Anyway, it's part of FA regulations that unless you're top five, you're not allowed a Brazilian and a Belgian in your squad. He's paving the way for Leandro.
I remember seeing his debut and it was mesmerising, his pace on the ball terrified the defenders. Of course, the defenders were not great and pace simply isn't enough in the top division. It was when he wasn't running that he got found out- insufficient skill on the ball to retain possession. I wish him well though. It's not as if we spent a fortune on him, and the wages will no doubt have increased with the promotions. He will get a good deal as a free agent and good luck to him.
He's a great fella, and I maintain he's got decent ability. He wasn't perfectly suited to our team and of course he's not quite EPL quality. I'll keep an eye out for whatever team he ends up at.
Did the fans really think De Ridder was that fantastic a player, or was it more they just thought he was fun to root for and enjoyed yelling "Steeeeeve?" It seems really stupid to me to somehow hold it against De Ridder that 1) the fans liked him, and 2) the fans don't like Guly. Anyway, seems like this is a good move for both sides. There was no place for De Ridder on the squad, and he was getting a little frustrated and unfortunately maybe a little too mouthy. I got nothing against the guy, and hope he does well wherever he lands. I still think he is probably at least a decent Championship player and it wouldn't surprise me if he eventually found his way to the Premier League, albeit with a lower-ranked side than we are or aspire to be.
Within hours Steve de Ridder has already found a new club(probably set up), FC Utrecht have announced that De Ridder has signed a three year contract with the club. FC Utrecht head of scouting Edwin de Kruijff says on the website that Utrecht wanted to sign the player for some time but they waited for the right moment. De Kruijff: "We wanted to sign him before he went to Southampton. But it didn't work out back then and later on he went to England. We still followed him closely and we today we grabbed the opportunity to sign him." Source: http://fcutrecht.nl/nieuws/actueel/6439/fc-utrecht-versterkt-zich-met-steve-de-ridder
Heh, I presume that "the right time" was after he'd be terminated here so that they wouldn't be negotiating off his old contract. Good luck to him; Utrecht is a pretty good landing spot considering that he was struggling to get playing time in the Championship with Bolton.
Haha bizarre moment where the most recently bumped threads were 'Steve De Ridder Released' and 'Steve De Ridder Signed', that prompted a brief double-take, 'He's back already?!'.
Fair play to these players for cutting their contracts to get regular football. Best wishes to Steve Cove, did you say in a previous article that Utrect have a difficult season ahead after losing players from last season due to financial issues?
Its even worse, news broke this week that the club is already down 5 million euro's, before the season even started. The club is in financial turmoil and has been for the past 5 years. A local millionaire has been funding the club, around 15 million or so to keep the club alive. He's now trying to get his money back and it's putting the club under high pressure again. Keep an eye on my blog as I will definitely post more on this in the near future.
Was just reading about him on Wikipedia and thinking... blimey, they've already updated the entry to include his release. I suppose I could update his entry to include his signing for FC Utrecht. Someone is probably doing it as I write this though. Best wishes to him.
