Bristol city fan here, it was amazing to see caulks play againt man Utd on the weekend and the lad has come along way since his loan spell here, we could tell when we had him he was something special and still to this day we talk about replacing him in our defense, but now to see him play for you is great, I only caught the last bit of the man Utd game and im not sure how many games he's played for you (I did know he scored in Europe for you but it was disallowed) but are impressed with him? And is he living up to potential. If not we will have him back Good luck for the rest of the season
Also our fans have him down for future England captain, would be brilliant to see him play at international level
Cheer's that,he's really benefitted from going on loan, and sorry,you can't have him back now,he's going to be our next Ledley imo.
cheers Shiny. Yeah, he's looking top class. both he and Vertonghen have added so much strength to our Defence this season. Having Caulker back has been like having a new signing. Alot of us feel he could be our new Ledley King. Best of luck to City too. A lot my family are in your neck of the woods, one of which played for you guys for 9 years, so I've always wanted to see City do well.
Thanks mate, we're all excited about Caulks' potential, luckily for me I saw him before he went out on his first loan to Yeovil and impressed me then, so I've followed his progress from Yeovil, Bristol, Swansea and now his breakthrough with us. Saturday was actually his first league start for us, talk about being thrown in the deep end eh? He did get 45 minutes against QPR the week before and it was his header that caused Faurlin to score an own goal, also managed to clear a last ditch header in which Cisse would have buried had he not reached it. Definitely a future England player in my opinion, if he keeps improving and impressing then he's going to have a fantastic future, hopefully it's with us!
I just hope that he's not replaced by a big money signing. To me he reminds me a bit of Darren Caskey. What I mean by that is that Caskey was better than thought and wasn't given enough of a chance at Spurs and so left. I hope that doesn't happen to SC.
i think maybe under Harry that might have been the case. The signs from AVB are that he is willing to give them a shot. Caulker has seen some action as has Townsend and i expect a few others to see action in cups and maybe the odd bit of time in the prem too.
Yeah, alot of our fans have rated him for awhile, it was good to see him play against Lazio and then in our last 2 league matches. I remember hearing plenty of good things about Caulker while he was on loan with you guys but the one game Sky showed of yours towards the end of the season he had a bit of a clanger. Although so did most of your team to be fair. I'm surprised you guys haven't had more of our loanees since though as there's been a few different players going out to the Championship and doing well, perhaps the clubs didn't think the deal went as well as we did.
I've met Stephen once, nice lad, grounded with good attitude is what I got from our chat. He has 3 fine CB's in Kaboul, Gallas and JV to contend with but has risen to the challenge, rather than play every week at a Swansea (that worked out to be a fantastic move for his development) I can only applaud him for that, he is way past loans to lower divisions (don't wish that to sound harsh!) I have purposely left out Daws here, as I feel Caulks is more use to the club than him, controversial to some no doubt, but not how I see it.
As much as i love Daws i am in 100% agreement. He has more natural ability, potential and longevity at the club. He could become one of those "rolls royce" defenders that i love watching rather than the body-on-the-line defenders like Daws and Terry (who have their place but for me aren't as good to watch)
Cheers SCL Once again TMT you leave me completely and utterly baffled Caulker is nothing like Caskey I simply don't get that one at all Caulker has looked quality for a while and has given no indication that he's big-headed or whatever it you're accusing Caskey of, that I have no knowledge about anyway
Spot on Disciple,I'm saying that the situation is the same between the two players. I hope that Caulker is allowed to realize his full potential as Caskey wasn't allowed to do imo. OK GHoddle,it seems clear enough.
Ah right SD - but I never saw anything in Caskey compared to Caulker, so still don't get it, but understand the post anyway now
Yep got your comment now TMT, sorry for misunderstanding . But, I still don't get the comparison, I saw nothing in Caskey to compare him to Caulker, but each to their own, etc. Also there's no indication that the club are mistreating Caulker, so I don't get the call on that score either, but again fair enough, you're entitled to your view, especially given the less than brilliant treatment of some of our youngsters over the years . Had they sent Caulker out on loan again, then I would agree that alarm bells should ring on that score What happened to Caskey anyway?
GHoddle,I'm not accusing the club of mistreating Caulker or anything. He's a bloody good player as Caskey was but the latter wasn't given a chance because in my view he wasn't a big money signing. He went out on loan and then to Watford. He played 32 times in 4 years for us. I thought he was better than that. Now because Caulker isn't a big money signing I hoipe he's not replaced by somebody who is and I hope unlike Caskey that he gets a damned good chance to prove himself. I just see a comparison. No need to shove each other on the ignore list yet then?
I remember an interview that Caulker did with a Yeovil fanzine back when he first signed for them on loan and it struck me how humble he seemed and how thankful he was for the opportunity that they'd given him. Very much at odds with some of those that seem impatient and annoyed at being 'forced' to drop down a couple of divisions to learn their trade. Not many break through at centre-half so young at the top level and keep their head above water, so it's a great way to get to grips with the role. He went back to watch some of their games after his loan ended and talked about how it'd woken him up to some of the realities of the game off the pitch, where you've got journeymen struggling to pay mortgages and looking for contracts from year to year. A great motivator for him and I hope it'll help him to keep his feet on the ground as his career moves up a gear or two, playing in Europe, making the Olympic squad and being looked at for the full England team. Wasn't he with David James at Bristol City? I'm sure he mentioned playing alongside a very experienced defender there too, but I can't remember who. Time well spent.
