I have just re-read my post and there is not one comment in there to justify a reaction like this. In fact, your response is so dimwitted I almost clicked 'like' as it made me chuckle. But basically, you've just made yourself look a right tit and highlighted precisely why I rapidly lost interest in posting regularly.
Looking at our squad, I think as an absolute minimum we needed a centre back, a striker and a wide right sided midfielder. We look short on quality throughout the squad and are certainly over reliant on a few key players. Also to be still so reliant on Hoolahan to provide the creativity seems a pretty poor situation to have left ourselves in.
If Johnson is as brilliant as some of you make out then why didn't Premiership Clubs come in for him instead of a Championship side at the arse end of the table?I think we have got good money for a midfielder who was way down the pecking order. Jarvis is a decent experienced Premiership player who gives good cover in the wide areas. I am equally disappointed at not getting one or two more in but none of us know who they tried to get or what happened and perhaps we all need to take a deep breath before firing off at McNally. After all we can't force Clubs to sell players or force those players to come to us or stop bigger Clubs going in for the players we wanted. I suspect, for example, that we would have signed Walters today if Leicester and WBA not muddied the waters. In reality I do not accept that today's dealings have made our prospects any worse - in fact I think they have slightly improved - but whether it is enough to keep us up is another matter.
I'm not sure he was way down the pecking order, certainly hasn't been so far. It still seems an odd decision to me.
Well judging by the Grabban situation, we're not interested in selling to rivals. Who knows, Premier League clubs may have come in for Bradders? I think to suddenly start questioning him is quite harsh, he deservedly won player of the season last year and got 15 goals, he isn't a donkey. Way down the pecking order, he's featured in every game so far this season. A loss of form from another player, he would surely have been the next in line? Like I said, I don't have a problem with Gayle or Walters etc. they were out of our hands. I do however wish we identified a centre back earlier in the window but again we obviously tried.
I'm trying hard to not jump to conclusions, RBF, but the chaotic handling of negotiations today doesn't inspire faith and I'm left feeling that we'd have been better off had the window closed last night. We've lost Johnson and gained Jarvis on loan which may work out or may not, given the variable nature of loans. I felt a reasonable sense of certainty last night which I do not at all feel tonight. Like you I think our defence is 'paper thin' and nothing has been done to rectify that. One or two injuries could easily prove our undoing. We've got 5 strikers to cover one position and 6 defenders to cover 4 positions - that seems a bit like 'madness' to me.
I never suggested he was a donkey. As far as pecking order is concerned Jarvis, Bennett, Brady and Redmond cover the wide areas and it seems clear from what is happening that AN considered Johnson to be behind Howson, Dorrans, Tettey, Mulumbu and, possibly, O'Neill and the Belgian lad in centre midfield. Johnson might have appeared on 15 or so occasions but does that make him worth £6.5m? Put it the other way - would you have been happy if we had paid £6.5m for a new player who would only feature on 15 or so occasions? I really do think that a lot of the hysteria is misplaced.
After initially being quite gutted about Johnson leaving, I am slowly coming round to 1950s thinking on this.
With all due respect 1950, I think you're misunderstanding the reason for complaints about Johnson being sold. I don't think it's that anyone thinks he's a top half of the PL player - In fact most people accept he has shortcomings. But I don't see any evidence of him being on the fringes, rather he was one of the main substitutes and (as others have pointed out) probably the first name out of the hat if any midfielder gets injured. That sounds like an integral cog in the squad wheel to me. However, it's more to do with what Johnson represented - he was our vice captain! Our player of the season! When it comes to mucking down and getting dirty, which is needed sometimes, he was the perfect player for it. His passion was unquestionable in a way that his skill was in the balance. And given we've made it quite clear we won't or can't buy players of a higher skill level, I'd say that passion is probably just the thing that might make the difference. It's an odd sale, and £6m plus add one might seem good commercial sense for a player of his calibre, but is it good footballing sense for a player of his symbolism? It's actually not that different to Afobe or Stones - Wolves could legitimately have taken the £10m we offered and said "this is a good commercial deal". But they didn't. Some players are worth more than just their market value.
Very true Rob, and the passion and willingness to graft are hard to quantify, as they were when Grant Holt left. It's expecting a lot to get any similar passion and graft from players who are here on loan. I hope Wisdom and Jarvis can rise to that, but we never had to hope for it with BJ.
Are you looking at it from Johnson's point of view Rob? He must have realised that his name was no longer one of the first on the team sheet and at 28 thought it was time to move on. All of these things have to be taken into consideration especially as Mulumbu and the Belgian lad are now reaching full fitness.
I know you didn't call him a donkey. I don't think it's as simple as that. He may not have started the last 3 games, but if we were to change shape or bolster the midfield he probably would start. In other words he's another option. Not just that but he obviously have some influence in the dressing room and is clearly one of the leaders being vice captain. In today's money £6.5 million is not much, he's 28, which is prime, he's just come of the end of a 15 goal season from midfield and he's got Premier League experience. I think he's worth more to us than the £6.5 million we received for him.
Clearly he wasn't going to be an integral cog. We've got injuries and he's only on the subs bench. With Mulumbu, Olsson and Jarvis available, he probably wouldn't get playing time even as a sub. He knew that and it suited both club and player for him to move. Definitely the most unexpected news but £6m is a good bit of business in my eyes, and not the most worrying aspect of this transfer window.
What worries me most is how we have squandered the positive atmosphere at the club. Obviously I wasn't at Wembley, but even watching the game in Singapore I could feel the good vibes. I'm very much a glass-half-empty kind of person, but even I felt pretty confident that we would stay up, probably with some ease. That kind of togetherness between club, players and fans is priceless, and once it's gone it can't be wished back into existence. We've blown it. Now people are squabbling with each other on this thread, the optimism seems to have almost totally evaporated, it seems there are possible issues going on within and among the players, we are stuck with a petulant little arsehole of a player who AN seems to rate for some reason whilst better players are sent out on loan, and we have sold a player (BJ) who was very popular with most of the fans (I can personally see the logic of the sale for both club and player, but the sale is bound to be destructive of the general atmosphere of the club and fans). We have farted around in a too-clever-by-half sort of way and consequently have been made to look amateur compared to the other clubs. Our defence is one injury away from disaster and our attack looks fairly toothless, while there must be doubts that the fans will be willing to forgive Grabban. McNally has looked amateur in all this, and (I have to say this, although I know I will probably be skewered by most of you and patronised by Superman), maybe AN has, too.
Are we just making the assumption that the player morale / atmosphere is crumbling based on Redmond's "madness" tweet? Appreciate that Grabban's antics don't sit well but don't forget there was plenty of vitriol towards other players with previous 'want away' actions. AN has a decent record of repairing out of favour player attitudes. I can see Grabban and AN sorting this out and him becoming an integral part of the attack again. Separately, I can imagine Redmond's "madness" tweet was actually directed at the deluge of hysterical fans on twitter rather than club transfer activity.
Not a frquent poster here but this actually kinda sums up how i feel, from full of optomism to wondering a wee bit
Good luck Johnson, there isn't any room for sentiment in the game any more. A player we loved (certainly last season) has gone. He never set the PL alight last time around, and I think he just wants to play, and Derby have got a player who will graft and score goals at that level. Fair enough. Move on. Bournemouth next up. OTBC
