They can all be the best signings but until they play as a team they will not be worth complimenting since what we have seen is them playing in a different. environment. It is the pre season which will show how well they gel as a squad and the first three or four matches in anger will show who the star signing is. Apart from wanting to know that we have someone else in the CB department (whether that be a retained semedo or another signing) I think that CP has pulled together a squad which gives plenty of options. Yes it will be difficult for the opposition to double up on a good player when we have options elsewhere in the field or players on the bench that can alter the game plan. I beleive that is what CP is trying to do as well as bringing in players who will play the ball along the ground. Important to make certain that our keeper whether Sullivan or Elliot understand the need for intelligent distribution and also good to see that since Taylor can play in goal we may have even another option (in extremis). Tewkes has commented elsewhare that the optimism may be the death of us all. I havent felt this optimistic about a season for ten years. Bring it on (even if I am hoing to miss the Bournemouth match with family holidays)!!!!
Stephens will be a good signing for you I think. He's a classy player and very composed for his age but not sure he's an improvement on what we've got which is probably why we didn't sign him permanently. Good luck for the season!
The down side to the Jenkinson deal, though, is he'd be perfect to fit into this side at RB... had to be done but he was by far the best of the 3 last season.
Mike T - played cricket against Mark Penfold's side many years ago - absolutely delightful bloke. There were a lot of people in tears at The Valley when he broke his leg, me amongst them. SVC, that's a very good post but you ought to know that my comment about optimism was made very tongue in cheek. I simply can't wait for this season to start.
Think the key sign of the optimism is I'm actually looking forward to giving Reading a damn good game in the League Cup, which given our record in the League Cup and Powell making it clear that the league is the priority (quite rightly) is a bit weird!
Valley Redemption, I don't quite agree about Jenkinson, felt he was overrated really, his crossing was worse than both Francis' and Solly, and he was terrible in the air. Very very suprised we got such a high fee for him, didn't rate him at all myself. The signings which have excited me the most are probably Green and Alonso, (as well as Evina but I doubt he will feature much). I'm least excited about Hollands and Taylor, I don't recall seeing them play against us, but both seem pretty average for this level.
Agree about his aerial ability, but he was strong and a very impressive tackler, also supremely confident on the ball. Can't recall his crossing ability. Surprised you rate Taylor as average, he's been player of the year for Exeter for the last two years, and their defence totally shut us out at the Valley last year (that match still carries nightmares).
Anyone feel that the only reason we've been able to sign Green, Stephens, Wiggins and Taylor (round about £1.2m maybe??) because of the money we earnt from Jenkinson. (i.e. People said we only managed to sign BWP because of the Spurs money) Carlo might have done the indecent thing turning his back on us yet in the long run, selling one player has allowed us to maybe become one of the favourites for the title this season its funny what booing can apparantly do (and I'm one of the people who cant stand it). On a site note - 29 years old / Captain at Exeter for the last two seasons.... maybe in Paul Taylor we're looking at our new Captain next seaon, that is unless Dailly is still a first team regular in Powell'a plans
Valley Redemption, the reason I made that point about Taylor is that Exeter are a (perhaps below) average League One side, and his performance last season never leapt out at me. Remember Simon Francis was Southends player of the year when we signed him, with Southend and Exeter both being similar sized clubs. Not to mention Taylor is now 29, meaning he has reached his peak, yet has never played above League One level. According to the Exeter player profiles he is only 5'10, though this may not really be much of a problem if he has a decent leap, and he does seem pretty strong. I dont think (or perhaps rather - I hope) the money used to fund our recent spending spree was not solely coming from the Jenkinson transfer. Our signings have come in thick and fast (with a CB - the problem area - only coming in last night), not really the behaviour of a club with very little to spend. I would assume the transfers have instead been funded by the (super-duper rich, lets hope) board.
WWOCB... that point doesn't really work, though, because Exeter finished 8th last year and were punching above their weight because of players like Taylor... the argument more applies to Green who, like Francis and Macca, was part of a team that went down. That said, I'm excited about Green, but just because Exeter are a traditionally small team doesn't mean they're below-average for L1 at the moment (as we were last year!!)
Tewkes I recognise the tongue in cheek but optimism is often the precursor to pain. I don't think it will be this season either (pure unadulterated optimism) but like every supporter will take the pain (pre planned pessimism)and still turn out to the next home game. The mind is a great thing and I'm certain no leading psychiatrist has carried out research on the true nature of a Charlton supporter. The fact that we are all on here regularly (reading or posting) shows that none of us can wait until the first game.
Damnit Valley Redemption you beat me to that post about the differences between Exeter's eeason last year and Southend's the year before This newbie is gonna have to learn to be a bit quicker
Fair enough Valley Redemption, I thought Exeter finished high simply because they played well as a team and had a decent manager (similar to Bournemouth), but admittedly I know very little about Exeter (and to be honest when I heard we were after Matt Taylor my response was who?). But having read from another poster who watches Exeter play a fair bit, I'll keep my trap shut and give him a chance
