we'll pull them at half time, once we're 3-0 up.
For me experience is 4/5 full senior season at a particular level, ie what league your talent suits. Age really plays a minimal part now a days, the likes of Becks, Giggs, Scholes ect show if you look after yourself you can do fine. I doubt Howard would play every game, however would be an excellent super sub, or in a match where the ariel battle is key
experience and age usually go hand in hand, but not always... if somebody has played 1st team football, from the age of 16/17...they could have wrapped up 300 games before they are 25, which would make them experienced..compared to the lads we have signed from man utd, who have very little 1st team experience to date..
Ideally we'd send him somewhere else in part exchange for a decent proven striker rather than pissing away more money on another player that's shown no more at this level than McLean has. I'm not a particularly big fan but I'd be much happier with a part exchange for Ched Evans is Sheff U so we can offer them a proven L1 striker to put our bid ahead of any others.
You need to take into account INJURY HISTORY when dealing with AGE. It's relative. Players such as Giggs, Sherringham, Graham Alexander, the amazing David Weir at Rangers & our Deano look after themselves so well that they're able to play well into their late 30s. Admitedly, it's harder for strikers but with training routines, diet & physiotherapy these days you can get the most out of your body.
