It's good to see Garcia back. He's come off the bench twice in League games, and had a start in the Reserves match against Sunderland. He scored in that last one, too. Do you see him as a squad player? Will he get a new contract? There's a good piece on him in the Fail. (Good, considering it is the Fail). HULL CITY: Garcia pledges to prove he's fit for new Tigers deal RICHARD Garcia is hopeful of earning a new long-term contract with Hull City in 2012, but insists his main priority is to craft a lead role in Nick Barmby's plans. Garcia has finally returned from a miserable spell in the wilderness after suffering cruciate ligament damage in late April. It was cruel timing for the Australian as he saw his former contract expire just three months later and he has since been on a rolling month-by-month deal while he battles back to full fitness. Two substitute appearances against Coventry and Millwall in the last fortnight were followed by a 70-minue run-out for the reserves on Tuesday to improve Garcia's hopes of a comeback in the starting XI. While he is keen to extend his stay, Garcia is content to shelve talks over his long-term future until he can prove his fitness to the Tigers. "I'm still waiting to see what's happening with that (a new contract)," Garcia told the Mail. "I've just been concentrating on football and I haven't really been thinking about that. "All I want to do is get back playing and do my best. "It's pretty much a month-by-month thing at the minute so we'll sit down in the next month or so and sort it out." Garcia suffered a bitter twist of fate at the end of last season when a delay to signing a new deal left him facing an uncertain future. Although a proposed contract had been tabled by the Tigers, the 30-year-old suffered a serious knee injury in the 1-1 draw with Crystal Palace on April 30. City stood by Garcia during his rehabilitation and appear certain to reward the winger with a fresh offer next month. "It's one of those where things didn't really pan out exactly as they should have," explained Garcia. "I had specific reasons why I hadn't signed a contract and the club understood that. "Nigel (Pearson) was more than happy on why and so was Adam (Pearson), so everyone understood why it hadn't been signed. "We were still in negotiations and you don't just do it out of haste. "Unfortunately the injury happened at the wrong time but you've just got to take that." Garcia's patience has finally brought dividend in recent weeks and he was afforded a huge reception when emerging off the bench late in the 2-0 win over Millwall at the KC. Further well wishes came his way after he scored in the reserves' 2-2 draw with Sunderland on Wednesday night and the former West Ham youth has been buoyed by supporters' reaction. "It was nice to get such a good reception," he added. "I've had a lot of nice, supportive comments throughout my injury and going to games I've always had people wishing me well. "It always helps when you know the fans are behind you and you know that you've got a spot in people's hearts. I know I might have to be patient to get my chance but I'll keep working hard." Garcia will hope to enjoy another chance to impress when City travel to Middlesbrough on Boxing Day. A win would lift the Tigers above Tony Mowbray's side into third in the Championship and Garcia believes 18 months of huge change is bearing fruit. "After a lot of arduous work it looks as though we're heading in the right direction," he said. "Our aim is to be promoted and we have to be a squad. It's not about a team of 11, it's about a squad of 22. That's the way it was when we were last promoted and again we've got to make sure we're pulling in the same direction." http://www.thisishullandeastriding.co.uk/story-14207417-detail/story.html
It certainly is! He offers pace and composure. Barmby likes him. We like him so he is sure to get a new contract, but he will have to stick with a place on the bench for now.
With NB giving Brady a second chance and his attitude to both Garcia and Olifinjana (so far), it gives me a warm feeling about the future of the Club. And it also leads me to feeling that Barmby will take the job, permanently. Or else he's going to a lot of trouble for nothing, except his proven loyalty.
Yes it's good to have Garcia back. He'll definitely be offered another contract but I can't see him breaking into the first team any time soon. It's great to be getting all of these players back that offer something different to what we do have in the first team and that includes Olofinjana who could do a job for us this season given the chance, which I think Barmby will at some point over the festive schedule. It's definitely a great time to be a Tigers fan!
Pops up with important goals and has all that experience. Also a nice pair of bright green boots I noticed against Miwwaww.
Garcia's a good player and he never deserved the criticism he got when we were in the PL. He's maybe not as skillful as Brady or Stewart, but he'll certainly have a role to play at some point like McLean is doing on the wing now even though there are more natural alternatives.
Garcia is a decent championship player, if we were in the the Premier League it would be a different story.
Good to have Garc back, has experience from the promotion campaign with us and is a useful player to come of the bench or start if necessary. Given his support woth Stewart during his injury he probably has the respect of the players and is a good influence to have around the team.
Garcia is a good squad player - he's versatile, hard working and a well rounded player. I can't see him heavily featuring in our first team plans though.
totally agree. RG has the required experience along with AD from 3 years ago. Great sub to have and can play many positions. Did anyone else notice how RG was organising the kids at the end of the Millwall game especially when they had a corner.? Priceless experience and knowhow and a great guy. Cammy Stewart thinks very highly of him as well. Top Bloke Gar-ceeeeeee-A.
Agreed. I criticised his inclusion in the team in the PL, but purely in terms of him being played as a lone striker when he's not a striker. It's the same as playing Koren out wide and expecting him to be as involved as he is now he's in the middle (or at least switching around with the other 2 as the game goes on).
Garcia to start getting his coaching badges perhaps? I hear he's good at helping people settle down in the area. He would be great as a youth team coach or assistant manager.
According to Phil Brown, Garcia actually considers himself a striker. I wouldn't be that surprised to see him play there again at some point (though in our current system the wingers usually end up as strikers at some point, so it makes little difference)
So did ***an, somebody need to tell these players they're not playing school football where everybody gets to have the glory of being the number 9, they were only so good at it at school because the rest of the players weren't good enough to become professionals. To be fair to Garcia, if he fancies it then alongside somebody else he could have a go. I never want to see him up front on his own again though, he always ended up playing out wide when he did that anyway.
In fairness, we signed Garcia when we were desperate for wingers and because he played there for us for a whole year we fans were unlikely to accept that he was suddenly capable of being a striker. But I think he has some experience of playing there before playing for us, and NP played him there last season, and he was our best option up front striker pre-Stewart.
Garcia was a popular player when he was a winger, it was only when Brownie started playing him as a lone striker that he started getting grief.
right on the nail OLM, 4-5-1 made him look inept....that said, at the time PB managed to make everyone look inept.
I still didn't think he looked that bad, the formation was crap when we played with no strikers, but I didn't see Garce doing much wrong individually.
For me it was mainly the fact he spent most of his time on the wing even though he was the lone striker. It meant he went wide to cross it and there was nobody to cross to because we did it with one of the slowest midfields I've ever seen as well. What we needed was someone in the middle who could hold it up whilst the midfield caught up, and that was never going to be Garcia. I also thought our wide midfielders were pretty poor at generating anything so we could have done with playing Garcia on the wing. It just felt like a complete waste of him as a player, and it put him in the firing line from the usual numpties in the ground who don't appreciate when a player is being asked to perform an impossible (for them) task that they won't do very well.
