January transfer window round up – a realist view!

A surprise January signing
Not one of us fans had the foggiest idea with regards to our club’s plans for this January transfer window.

Alan Pardew went and told us that we were signing a defender and that was all we knew. So what happened?

Lets be honest, we were expecting to lose one of our key players for big bucks – someone like Cheik Tiote or Tim Krul – players that keep us ticking along. On these blogs some of us even convinced ourselves that we could maintain our current course without them, some of us even had faith that they would be immediately replaced, some had nothing but concern for what January may have in store, and with Tiote being the name that is continuously linked away it was he who was at the centre of most of the speculation.

For me, Tiote is key to our play. He is our glue in that he holds us together. He’s a machine that swallows up the opposition and gives us real thrust and bite. Replacing him would be much harder than some think – just look around – how many other sides have a player anything like him? Priceless.

What we did not expect was the news that Demba Ba has a release clause in his contract – so kindly broken to the press by a bloke who has nothing to do with us – Harry Redknapp. NUFC did not move to deny that rumour and now we find ourselves with the very real prospect of our best striker since Alan Shearer leaving this summer on the cheap – unless we can get him signed up on new improved terms.

Meanwhile, whilst we all battled through the perennial links to defender after defender, we find the club moved lightning fast and completely unexpectedly to secure the services of Ba’s International teammate and Bundesliga goal machine Papiss Demba Cisse! A striker with an increasingly fearsome reputation spreading across the continent. Good work team! That leaves us all standing to attention and applauding the club’s hierarchy and we start talking realistically about challenging Liverpool and Arsenal for that spot in the Europa League next season.

Not out of the question after all, since we lost Steven Taylor to his nasty achilles injury in December it was obvious that Alan Pardew and his staff, backed by Derek Llambias, would be getting a central defender in at some point – so once that signing is made we are sorted – and with extra fire power up front to boot! Excellent.

So the final days and hours crept up on us and we sat gawping at Sky Sports News and News Now waiting for an image of our new defender to appear outside St James’ Park. We waited and waited and waited. Meanwhile, Leon Best had been given permission to talk to Celtic. What?! With Peter Lovenkrands off on a free in the summer and clearly not fancied at present by Alan Pardew, why on earth would we ship Leon Best out? Just when we are looking like having a bit of quality in depth up front we go and try to blow it! Whatever your opinion is on Shola Ameobi, nothing can hide the fact that he has scored once this season and is looking less mobile with every minute he spends on the pitch.

Getting rid of Best, whilst losing Lovenkrands this summer would leave us with only three recognised forwards for next season – with the two Demba’s off to the African Cup of Nations again at the beginning of 2013. Even if we signed somebody, that would still leave us with the very real prospect of having to rely on Shola for a good month next season. Not a wise move allowing Best to go at all. He’s cheap and reasonably effective, what have we got to gain by letting him go?

In the end he chose to stay and I for one am very grateful for that. So then, the days and hours have blended into the passages of time and we are still sat staring at the TV screens for some news – any news – about a defender coming in, whilst small beads of sweat trickle down our nervous little foreheads. Some debate ensues about Watford stopper Adrian Mariappa’s ability to come in to our squad and do a good job, not that it mattered – as that move came to nothing anyway.

Luckily for us, the window slammed shut with Newcastle United having lost nobody of note except James Tavernier and the fallen star that is Alan Smith on loan. In the end, that alone makes it a decent window for us, especially with the extra fire power up front. However I sit here absolutely aghast that with all the time the powers that be at our club had, they failed to make the most important and vital transfer deal this January – signing a good quality central defender.

I understand the argument regarding not being fleeced by selling clubs and being patient for the right deal, but lets stop being all cotton candy and glass half full for a minute. If we were really going to challenge Arsenal or Liverpool for 5th place then we needed a defender. We had time to scout a fair number of suitable candidates that would have been available at the right price for both NUFC and the seller.We had more than enough time to get a deal over the line.

Now we are left with Mike Williamson and Fabricio Coloccini being the only two fit recognised central defenders at our club and if the latter in particular gets injured we are in trouble. Refer to the Norwich game for an example. I don’t buy this James Perch can do a good job when needed guff. I take my hat off to the lad, he is doing a fantastic job coming on as a defensive midfielder and I believe Alan Pardew has finally found the lad a role he can excel in here – but on almost every occasion he has represented us in the back four we have looked ropey and exposed.

We know Pardew does not like Kadar as a player. He has been fit for a couple of months now and played well for the reserves, but has been overlooked every time an opportunity came up in the back line, so that is not going to change. Don’t get me wrong, we are having an excellent season and if we stay injury free our players could be strutting their stuff in Europe next season. However, I’m only too aware of how fast heads begin to drop when we get a bad result or two thanks to square pegs being put in round holes when injuries strike.

I for one am delighted that we kept our best players and signed a goal machine, but it can only be seen as a huge failure to have not secured adequate cover for central defence going into the toughest period of the footballing calendar. If we qualify for Europe, our key players are more likely to want to stay whilst we are in a much stronger position to attract good footballers to the club in the summer. Add to that the exposure to new audiences and potential future revenue that brings into the club and it has to be concluded that we have taken a huge gamble by not securing that defender.

Lets just hope that gamble pays off…

About Shamrock

Like everyone here, support Newcastle United. Not the easiest side to feel good about at times, but it's our side!

114 thoughts on “January transfer window round up – a realist view!

  1. I think whilst I agree Tiote MUST NOT be sold we should be assessing our season not only on the indispensables, but the squad players. They are just as important to us being where we are.

    What is particuarly impressive is that we have done most the season without featuring: Ben Arfa, Santon, Marveaux sort of Cisse.
    Added to that we haven’t had Saylor since November and Cheick himself has missed a whopping 9/10 games for us this season. So huge props to the likes of Raylor, Guthrie etc for helping get us here. it’s scary to think what we would be like with a full strength line up, bring on the rest of the season 😈

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  2. Excellent article.

    I like the Tiote bit ” a machine that swallows up the opposition” because it’s true lol.

    We are taking a gamble defender wise but I think it’ll be a gamble worth taking as opposed to buying in someone who might only be as good as what we can put in as back up.

    Even bringing in a decent defender there is no guarantee that he would hit the ground running, so either way I think it would be a gamble for a run in.

    At least we know what we have and have seen enough players, one of who can cover if desperate.

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  3. Lets hope indeed. It’s a tough call to get a central defender of quality in during the summer window. Immediate pressure to perform and any mistake might cost a match so their reputation is vulnerable. Even if they do well they would probably on the bench when we had a fit Stayls and Collo. Damned if you do damned if you dont. At least being out of the cups at this point means we dont have any other games and we can concentrate on the league. Next season if we do manage to play in Europe there will be more attraction for players to come here and we might get the right deal.

    I also think Ashley is a big believer in “It’s better to make no deal than a bad deal” and thats why no one came in. When a contract can go for years and years and end up costing 20,30 or 40 grand a week a bad decision can be costly for a long time.

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  4. spot on shamrock,thought even a defender on loan,would have done.Hope it doesnt haunt us later on in the season,i also have to agree with you on best,i think hes a great player to have in the squad,and one we definately should hold on to.i mentioned on another thread ,that i think the one thing this transfer window revealed, is that,maybe the so called bigger clubs,are more worried about this new eufa rule than most people thought.as im sure man city,and man u would have splashed a bit cash,to have an advantage over each other for the title,and spurs and especially chelsea would have spent to secure a champions league spot,lets hope this is the way forward for football

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  5. How are the Dembas away to the ACN in 2013?

    The competition is biannual so it’ll not be until 2014 they’re away. Thankfully.

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  6. I think we have already been working during Jan to secure some quality signings for summer wouldn’t be surprised to see some through the door as soon as the window opens. A good quality centre back may not be needed by summer as Taylor will be back and if we can tie down Collo then fantastic. A good quality left wing to give Jonas some competition and left back and right back and I reckon we would be comfortable next season. Need to tie down our first teamers to longer deals that should be the priority!!!

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  7. You can’t argue with the points your making.

    It is such a huge gamble with the success of our season not getting another defender in. We just have to keep our fingers crossed our defence stays healthy.

    Cheers for the article. 🙂

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  8. GeordieDan…ACoN is being held next year, then back to every 2 years after that, it’s being done to avoid it clashing with the World Cup.

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  9. Good read….ref Best, my reading of it is that he doesn’t figure in Pards long term plans so when a big club, and Celtic are despite what we may think of the Scottish league asked about Best the club did the right thing and gave the lad the option.

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  10. Shamrock very good read mate and a lot of good points covered.
    I agree getting Cisse in was a good move, holding on to our best players was very important. But not getting the defender in that we needed was a massive gamble and one that we shouldn’t take. My Idea is that to be a top team its very important that we keep adding quality to the quality that we allready have but imo even more important is if there is a gaping hole you have to fill it straight away, as you said if we were to lose Colo I honestly think we will be fuked, and yesterdays game showed just how easy you can loss a player to injury.
    Also spot on about them being prepared to risk only having 2 strikers at the club which is criminal too,

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  11. @shamrock , woop woop ;-). At last realism honesty grounded points a pleasure to read , you should write more posts .
    The club have taken a gamble when they could have seized the moment , finance comeing before ambition yet again and that is what the fans hate .
    Things are good at the moment but without colo for 10 games how would we fare .
    There are two sides to every argument and you made that one very well indeed .
    I see it as another failure by the regime and I’m sure many agree .

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  12. Richie @ 13 I agree with you about Best but there was no way we could have replaced him in a few hours, we should have someone lined up ready before we accepted Celtics offer

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  13. It was very disappointing-and pretty illogical not to bring in a defender. We’ve needed one for god knows how long. Anyway the striker was pretty unexpected, and by hanging on to our good players you really could say it was a “successful” window. Although that also shows the way in which Ashley has lowered or destroyed expectations with his actions…meh. Anyway fingers crossed we keep everyone and especially tiote/our backline healthy, or we’ll be playing three at the back soon enough.. 😆

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  14. I think it would be stupid just to buy some1 in a panic,so we did not get a defender,they made offers and i guess when they value a player its probably carr telling them how much a players worth,to pay over the odds for some1 who was prob 5th or 6th choice would be total stupity

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  15. Dave…Agree but the club probably thought that even with Best gone, we still have 4 Strikers with Lovenkrands back, although I’d put Best before him and Fallova Ameobi 😕

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  16. Ice-Aye 😕

    What get’s me with the whole panic buy is-couldn’t we at least have identified a defender prospect? Surely Carr’s seen someone of decent value and prospect over the place-even if we only brought in a youngster it would have been something-seing as Kadar is never going to get a match apparently. Maybe Perch can do a job. What the hell do we do if both Colo and Willo are crocked though…. 😐

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  17. Interesting comment from Pardew in today’s Journal.

    “I am really pleased because it’s a big investment for the club.

    “While Mike [Ashley] sanctioned it and Mike is the owner and [managing director] Derek [Llambias] had to see the deal through, it’s fans’ money.

    “I have got to spend fans’ money here – if we don’t get anyone coming into the stadium, we haven’t got any money, so I like to spend it well.

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  18. Hitman-I thought that…was wondering whether that implied it wasn’t the Caroll money, it was an advance on our years profit/the next player sold…or maybe Pardew just didn’t want to mention that lanky gyppo :mrgreen:

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  19. @newkie , yeh that’s the words “destroyed lowered ”
    @toonarmyelite , what is stupid is a prem club having 2 ch and two strikers with no replacements lined up 😆

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  20. TAE why would they have to buy a defender in a panic ??? and why would we buy a 5th or 6th choice defender that would be stupid when we need 1 for our 1st 11

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  21. How is it the fans money?
    Sky,Sponsors,Merchandise,Money generated from selling players and slashing the wage bill as well as packing out the stadium 🙄

    I avoid reading any Pardew or club comments much these days-spin.

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  22. TAE I don’t know because it’s not my job but how many teams are going to sell a top striker in the Jan window ??.
    I can think of one from the prem Samba if they offered proper money b/burn would have had no choice

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  23. the thing is i belive jabba has set out to allow 8/10 mill per window will be same in the summer if pardew spends it on one player its tough **** get on with it that is unless he sells one of our stars pardew might get a slice of it on top imo 🙁

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  24. The way I look at it the club make their valuation of a player and they stick to it. They dont go over board. Prime example is Cisse , in the Summer window it was £13million price tag ( if not more depending where you read it ) but we didnt budge and we got him for £9million ( again more depending on where you read it from ) , I think its a good policy , the club dont panic. In regards to future transfers windows I dunno where we will go to improve. Depends if we got European football or not. I would be a bit worried if we got europen football for next season. I dont think we could handle the amount of games in the europa league with the squad we have. Think we would need to add 4-6 good quality players to compete on all fronts and I couldnt see us bringing that amount of players for the money it would cost.

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  25. Think we have a decent CB lined up for summer move, hence not wanting to splash out a few mil on someone who prob isn’t that much better than perch in that position and then sit in the reserves waiting for a couple of CBs to get injured for a game
    What’s happening with collos contract, thought his people were negotiating last week – doesn’t bode well

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  26. Tae so you think they would have turned a good offer down even though he has made it crystal clear he doesn’t want to stay ?
    IMO he was for sale and im sure there was other top quality defenders for sale.
    It could be that there was no Frees, bargain basements, end of contracts or buy out clause defenders in the Jan window 😆

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  27. Whilst it is a gamble…holding your nerve & sticking to the plan / transfer policy will prove to be the right decision in the longer term!

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  28. Big Dave – reckon keen has told owners that if samba goes they def will be relegated, pointless having 7-8 million in the bank now if you lose 30-40 through relegation – keen has consistently said samba was going nowhere in January

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  29. Stevep what makes you think that ? because we didn’t buy one this window ?
    and im sure no one really wants to splash a few mill on a defender but if you need one you have to do it, and it was pretty obvious we needed one everyone even Jabba himsel knew we needed one. but we didn’t get one and that is a very big risk.
    Its ok gambling in aspers or some other casino but they shouldn’t be gambling with our standings in the prem

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  30. Witters as above they shouldn’t gamble on our prem standings, but you are right the gamble could pay off. but as I said if it doesn’t we’re fuked

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  31. BIG DAVE
    i feel the club and the player both dug holes for themselfs,he could be the difference between staying in the prem with him to geting relegated with out him,i dont think the club would of sold even if we had bid the 15 mil mate 😀 ICEDOG ive seen his sort before ussally geting escoted back to rule 43 lmao 😆

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  32. Big Dave is spending millions of pounds on a player who may not be good enough not gambling the clubs future as well?

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  33. Stevep @ 37 I dont think Keen as that much influence at Blackburn , Keith Andrews came out and said he doesnt even pick the team ( or to a similar effect )

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  34. Dave…I wouldn’t say we’re fooked if Collo but it would be struggle fo sho!

    It’s likely that we’d still finish top ten as per this seasons target tho I suspect the mackems might finish above us! 😈

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  35. Johno a quality player will normally be good enough, and a quality player wouldn’t be that big of gamble, but buying a player from the championship etc would be a big gamble and surprise surprise the club allready tried to gamble on a championship player

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  36. Yeah it is Icedog , Keen is out of his depth and not good enough but if I was him I wouldnt quit til I got a nice big pay off from the chicken farmers 😆

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  37. The point is, it would and should not have been a ‘panic buy’. They will have already had probably in excess of 10 defenders scouted numerous times previously. Of those, they had six weeks to talk to clubs and identify who would be realistic to go in for. All they had to do was negotiate a fair price and get a deal over the line. No panic buys required. They knew for an absolute age they were light in that deartment. Even when Steven Taylor was fit, we we still only had 3 recognised CB’S! Spending millions on a plyer that might not be good enough? Could we not make the same mistake in the summer? Is that not what good reserach and scouting is for? They had time to get it right – end of story.

    The fact Pardew more or less promised a central defence signing showed that it is important to this team’s chances, yet it did not happen.

    If we still manage to qualify for Europe, we’ll keep our best players easier and sign some good players, but if we dont we may well end up taking a step backwards next season by losing good players and not being able to attract players of the same quality.

    Our team/squad is doing really well and they are making us proud. If we had signed that defender they would have been safeguarded and our future would have been too. Now it’s left to chance. Bizarre… 😯

    Oh, cheers for the comments guys – much appreciated 😀

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  38. I think AP said that the Cisse money was put aside fo a striker in the summer, and when it wasn’t spent then was still available this transfer window. I’m assuming that the same applies with a defender this winter £10m available, but nobody being sold so cash held over for the summer.
    i think the fans money is a dig at the City & Chelseas of this world who are spending the owners money.

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  39. I do get what your saying Big Dave and I do agree with what your saying we really needed cover at the back but I do think its good the club take their time and try their best to get value for money in the transfer market. They are ( in my opinion ) safe guarding the clubs future by not wasting money for the sake of it.

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  40. Many salient points well expressed, however, and there is always a however, I found the article to be unconvincing because of its imbalance. the fact is that we didn’t lose anyone of crown jewels and even added to them with Cisse. We offloaded Alan Smith ( Thanks Smudge for all your efforts) and we coped well with the absentees for the African Cup of Nations. Failures :- we kept Shola and didn’t sign a centre back. We knew we wanted a centre back but didn’t sign one because of a) the right player was not available b) the price was extortionate c) the club did not want to sell. I am sure that given the speed that Cisse arrived at coupled with the arrivals in the summer it would be a false premise to suggest that the club had been inept in their search for a centre back or in the newly found expertise in conducting transfers. I would also offer the fact that given a strong chance of Europe next season MA decided to hedge his bets and spend bigger in the close season when its done than buy a lesser player now. Balance is all – it is hardly the biggest disaster under the sun- we didn’t waste millions and whilst we might be shy in one or two departments its amazing what necessity will bring out of the bag – Perch? Raylor?

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  41. A bit of a negative view that article in my opinion, when we sold AC last Jan without getting in a replacement didnt everybody shout relegation? Did that happen? Team spirit have brought us so far and team spirit will be the deciding factor whether we get that 5th/4th spot not another defender. Im amazed how we have lost keyplayer after keyplayer and AP brings in players most of us had written off and dreaded seing in our lineup, only for them to play out of their skin and make us all proud, refer to Raylor, Guthrie and most recently Perch and in my opinion Obertan in the last two games.

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  42. we needed a defender brought in , in the jan transfer window, even wor lass knew that, so why didnt the people who run the club?? just have to read everyones comments on this page, to relise how much WE care about our club. yes the Papiss deal came as a shock, but they should of still got the defender we need.

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  43. SHAMROCK – Fantastic read mate! Thoroughly enjoyed it. I also agree that it is a risk for us to head into the latter stages of the season with little defensive cover. However, as you know by now, I do feel that we can get by and still qualify for Europe in some style.

    Should that happen and we then sign a CB with real quality in the summer we all owe a great debt of gratitude to both AP and MA for not signing Mariappa at what would have been the wrong price for the club.

    For me, the fact that we have been in ‘need’ of a CB for over well over a year and yet we have only required Perch to provide cover in a handful of games is clear proof that we can get by until the end of the season. We are riding our luck in the sense that one injury could put us in trouble, but I do think it’s a gamble worth taking.

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  44. VALLE @57 – Good shout. I too believe it’s team spirit above anything else that has got us to where we are. I also believe that if things came to the worst and we lost a CB, our team spirit would still be enough to get us by. I have complete and utter faith in the lads.

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  45. Funny that Trebleb – Because I mentioned pretty much all of what you just said in the article, so don’t get how you think it’s unbalanced?

    However, you just nailed it for me. Ashley decided to ‘hedge his bets.’ Nothing like a bit of planning ahead to ensure success eh? Strong chance of European football means saving your money until the summer? We are competing for one spot with Liverpool and Arsenal – who have bigger squads than us. I promise you an injury to Willo or Colo will NOT be masked Perch.

    He and Raylor have been great in different positions this season, no question – but there is NOBODY in our squad capable of doing a good job at CB aside from the two already mentioned and the injured Steven Taylor.

    If that CB had been signed, there would be no need to ‘hedge our bets’ – as the squad and manager will have done the rest and seen us through….

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  46. We had a £10m budget for January and spent it on Cisse.

    We could have spent that money on a defender or we could have bought a forward and a defender for a combined total of £10m.

    I’m happy with Cisse.

    If we have another £10m budget for the next window then there will be a good number of defenders available to go for.

    Take a scenario where both Colo and Simpson refuse new contracts. We can sell them both for a combined total of about £12m. Add that to the budget and we have £ 22m.

    What does that buy us? Well we could start with Vertonghen, Yanga-Mbiwa and Pieters for the defence and Vossen to have in reserve as a striker ready to play for us when Ba and Cisse are away at ACON.
    y

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  47. dos any1 think shola would be able to play cb if push came to shove and we lost a defender ❓ 😀

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  48. Shola in defence would set a record for the number of penalties conceded by one player in a match.

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  49. Gary – I hope we do qualify. Be a shame not to considering the hard work the team has put in to get us where we are and a kick in the balls for them. However, so dont agree with your 2nd paragraph there, we wont owe any gratitude to Llambias! He would deserve a proverbial slap for putting us through an unneccessary rollercoaster! Hehe :mrgreen:

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  50. It seems that a lot of fans are prepared to let Jabba gamble on our final position in the prem, but dont want to see him gamble on the defender we needed.
    Pards said > “I don’t think I need to strengthen my hand.” ”I think you would be surprised – Mike and Derek are probably more keen to bring in a central defender than I am, so don’t worry about that.”
    So should we have worried ??

    Gary > Should that happen and we then sign a CB with real quality in the summer we all owe a great debt of gratitude to both AP and MA for not signing Mariappa at what would have been the wrong price for the club.
    there wasn’t many of us that wanted to gamble on a championship player, if I can remember right most said that they wanted a proven quality player. 😉

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  51. 😉 ”I think you would be surprised – Mike and Derek are probably more keen to bring in a central defender than I am, so don’t worry about that.”
    😆

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  52. Dave said…..It seems that a lot of fans are prepared to let Jabba gamble on our final position in the prem, but dont want to see him gamble on the defender we needed.

    As Jim Bowen would say…’that’s the gamble’ altho he usually said it after they lost a speedboat!!

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  53. I’m not sure if we owe credit to Ashley for being lucky if our defenders hold out…still I suppose we’ll have to wait for our final league position. Can’t imagine many would be happy if the scum beat us to europe for instance..

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  54. Nice article Shamrock

    I think the Jan window was always about getting in players to cover injuries or players that the squad is missing. The summer window was always about getting the main deals done.
    So by that token, our Jan window was a disappointment. We needed a striker, and by the looks of it we have managed to get a very good one in, but that was fortunate in the sense that having bought another striker, Freiburg were prepared to sell – that said, the board did very well to get the deal sorted.
    But the truth is, we are treading a very fine line at CB. I dont think that Mariappa was the answer and from Pardews comments I don’t think he was convinced either tbh.
    Clearly we couldn’t by the CB we wanted in Jan but I think we really should have tried to loan one for the rest of the season.
    Having not got anyone in, I was a bit surprise to see Tav going out on loan again.

    Now it’s time for me to eat a rather large slice of humble pie. I have been very critical of Perch so far this season, however over the last 3 games he has really shown what he is capable of, and whether it be cover for CB or DMF I am lot more confident that he can prove a good level of cover.
    I think it’s fair to sum up our transfer activity as many of my teachers described my academic achievements – “not bad, but could do better”
    🙄

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  55. Refs giving Liverpool benefit of the doubt on almost everything here – perceived big 4 get a lot of help from refs this season

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