Malky was deemed surplus to requirements into his 30's and a lot of fans still consider that to be one of the worst decisions in recent times.
Iwan and Huckerby both got pretty severely dumped on, too.,Malky was deemed surplus to requirements into his 30's and a lot of fans still consider that to be one of the worst decisions in recent times.
Sorry Swedish, but I simply don't agree with this. We currently have five central midfielders: Tettey, Howson, Dorrans, Mulumbu and O'Neil.
Given that we almost always play with three central midfielders, it stands to reason that Johnson must have been at least second choice for one of those central midfield positions. Given that O'Neil was used less than Johnson last season and has been used less than Johnson this season, the implication is that Johnson is ahead of O'Neil, which makes it even more likely. The fact that Johnson was cover for left midfield also means he was a useful utility player in an emergency, also makes him more likely to be called upon than which every of those five above are the two on the bench.
Also, injuries happen. Form dips. The idea that our second highest goal scorer and the highest scoring midfielder in the Championship (I think that's right) would not be playing regularly is simply ludicrous.
I wonder if McNally's been on to the Marketing dept yet...
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Very gloomyI don't disagree with you at all, you are spot on we definitely have hard work to do and need patience, but my point was that surely we would be better served by having £6m players on the bench (and multiplying them) than cashing in?
What I think is that Alex Neil has done such an incredible job with us so far, and has built himself up a mountain of goodwill already, and because of this some folk refuse to question any decision he makes and just accept that it must be the right decision and for the right reasons
The only position that BJ has any chance of being second choice for is on the left side of central midfield. He has already been second choice for that position in recent games but we've got new midfield options arriving. My guess is that one of Brady or Jarvis will be utilised instead to give us more width on the left, and then you've also got Mulumbu coming into the side and Vadis back after a month. Basically we have a ton of options that are likely to push him down the pecking order before we even need to do comparisons with O'Neil. Sure he'd get some playing time, but the question is whether he would get £6m worth. He scored 15 goals last year but that has to be balanced against 6 in 96 PL games in the 3 years previous. Cue someone mentioning Hughton's tactics...!
Exactly what has happened with Andreu and Vadis - so why not Bradders?
The thick plottens!![]()
Because AN sees Vadis & Andreu as players who potentially have a future at the club and not Johnson. Also neither Vadis nor Andreu would raise 6m. It is quiet clear that AN didn't see Johnson as the key player this season that he was last season. With Johnson knowing this it makes perfect sense that he would want to go, particularly bearing in mind his age and a 4 year contract. Surely Derby must have a chance of going up this year and I don't doubt if they do his wages will go up as well. Maybe he preferred playing for a team challenging for promotion rather than potentially sitting on the bench or maybe not even making the squad for a team fighting to avoid relegation.
I wonder if McNally's been on to the Marketing dept yet...
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But if that's true then it all would have been known right at the beginning of the transfer window (or at least once Brady and Mulumbu had arrived). So why was it all so last minute? Why play him at all (starting one game and first sub in most of the others)? Just about every other signing except Jarvis and Johnson we heard about well advance, why did we not hear about them? Why replace your own, top form player on a relatively recently sign contract with a fading aged loanee (I'm being unfair slightly, Jarvis could well be a good signing)? Why on earth include him in your marketing material?!
Well Canario ([HASHTAG]#4450[/HASHTAG]), I look forward to seeing your answers to Rob's post ([HASHTAG]#4451[/HASHTAG])
None of this would have been an issue (for more than 24 hours) if plans had been made to identify and bring in a decent CB with the Johnson money. Many/ most fans still see this (central defence) as by far our weakest area.
So pardon my ignorance, but are we still allowed to loan in unattached players, for a month, 3 months or a full season? If so, and we can find a CB and use Bradders supposed £6m to cover their fees/wages, life will more quickly revert to some normality![]()
Best we sprinkle some 'invincible dust' on Bassong and Martin's shin-pads, then. Big trouble if we lose one of them for any period of time, with just sick-note Bennett as 'proper' back upShort term loans are possible for Football League Clubs but not for Premier League clubs, with one exception, if we get a goalkeeping crisis, then a short term loan for a keeper is allowed, otherwise we work with what we´ve got.

Best we sprinkle some 'invincible dust' on Bassong and Martin's shin-pads, then. Big trouble if we lose one of them for any period of time, with just sick-note Bennett as 'proper' back up![]()
Well Canario ([HASHTAG]#4450[/HASHTAG]), I look forward to seeing your answers to Rob's post ([HASHTAG]#4451[/HASHTAG])
None of this would have been an issue (for more than 24 hours) if plans had been made to identify and bring in a decent CB with the Johnson money. Many/ most fans still see this (central defence) as by far our weakest area.
So pardon my ignorance, but are we still allowed to loan in unattached players, for a month, 3 months or a full season? If so, and we can find a CB and use Bradders supposed £6m to cover their fees/wages, life will more quickly revert to some normality![]()