A bit unfair Chippy. Elmander did much more than people give him credit for. It's not always about goals. His lay-off for Hooper's stunning goal against Swansea was part of one of the highlights of the year.
What did Bowkett say about replacing players who leave with better and this is it? Rhodes,Deeney and we end up with this possibly. Real ambition. And people on here are knocking Becchio who has a proven record in the Championship. Oh dear!! Back to the Chumpionship! Talk about even more depressed.
I hope this isn't true, my worst nightmare would see us getting in Championship standard players, then looking to offload our decent players, nothing has happen yet but this could be the first phase of us getting rid of our assets when we scrimped by for seasons. When are we going to be looking at some midfielders and defenders?
Only thing I will say. Technically he's a like for like replacement of Elmander... Hooper and RvW are still here, till either of both leave then bowkett isn't wrong with what he's said.
This signing has a bit of a whiff of naivety. Seems to me to be a ticking boxes excercise so height/target is covered rather than a focus on a decent player. Its not looking good if we are spending anything near a million pound, I don't think anyone would argue if it was a freebie. Fast attractive football? My doubts are getting bigger and bigger and I wonder if Adams understands "fast" as being "long", and "attractive" as "goals" At this point in time, I think Adams will be gone before 10 games are reached.
But other than Elmander none of our striker force have left yet, could well offer more than Becchio but we need to judge the squad as a whole when the window closes not on the individual moves that our made and assumptions about the effect that will have on the position of other players. We can only judge the squad as a whole when its complete and really only judge Adams team after he's had them playing a few matches in anger, come september the first we will be far better informed as to where we stand.
So it's a good deal if the fee is next to nothing, but a bad deal if it's close to £1m? Curious logic that, IMO. As said above, it depends on the shape of the whole squad rather than a single signing (if it happens at all).
He fits the bill perfectly imo, we need a target man now elmanders gone, strikers dont have to be prolific goal scorers along side a prolific goal scorer, we have that in hooper etc what we dont have is height, seems a logical signing to me...
Posted on the transfer thread too, but the BBC is reporting that he is having/has had a medical: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/27995519 Seems tied up then. If so, even though I appreciate that people have perfectly valid reasons for being hesitant about this, let's all get behind him
I have to say I am personally very hesitant about this deal, and nowhere near as excited as a lot of people about the Grabban signing either. Looks to me like we are assembling a squad to spend a few seasons in the Championship - and spending quite a lot of money doing it as well - as I don't think either are Premiership standard personally. Of course I will get behind whoever we bring in, and will give them a fair crack of the whip as long as they give their all to the cause, I'm just not very excited at all about any of our business yet this summer and fear how our squad will look once those who want away get their wishes.
I'm positive neither are PL quality. I think it's difficult to really sign anyone who is when you've just been relegated though However, I do think that our priority has to be to get out of this league and the reason I'm reasonably happy (particularly with Grabban) is that these are both players that are effective at Championship level - they will not be too expensive wage wise and they will be prepared to sit on the bench and wait their chance. You need that in the Championship with so many matches. I suppose, if we do get promoted, we will just have to reassess from there.
I half agree with this, as it looks like we are assembling what could be a very useful Championship strike-force. Conversely though, how do you build a PL team when in the Championship, without spending big money or the likes of Rhodes. It's a big gamble in this league with our resources.
Underwhlelmed. Agree with Monkey - looks the like board have appointed a manager to assemble a squad of journeymen. Lafferty is an unpleasant person and hardly lit up the SPL despite playing for one of the two giants in that league. Whittaker looked good in the SPL and Hooper scored a buckload of goals up there yet neither shone last season (a bit harsh on Hooper as I think he is an excellent player and IF we can keep hold of him I am convinced he will score a hatful next season). I don't understand why we are buying up strikers when we are crying out for a decent AM and CB which surely must be the priority. Why waste some of our budget on forwards unless we are going to be selling off RvW/Hooper and if we are losing one of our marquee strikers then surely we would have more money in the kitty to buy better forwards? As always i will support whoever we bring in but I'd really like to see a bit more clarity of thought in our transfers and the areas crying out for attention to be dealt with prior to more movements up front. Hopefully McNally has all this in hand and i will be pleasantly surprised when a decent CB and AM are singed next week! I can't imagine that the World Cup will prove to delay any of our potential transfer targets!
I hope that these signings are an indication that Hooper will be staying and possibly even RvW as well (though I doubt that). McNally and the coaching staff are not fools, and this may mean that bigger signings will be made at CB and ACM.
Forever the optimist eh Rob!!! Some on here will give him no more chance than they will Adams and unfortunately they seem reluctant to accept, even now, that we are in the Championship and have to adjust accordingly. To them our stay in the Championship will be only a one year inconvenience before we are back in the Premiership and if we are not in the top 2 after 10 or 15 games they will ' kick-off ' IMO they are in for a nasty shock as the Championship will prove to be a lot more difficult than they realise and the chances of going straight back up are not very good.
I can't see why we need to do anything other than replace any player who leaves. ACM? Perhaps but Wes did the job very well until Hughton decided otherwise and Surman, who is now back, allegedly did that job very well last year. Defenders? Surely we can get a good Championship back 4 out of Martin, Whittaker, Bassong, Turner, Bennett, Olsson, Garrido and Gaffaiti. Midfield? Surely we can get a good Championship 4 or 5 out of Tettey, Howson, Johnson, Murphy, Surman, Hoolahan, Fer, Snodgrass, Bennett, Pilkington, Redmond, the other Murphy and another youngster coming through whose name eludes me.
That's a very good point, although it makes for a better argument for those who are unimpressed with the clubs decision making. I think our club is about to implode.
