Wind back a couple of years and me, as well as a few others, were saying week in week out that this kid was a real talent. Watching his ****loads of goals for Rovverham it was clear this was no lucky streak, he genuinely had it. He played how Soccer AM used to think Lee Trundle played, the difference being he did it nearly every week and he had an end product. Similarly Charlie Austin, anyone who saw him knew he was special. So in a long-winded way my point is why did it take so long for higher league managers to see it? Both were clearly not flash in the pans performing consistantly and available cheap as chips. Neither were a risk so why was it a snail's race to sign them?
Agree I have no idea. Was it 300 grand for alf?? You couldn't afford not too really. Our scouts looked atMclean and Austin and decided on McLean!! That's a sacking right there.
just saw le fondres 1st goal where he fell over in the six yard box and it seemed to go in off his face, just what we need, if your not in there you dont get them..
Le Fondre only wanted to move if it was to a club down south so basically ruled out half the teams that where probably interested in him. However i just wish we had decent scouts to find strikers, i think we may now with Bruce. I don't know how Scunny used to do it they always seemed to sign a striker who would bang them in for fun. Even this year they had Clarke.
He has always played in the north until Reading. Man U fan from Stockport so I don't he will of ruled out northern clubs.
City should get Wells from Bradford, he will be a star in a few years, we would prob only have him for few Season unless we made it to the premier league
We had a bid rejected for Austin. He then went to Burnley for £1.5m. I think we paid £1.3m for McLean.
People were also saying the same kind of things about several other players, names who now escape memory because they haven't gone on to make it. The ones that do make it are stuck in the mind because they're still on the scene. At the same time as Trundle there was his team mate Andy Morrell, not quite to the same Soccer AM hyped version, then there was Tubbs who I only remember because the name was a League of Gentleman character who was getting raved about. McIndoe as another. Stead. There'll be more, but like I say, the ones that end up being mediocre end up fading out of memory as ever being hyped in the first place.
Matt Tubbs is still knocking about, just heard him on the radio the other day, Bournemouth. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt_Tubbs
I know he did, I've got good links with Rovverham and I posted this fact on here many times. There are lots of clubs down south you know though, it doesn't detract from my point that it took ages for anyone to make a move for him. He was brilliant at Rovverham over a long period and available for peanuts yet nobody did anything.
I disagree that no-one did anything, there where at least 2/3 clubs interested in him. The problem is 9 out of 10 strikers who come from lower leagues fail, and those nine are those who have very little time there, i.e Vardy, Tubbs etc.... The one's that succeed are those who are given time to develop their game and come up a couple of division. Hence Le Fondre and Austin doing well. To be fair there where numerous people who said Austin was a failure to. I agree with your principal that people should look at the lower leagues, but you can't always take huge gambles as most of them don't pay off.
Le Fondre went to Reading for £350k - always felt he was worth a punt - not heard that he wanted a southern club though..certainly mega value for money compared to the £1.3m or so we 'wasted' on Mclean Oh for a fit Matty Fryatt - I suspect his worth has changed immeasurably for those that didn't rate him as a goalscorer last season.
Seem to remember Fryatt missing quite a few one on ones not long before he was injured, funny how his value has gone up since we haven't seen him playing.
I spoke to Steve Walsh about Austin and it came down to the fact we couldn't afford him at the time. That's what he said anyways.
I think we were sniffing about at the time but we were after a striker of real top quality and we couldn't really gamble. ....So we signed Beckford In all seriousness, ALF is a top pro. I like how he'll sit on the bench and not moan and always take his chance.
Wells will be the next Austin or Le Fondre for sure. he'll definitely be snapped up soon.. shame we arnt willing to take a chance on him.
Yes this Dwight Gayle seems like the next one (scored 7 in 9 while on loan). I bet they paid peanuts and if he keeps up his scoring rate they'll make millions. Too many people in football are short-sighted when it comes to potential and there's a bit of snobbery about looking down the leagues for future talent.
I agree to an extent and there is no doubt that there is talent in Leagues 1 & 2 but a team going for promotion has a lot more to lose if the signing doesn't work out
