Armstrong

Would you take him back?

apparently we have a 40% sell in clause in his deal.

puts us in a great position if we wanted him back too.

I’d prefer him to Carroll, Joe or Gayle.

https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/spo...wcastle-united-adam-armstrong-clause-19795691

 

No, he's not good enough.

 

We could always try playing him in his correct position. Something we didn’t do the first time and would be unlikely to do with Bruce in charge. He doesn’t have the best of records in that regard.

 

Good replacement for Gayle in the summer. Also Toney for Carroll.

 

Yes, he'll be good for us next season in the Championship

 

daft as it may sound you might be right. If we go down then he will help us get back up.

 

If only we could have developed players like that in our Academy, if only.

 

A talented young footballer clearly ready to make the step up to the PL and see if he can cut it.

His stats this season and his career development since leaving us and being given opportunity, suggest there is a good chance he will make that step.

I don't think he'd want to come back, his experience here was poor. At least I think he'd be mad to want outside of him being from here. Even when the time was right to give him a chance we didn't. If I was him I'd avoid this place like the plague, and look to go somewhere he can continue his upward trajectory. Loads of good current examples of players making the step. You'll always have those who crib young players coming out of the divisions below "Championship level" "Won't be good enough for the PL" etc.

I'll watch with interest and wish him well. Be a cracking signing for us but I think given his returns this season, he will have a lot of suitors and most will be a better option than us under the current regime.

 

I saw someone quoting a figure of £30m that Blackburn wanted. Even with a 40% discount still £18m. He was never given a chance whilst here, and probably wouldn't again. Local lad I know, but it's a definite no from me.

 

Would be ideal

 

This Toney and Armstrong would be much more beneficial to us now than the current incumbents.

 

Why are we sat with Joelinton, Carroll and Gayle as our forward options when we had Arma and Toney

 

The Crazy thing is we've probably paid for them and too them, somewhere around 80M (£55 on transfer fee's) yet got approximately £2m for the pair of them. Toney has roughly 60 in 100 games since leaving and Armstrong 50 in 120... Guess how many our three have scored since arriving...

Gayle - 34 (23 in the championship) in 94 (32)
Joelinton - 3 in 54
Carroll - 1 in 32

I mean how did we get that soooo wrong. I get the lads are playing in the leagues below and Gayle comparatively is about similar but we paid £12m for him still leaving us a net loss of £10m and he's not getting any younger where as those two are just coming into their prime in the next year or so.

 

Come on if we could find some crackpot owner somewhere in the world to pay £18m for Joelinton you wouldn't take that swap?

 

There isn't another owner ANYWHERE in the world who would pay £18m for Joelinton. £18 maybe.

 

We're currently a dead end for promising young players, and it isn't a new thing either. The Norwich Director of football had a point in his criticisms. I don't understand why our record is so terrible when other clubs can develop and bring through promising young players.

 

Facilities
Coaching
Fan pressure

 

If it's coaching then it covers a hell of a lot of different coaches as this has gone on for at least 25 years and possibly more. I can't think of many promising young players who have come through the system and developed their full potential while they were here in that time. Possibly Andy Carroll who seemed to thrive in his first spell. Possibly Shola - we'll never know if that was down to limited ability that he never went further or if he didn't get the coaching he needed to be better, but he never fulfilled the early potential some thought he had as a youngster.

That leaves either facilities or fan pressure. I suspect both play a part, but we definitely have to shoulder some of the blame. We do have history at writing players off too quickly, or letting our frustrations spill out too easily putting extra pressure on youngsters.

Edit: I should add Tim Krul to players who came through. He did develop into a decent keeper.

 

Personally think our coaching is awful.
In the 90s the money wasn't there so they provided the bear minimum.
Fast forward under MA and we know he provides the bear minimum.

Look at people on this forum and they are not as aggressive towards our youth but contents are constantly "they are ****"

The fans in the ground - unless the young player shows instantly their potential to be world class then they get written off.

The other part I didn't mention is our scouting. Think of all the top quality players from this area who we could have had but either left our youth system or we didn't choose to get them and they moved on to a club who did want them.

 

Our scouting for young local players is shocking. The number of local lads that went on to have very good careers in the game elsewhere is painful.

I'm not sure I agree about the money not being there as an excuse. Look at some of the players we brought through just before that time. Chris Waddle, Paul Gascoigne, Steve Watson, Lee Clarke and more. We didn't have the money when they were brought through. Then we got to a spell where we were breaking world records in transfer fees in the 90s. The money was there at that time if we had wanted to invest it - at least as much as it was for other clubs.