Another good one i think, Southend really wanted him back but expected him to sign for a championship club, Blackburn were heavily linked. Hopefully one more defender in now, to keep some of your hearts at a steady rate perhaps it should be an older head however i for one am excited by all the youth in the squad, roll on the start of the season!
Just looking at the Southend forum, they are gutted to have missed out on him. Our average outfield age is now 24. 11 first team players are under that age. Makes a difference from the Ronnie Jepson days what.
Just read there forums, must be a bloomin' good player for them to get so nasty and petty! Still, hopefully they enjoy Accrington.
just seen the shrimpers board, jeez they are not happy! been nice reading all the updates from members and thanks for the youtube vids harry.
For a central defender he doesn't mind scoring goals. [video=youtube;HxsZqROB4n8]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HxsZqROB4n8[/video]
I am as Peter Taylor would say 'Over the moon' with the signings that we have made so far. I feel that the 8 that we have bought in are very good and will improve our side. I think that it is brilliant that we are looking to the future as the average age of the team was increasing bit by bit so it is good to see it is coming down. I believe that this John Egan is a good signing. I don't know much about him but I had heard about him and did see that he was highly rated so it surprised me that he had been released as he had seemed to do well out on loan. Considering Blackburn were after him I think this is a coup to sign him as he is a talent and he seems to be a strong defender which is what we need. I felt that we needed a very good centre back and he seems to fit the bill and to add to that he had years on his side so that is even better. I think the signing of Luke Norris is a good signing as well. I know some people have doubts about him and think he may be a flop however he comes with good recommendations as fans at Brentford, Northampton and Dag & Red all feel that he has something to offer which is not something that I was hearing about German this time last year. If you look at his record it is not bad, considering this was his breakthrough season I think he did well. He may not have hit too many goals but it is not as if he is going to be first choice striker. He is someone with potential and I like. What would you rather a journeyman striker who is looking for his last big pay day or a 21 year old striker who played a lot of first team football in League Two last season and scored 9 goals as well as 1 goal for Brentford. I know which option I would go for. I think that he is the type of player who could only get better and I feel with Kedwell and Cody around him they could help him to improve, also our midfield is much better so he will have a lot of service when he plays as I feel we have better midfielders which will benefit the team massively. I think all we need now is a back up for full back and then we are done, Taylor has said that he is after another defender so I wouldn't be surprised if it was someone for full back as that is the position that we don't really have any cover for. I think then we will have a very good squad. I think we currently have the starting 11 but all we need is the extra cover for Fish as I think Loft will be able to cover for Martin so we are covered in that area of the team. I think Taylor has done well but the big job starts now as he needs to get all he can out of these players as we all know that they may have a lot of potential but it will take him time to make sure that they work well together as it is a much younger team so he needs to work hard to get the best out of all of these but I think he is the best man to do this considering he was England Under 21 manager so he should be good at getting the best out of young players. I am not worried that we have less strikers on our books, although we had Kedwell, Cody, Fagan, Bayo, German and Birchall at the club all at one time as well as loan players I think we are fine in this area of the team as I would expect that if he need any one else in this area that we will use the loan market through the season as and when we need players so I think Cody, Kedwell, Norris and German is fine. I am not sure what will happen with German but I feel Taylor may give him another chance as he seems to like to give young players a chance and he doesn't have anything to lose to give him another go. I just don't know what happened to German as he did seem good when he was in League Two on loan but he was very poor when he played last season. He is a player I feel that could become good, not amazing but good however he hasn't showed this. I think he will be given a chance as a back up and if he doesn't do well then he will go out on loan and then that will be when Taylor will bring someone else in on loan so that we have 4 strikers again and I think this is the number that we need. Also I think we will use some more of our youth players again as this is something I believe Taylor will plan to do this season so that is probably why we have bought in less than we let go of as we need to make sure that we look to the future and also make sure the size of the squad is not too high as the size of the squad did increase throughout the season. I think after the next signing if we need anyone else they will come in on loan as there is no point in signing any more extra players as I feel that we have adequate cover throughout the team. I am pretty excited about the coming season, although it may take time for this team to gel together I feel that we have a good blend of experience and youth as we have a spine of experience with Nelson, Legge, Barrett, Loft, Kedwell and Cody and they will work well with these younger players. Although it may take time I think that this team will play better football than the team we had last season as the main aspect of this team is the midfield and I feel this is a lot stronger as we have better passers of the ball as well as wingers who will make the runs so this will make the football better. Anyway I think Taylor deserves praise for what he has done but not too much yet as many people can bring in players but what he needs to do next is make sure he gets these players playing good football.
Agree with all that Hoady (sorry). Any player coming into a club can go worse than expected or better. Time will tell. The players PT has brought in all seem very highly rated at their previous clubs. Vale fans have ridiculed some of the players that have left them this season, but none of them have a bad word about Lofty. Brighton fans seem to regard Brennan Dickenson very highly. John Egan wasn't offered a contract at Sunderland, but he seems to be much in demand if the newspaper artivcles are correct. Pritchard, Norris & Morris are in the same vein. Jermaine McGlashen divides opinions, but like our own Myles Weston, we know he can deliver in spades on his day. So none of these signings are rejects. They are all young, hungry, skilful and most of them are said to be quick. We have lacked pace since we came up. Don't think we lack it now, plus we have true wingers on both sides of the field. I suspect we will be a lot more balanced this season, without players in the wrong positions or on the wrong side just to cover gaps.
Ran into my AFC Wimbledon mate last night who mentioned Aaron Morris, he was really gutted about that said he was quality for them in both defence and midfield. And no he's not one of the one's that rated Gregory, he said he's praying they don't get him back.
Jeez with the average age coming down im going to have to find something else to moan about...its such a hard life being a grumpy camel. Just proves me right all along...we built a team of pensioners after hessy departed...keep up the good work PT and AH...warning though im going to be watching closely on our own youngsters
Think some of our younger guys will struggle to make any breakthroughs with the people PT has brought in. People like, Millbank, Hare and McKain have just been put further down the pecking order than they already were. The only one who may be able to break through is Romeo.
It would be a shame if they did not get to breakthrough this season as I feel it is important for them to breakthrough this coming season. Joshua Hare is a player I rate highly, I feel that he is a big talent as well as Kane Haysman, he is the player I feel has a massive future, whenever I have seen him I have felt that it is about time he broke through to the team and he has still not got the chance to breakthrough. I would have though Taylor would be thinking about them though so it may only be a matter of time until they get their chance, just will be tough for people in midfield to get a chance, whereas I think upfront and in defence may be that bit easier to get a chance. But I just hope Haysman and Hare have a good pre-season as I would like to see them, I feel that they have something to offer partially Haysman who I think is our next star to come from the youth academy.
Some nutters on twitter have dug up another ex Gills player name as our potential signing. According to them we are going for Nosworthy. The imagination of some Gills fans is ridiculous
That one has been doing the rounds for a few weeks. I thought he was being courted by Brizzle City where he had a great loan spell last season. Their fans seem to want him back anyway. Doubt we could afford him to be honest.
Maybe at his age he might not want to uproot and move down to Bristol and would rather stay based in London and commute everyday the way he did when he was first here and Bayo did last year but to be honest I assume some people simply put 2 and 2 together as he is a free agent who used to play for us and we are looking for a experienced defender.
Latest name to be linked to us is Peter Clarke ex Huddersfield. Lee ( FOM) has put it on Twitter,but I can only find any reference on FR site http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Clarke_(footballer)
Ashley Miller is on trial at Brentford. I really hope this isn't going to be another Andrew Crofts scenario that we find on our hands.