Camara goes to Greece

[Foxy]

Henri Camara's has joined Greek Superleague club Atromitos following his short-term contract at Bramall Lane.

The Senegalese International striker left Bramall Lane at the end of a season in which he undoubtedly showed his Premiership quality at times but, having joined United after the start of the campaign, his lack of a full pre-season preparation led to a string of injuries which saw him in and out of the side.

"It is not only wages that are important, fitness is, too. With clubs likely to operate with smaller squads a manager has to look at players who he knows are likely to be able to give him 35-40 games a season," said Kevin Blackwell, adding:
"We know from the injury problems we had last season that when players break down through long-standing injuries, or the lack of a proper pre-season, it leads to inconsistency and further demands on the budget to bring in loans."

Pity we didn't have him a few years earlier really. Would have been good to have him around, but not on big wages and injured all the time.

 

[Blade]

"It is not only wages that are important, fitness is, too. With clubs likely to operate with smaller squads a manager has to look at players who he knows are likely to be able to give him 35-40 games a season," said Kevin Blackwell.

Like Kyle Reid, Ryan France, Glen Little, Ched Evans, Jordan Stewart, Mark Yeates, James Harper. Signings made over the last year who struggled to make 35 - 40 games between them.

 

[Micalijo]

Like Kyle Reid, Ryan France, Glen Little, Ched Evans, Jordan Stewart, Mark Yeates, James Harper. Signings made over the last year who struggled to make 35 - 40 games between them.

How can you possibly say that Blade? Don't you know we got in the play-off final last May and that makes it virtually impossible to sign any decent players?

It's another in the long line of embarrassing attempts by Blackwell to hide is incompetence. Is he saying he signs playes with long-standing injuries? Has anyone any idea what he is saying?

 

[Jim Chimmerney]

It's another in the long line of embarrassing attempts by Blackwell to hide is incompetence. Is he saying he signs playes with long-standing injuries? Has anyone any idea what he is saying?

He is saying he needs to have a settled team with the majority of his 1st team making 35-40 appearances. Seems a perfectly fair comment to me.

If he'd got 40 games out of Williamson, Ward, Evans, Walker, Naysmith and Paddy last season we'd more than likely have made the play-offs at worst.

 

[Micalijo]

He is saying he needs to have a settled team with the majority of his 1st team making 35-40 appearances. Seems a perfectly fair comment to me.

If he'd got 40 games out of Williamson, Ward, Evans, Walker, Naysmith and Paddy last season we'd more than likely have made the play-offs at worst.

We're never going to agree on this but he knew about Naysmith and Kenny and signed the pathetic Bunn and a very weak Taylor. Willo is a crock and I don't think he likes Wardy. Evans is apparantly a development player. IT seems to me Blackwell makes a mistake, loads of mistakes and then tries to act as if he had nothing to do with the signing, training or selection of players. He is the bleedin manager!!!

 

[broomhillblade]

... I hear that Frankie's also gone to Hollywood.

 

[Jim Chimmerney]

We're never going to agree on this but he knew about Naysmith and Kenny and signed the pathetic Bunn and a very weak Taylor. Willo is a crock and I don't think he likes Wardy. Evans is apparantly a development player. IT seems to me Blackwell makes a mistake, loads of mistakes and then tries to act as if he had nothing to do with the signing, training or selection of players. He is the bleedin manager!!!

We'll never agree whilst you look at things through 'Anti-Blackwell' glasses, no !

 

[Micalijo]

We'll never agree whilst you look at things through 'Anti-Blackwell' glasses, no !

That's perfectly fair enough but do you think that I have even the slightest hint of a point when saying that he talks about things with a detachment suggesting that he had nowt to do with events of last summer and season?

 

[Jim Chimmerney]

That's perfectly fair enough but do you think that I have even the slightest hint of a point when saying that he talks about things with a detachment suggesting that he had nowt to do with events of last summer and season?

He does, but in this instance, he's spot on with his comments.

 

[JohnDenver]

Is this news? Most of us take a camera when we go to Greece.

**tumbleweed**

 

[Bladesman]

Good player when fully fit but way too costly to hang on to if he can only play a few games a season.

 

[Blade]

He does, but in this instance, he's spot on with his comments.

I don't have a problem with the comments it's more that it grates to hear those comments from this person given his previous transfer history since joining us. He is talking a good game, his statement is obvious and goes without saying, my problem is that in his time with us he has not shown that he's capable of doing this in any way whatsoever.

Since he joined as far as I can see he has signed 17 players on permanent contracts of which I would argue only a handful have met this criteria:

Player Games (sub apps)

Kyel Reid 0 (7)
Leigh Bromby 0 (0)
Andy Taylor 22 (4)
Ched Evans 21 (12)
Ryan France 3 (6)
Glen Little 7 (9)
Jordan Stewart 15 (8)
Richard Cresswell 20 (2)
Mark Yeates 11 (9)
James Harper 31 (3)

Sun Jihai 11 (1)
Darius Henderson 53 (11) (Over two seasons)
David Cotterill 20 (18)
Justin Haber 0
Brian Howard 25 (5)
Jamie Ward 32 (12) (over a season and a half).
Lee Williamson 14 (6)

Yes injuries/bad luck may have some part to play but not to the extent that you're struggling to pick more than a few players out of 17 that are likely to be suitable to play 35 - 40 games a season that Blackwell clearly feels is required. That is quite clearly an absymal record.

In fact the only players that we have in the squad that would fill this perfectly reasonable criteria are three that he didn't sign but that were here before him - Quinn, Morgan and Montgomery. The season before was exactly the same.

 

[Jim Chimmerney]

I don't have a problem with the comments it's more that it grates to hear those comments from this person given his previous transfer history since joining us. He is talking a good game, his statement is obvious and goes without saying, my problem is that in his time with us he has not shown that he's capable of doing this in any way whatsoever.

Since he joined as far as I can see he has signed 17 players on permanent contracts of which I would argue only a handful have met this criteria:

Player Games (sub apps)

Kyel Reid 0 (7)
Leigh Bromby 0 (0)
Andy Taylor 22 (4)
Ched Evans 21 (12)
Ryan France 3 (6)
Glen Little 7 (9)
Jordan Stewart 15 (8)
Richard Cresswell 20 (2)
Mark Yeates 11 (9)
James Harper 31 (3)

Sun Jihai 11 (1)
Darius Henderson 53 (11) (Over two seasons)
David Cotterill 20 (18)
Justin Haber 0
Brian Howard 25 (5)
Jamie Ward 32 (12) (over a season and a half).
Lee Williamson 14 (6)

Yes injuries/bad luck may have some part to play but not to the extent that you're struggling to pick more than a few players out of 17 that are likely to be suitable to play 35 - 40 games a season that Blackwell clearly feels is required. That is quite clearly an absymal record.

In fact the only players that we have in the squad that would fill this perfectly reasonable criteria are three that he didn't sign but that were here before him - Quinn, Morgan and Montgomery. The season before was exactly the same.

I agree it's easy to pick holes in his track record and he does seem to chop and change too much when things aren't going quite right but to repeat what I said earlier in the thread, leaving aside Paddy and Naysmith, with a full season last year from Williamson, Ward, Walker and Evans, it might have been a different story. One thing he has shown, i.e. end of his 1st season and for long periods the season before last, is that when he has a settled side, particularly in defence, he gets results.

 

[Micalijo]

I agree it's easy to pick holes in his track record and he does seem to chop and change too much when things aren't going quite right but to repeat what I said earlier in the thread, leaving aside Paddy and Naysmith, with a full season last year from Williamson, Ward, Walker and Evans, it might have been a different story. One thing he has shown, i.e. end of his 1st season and for long periods the season before last, is that when he has a settled side, particularly in defence, he gets results.

My mother could have got results with resources available to him in the periods you mention - and even then he made very hard work of it for most of 08/09. It's all very well having a settled side but Blackwell wants a settled side on a huge budget - only then has he any chance of success against better managers and as soon as anything goes wrong it dgeenrates into the farce we had last season.

He left Evans out on plenty of occassions when fit.

 

[Foxy]

So um, yeah, back to Henri Camara... I'm assuming this means old Giorgos Donis still keeps an eye on the Blades now and again?

 

[Jim Chimmerney]

My mother could have got results with resources available to him in the periods you mention - and even then he made very hard work of it for most of 08/09. It's all very well having a settled side but Blackwell wants a settled side on a huge budget - only then has he any chance of success against better managers and as soon as anything goes wrong it dgeenrates into the farce we had last season.

He left Evans out on plenty of occassions when fit.

The best unbeaten away run in the club's history, 3rd in the league, almost promoted automatically, hardly 'making very hard work of it for most of 08/09'

What exactly does 'Blackwell wants a settled side on a huge budget' mean ? Are there any managers out there who would rather spend money than not ??

Seems to me you're happy to slag him when he's getting it wrong but don't acknowledge when he's done well, or at least you acknowledge it through gritted teeth and say anyone could have done it.

 

[Micalijo]

The best unbeaten away run in the club's history, 3rd in the league, almost promoted automatically, hardly 'making very hard work of it for most of 08/09'

What exactly does 'Blackwell wants a settled side on a huge budget' mean ? Are there any managers out there who would rather spend money than not ??

Seems to me you're happy to slag him when he's getting it wrong but don't acknowledge when he's done well, or at least you acknowledge it through gritted teeth and say anyone could have done it.

It means he is totally incompetent unless he has a huge budget and a settled side. I should have said Blackwell needs a huge budget and a settled side rather than 'wants'. Of course all managers want money to spend and no injuries but it never happens like that. Take the money away, add a few injuries (which is the case for vast majority of CCC managers) and he is totally out of his depth. It means he is a pathetically bad manager. The tosser couldn't even deal with a ten day extension to the season caused by beating PNE - it buggered his whole transfer strategy up didn't it. We might as well pull out of the play-offs next time we get in em (which will be avery long time away) if it causes so many problems.

Yes you are correct, I don't see why he should get any significant credit for what he has done on massively generous CCC budgets.

 

[raul]

Better than his predecessor with even bigger budgets.

 

[Grecian2000]

Better than his predecessor with even bigger budgets.

Is being better than Bryan Robson what keeps the useless twat in a job?

 

[Micalijo]

Better than his predecessor with even bigger budgets.

Wow, Bob the Builder has found a better manager than Robson - what a great chairman he is.

 

[HoodedClaw]

"It is not only wages that are important, fitness is, too. With clubs likely to operate with smaller squads a manager has to look at players who he knows are likely to be able to give him 35-40 games a season," said Kevin Blackwell

Im curious as to how he will know who these players are?

Do we have some magic medical equipment that can predict the future?

Is he just going to ask the player?

If there is some magic method involved how come he hasnt used it before? I seem to recall plenty of Rotherham fans saying Williamson was a crock before we signed him.

 

[Oreyt]

Wow, Bob the Builder...

You see, any serious point you try to make gets completely lost on me as calling McCabe 'Bob The Builder' immediately makes you sound like a dick.

 

[Jim Chimmerney]

Im curious as to how he will know who these players are?

Do we have some magic medical equipment that can predict the future?

Is he just going to ask the player?

If there is some magic method involved how come he hasnt used it before? I seem to recall plenty of Rotherham fans saying Williamson was a crock before we signed him.

Williamson was just about an ever present in the two seasons prior to us signing him as was Jamie Ward.

Of course you can't guarantee people's fitness, Jags had missed about 1 game in the last 10 years before this season for example, these things happen. I can't see why people are using this comment as a stick to beat Blackwell with, it's common sense.

 

[Grecian2000]

I can't see why people are using this comment as a stick to beat Blackwell with, it's common sense.

As someone pointed out earlier in the thread, there were plenty of players that HE BROUGHT IN, that WEREN'T INJURED and yet got VERY FEW GAMES.
What he has said is common sense, what he actually did last year (and therefore some would think is more his style) was shit. I would suggest that is why some people read it and think "it's cobblers".

 

[raul]

You see, any serious point you try to make gets completely lost on me as calling McCabe 'Bob The Builder' immediately makes you sound like a dick.

Bang on the money there Oreyt. Big Mart's epithet "Superblade" is by far superior.

 

[Micalijo]

Bang on the money there Oreyt. Big Mart's epithet "Superblade" is by far superior.

I'm really offended now, and to make matters worse it wasn't even me who first called him Bob. Was it the Builder bit? Is a simple 'Bob' better?

It's Super for me from now on, or MegaBlade, or StratosphericBlade, or CosmicBlade.

 

[bladesman1889]

It means he is totally incompetent unless he has a huge budget and a settled side. I should have said Blackwell needs a huge budget and a settled side rather than 'wants'. Of course all managers want money to spend and no injuries but it never happens like that. Take the money away, add a few injuries (which is the case for vast majority of CCC managers) and he is totally out of his depth. It means he is a pathetically bad manager. The tosser couldn't even deal with a ten day extension to the season caused by beating PNE - it buggered his whole transfer strategy up didn't it. We might as well pull out of the play-offs next time we get in em (which will be avery long time away) if it causes so many problems.

Yes you are correct, I don't see why he should get any significant credit for what he has done on massively generous CCC budgets.

Massive CCC budgets? I think you'll find Robson had the biggest by a country mile but we were closer to relegation than the play-offs when he left. Blackwell's cost cutting began in his first full season with the sales of Beattie, Hulse, Tonge etc...we probably had about the 5th or 6th best team in the CCC the season we finished 3rd. Wolves, Birmingham, Cardiff and Reading all had better teams and bigger budgets.

 

[bladesman1889]

I seem to recall plenty of Rotherham fans saying Williamson was a crock before we signed him.

and I seem to recall none of them saying that????

Williamson hadn't had any real injury problems before he joined us, likewise Ward. Just bad luck, we didn't sign anybody with injury records apart from possibly Ryan France. But who cares about Ryan France :lol:

 

[Micalijo]

Massive CCC budgets? I think you'll find Robson had the biggest by a country mile but we were closer to relegation than the play-offs when he left. Blackwell's cost cutting began in his first full season with the sales of Beattie, Hulse, Tonge etc...we probably had about the 5th or 6th best team in the CCC the season we finished 3rd. Wolves, Birmingham, Cardiff and Reading all had better teams and bigger budgets.

Yes, massive budgets. Please refer to Super's comments at the recent forums about wage bills last season.

I'm almost certain that you are wrong about Wolves, Reading and Cardiff but can't prove it so we'll have to agree to disagree.

 

[alcoblade]

He left Evans out on plenty of occassions when fit.

That was because he was (playing?) shite.

UTB