It would have been against Cluj (when he had the arm injury) or against Man United (where he came on in the second half after return from arm injury - the commentator might have said he'd missed earlier matches). But this is a tedious argument. Ultimately, if we get Elmander, as seems likely, he will be third choice-ish. For the right price, I think he is good cover for a year. His experience, particularly of the prem, may be likely to help the new boys settle in. I think we need a bit of experience and he's clearly just a stop gap. He did have class and I think he is the sort of player that could have a dressing room impact. I don't think he'll play much, but if we get injuries he is just what we need. I also wonder whether this might have something to do with trying to encourage Toivonen along... We can certainly afford it
he's certainly versatile. he was way down my list of 'incomings' but i'm not against bringing him in if the fee is reasonable. i'm not overly keen on the idea of leroy fer playing 'in the hole' so any signing pushing him deeper will be a good signing in my eyes rob, it definitely wasn't united - might have been cluj but i'm sure it was schalke. anyway, let's not get back into that again also, not sure what relevance to toivonen there would be unless you think they have a great understanding (which i'm not aware of). certainly wouldn't be the swedish connection as martin olsson is already here
I was going on the basis of when his arm was injured, but as you say enough! True, I was thinking the Swedish connection and had forgotten about Olsson, but for some reason I thought I'd heard that Toivonen and Elmander got on well - they apparently had a good understanding in the Swedish national team.
Agreed...but sorry, I still think Elmander is a shocking signing As for DH's post, thanks. Interesting question about the relative quality of the leagues. I think if Gala always played their first team - they don't, they tend to have certain players eg Drogba, who only play in big games, and if you nominate Muslera, Eboue, Semih Kaya, Nounkeu, Riera, Hamit Altintop, Selcuk Inan, Felipe Melo, Sneijder, Drogba, Burak Yilmaz as the strongest team (which doesn't allow a place for Umut Bulut - now, if Norwich had signed him instead of Elmander....!!!! But unlikely as he's only recently signed after being on loan, but a bargain at £2.3 million!) they would easily be top half of the table, probably not top 4 or 5 but not far off. The other 'big 3' Turkish teams (Fener, Besiktas and Bursa) would be more likely mid-table; outside those they're 'much of a muchness' and would really struggle in England. That Elmander didn't exactly 'set the world on fire' against any of them last year is my one of my concerns, for he simply just wasn't very good. The other is that he plays very similar to RVW and Hooper - it makes you question whether Norwich actually know what they're buying, or maybe, Hughton thinks he can play upfront on his own - but I've never seen any evidence of that at Gala. While Hooper may be a comparative midget and Elmander over 6 feet tall, so is RVW. I really don't think he will add anything to what Norwich already has. Would he come here as third or even fourth choice? I'm sure we could have done so much better but he's been available for a while and as far as I know, in England, only Hull and Blackburn have been linked with him... Just seems like a lazy non-value-add transfer. More like something Redknapp would do!
I think you're missing the point of this signing Manky. Elmander is not to be signed as a first choice striker. He: 1. is to be cover - at least third and possibly fourth choice. Only certain players are happy with this, and usually they are not even up to his standard 2. is experienced in England, which means he is much more likely to hit the ground running than, e.g., RvW 3. is experienced generally, which I feel is something we are missing a bit with our young squad - Elmander will know not to get down when we are in a bad patch, know how to help close a game out 4. will be useful in the dressing room - similar to the above, but not on the pitch 5. is technically good (certainly was - and while his sharpness and fitness may be considerably worse, this doesn't usually change so as a bit part player he is perfect) (6. possibly for other means - there is also my spurious theory of encouraging Toivonen to come!) Now with all due respect to your obvious knowledge of the Turkish football league (and I have no doubt he isn't picked much recently), but he was playing internationally for Sweden (a competitive squad up front...) and I am going to trust that judgement, particularly for our third/fourth choice striker. This is all assuming the price is right - knowing McNally, it will be. We can afford it anyway and Elmander is just a stop gap. A very good one, and sensible.
Elmander scored a fine lobbed goal in the 82nd minute in Sweden's WC Qualifier against Austria in June this year, having run onto a ball over the top from Ibrahimavic. He had played the full match up until then, before being substituted soon after scoring. While as far as I can see this rumour has little real foundation, I'd be chuffed if he joined us. He scores wonderful goals.
Rob, I understand your thoughts perfectly. The question I asked though is would he accept being 3rd or 4th choice (more likely 3rd choice) - especially in a World Cup year - maybe you're right and he would. Maybe Grant Holt wouldn't. I don't know the ins and outs of that, but unlike Elmander, Holt would have provided something different to RVW and Hooper, which is what I find strange. But why swap being 4th choice at Gala to 3rd or 4th at Norwich? It's not as though Gala are poor payers! i can't imagine he would earn more at Norwich. Salary, after all, is the reason so many big names end-up in Turkey.
Manky, didn't you mention earlier a fall-out with the manager? If he's not going to be in Galatasaray's plans because of that, he may as well move somewhere that he might stand a chance of forcing himself into contention. Short of going to Russia or China, I suspect England is one of the few countries where a 3rd choice striker will get a very reasonable wage, and he'll also be closer to home. As an aside, I heard an interesting point on TV earlier, some executive reckoned that all twenty PL clubs rank in the 35 richest* in the world. That's pretty incredible *Not sure richest was the word used, and that's a hard one to quantify, so it might have been to do with the largest incomes.
Yep, that's correct, so maybe that's the explanation. No one argues with Fatih Terim! Not sure how wealth is measured, but Gala have around £200 million debt, however they are run along the lines of Spanish teams with heavy subsidies from local and national government. They are also incredibly real-estate asset wealthy and if you counted property portfolio, I'm sure they'd be very close to being the richest club in the world, they also have the largest financial services' business of any sports team in the world. The Turk Telekom Arena was funded by half of the value of the sale of land in Mecidiyekoy (the old Ali Sami Yen Stadium aka "Hell'), the other half certainly wasn't used to pay-off debts, but was invested in more property! The cash flow from the property business isn't actually owned by the football club though...
after being asked on twitter, mathias svensson is looking into the possible elmander deal. probably knows johan
Had a google online for Johan Elmander twitter just to see if there is any validity to all this, and look what I found: https://twitter.com/JohanAmanda9 So it being a fan account might well be right, the one with the posting about NCFC is: https://twitter.com/Elmander_9
Yeh but I can't see a professional footballer leaking his signing to NCFC via twitter, that would be a big no no, and we would have some kind of response from NCFC by now.
Yeah I see what you are Sayin but footballers aren't famed for their intelligence. As I type this McNally could very well be doing his nut.
