Higdon.

[Hague Blade]

It's September 1st. He does nothing all his life but train and play football yet we are awaiting him to reach a level of fitness that means he can perform in Division 3.
What's made him this unfit, Malaria?

Grecian2000 I'd give this a thousand likes if I could. All this 'he hasn't had a pre-season' really boils my piss. He's a bloody professional footballer - he shouldn't have spent the summer on the ale even if he was between clubs. We're almost a month into the season and we're still waiting for people to get fit - it's a joke. It's their job to be fit, FFS.

 

[LSF]

Don't take this the wrong way,but i completely disagree with this.Me personally have played with a lot better players than Porter and Monty on a Saturday in the County senior,and Sunday in the Meadowhall league,why they have slipped through the net,just shows how stringent the process is.

Now come on Wiz, why would I take this the wrong way?

Having played at the levels you state and a bit higher (a long time ago albeit), I must ask the question, how would you know if these aforementioned players are better than CP or NM, if you only played with them at that level? How would these players have looked if put into a Championship team?

 

[Darthblade]

Don't think I would put Doyle in that list he's done well from the middle of last season to the present and would first on the team sheet at the moment.
I read that he could be out on loan surely it must be a miss print

Doyle has improved a little from the start of last season but ..... first on the team sheet !!!!?????
Good lord no .....
UTB & FTP

 

[madeinsheffield]

If he was between clubs, he should have made more effort, let's hope he's stopping after training doing extra during the break.

 

[Greenwich Blade]

Cricket probably acts as a better measure of the gulf between pro and amateur.

I played cricket to a reasonable level in my younger days but never considered myself anything like good enough to make it as a pro. When I played for Sheffield Bankers Juniors we were in the same league as Collegiate whose side was made up of Sheffield Schools and Yorkshire Schools cricketers. It was obvious that they were a class apart from us, although modesty cannot prevent me from saying I once took 55 not out off them. We also beat them one season, but it was a case of conditions in our favour, you know, downhill with the wind behind us. Anyway, no-one from that Collegiate team went on to do anything professionally.

Then when I was promoted to the 2nd XI in the Sheffield and District League, I played with some decent cricketers and came up against the same. When I made a few appearances for the 1st XI in the Yorkshire Council, not only was I way out of my depth but some of my team-mates were seriously good club cricketers, and yet none of them got anywhere near any sort of professional level, apart from our stumper who had once fielded as a makeshift 12th Man for Yorkshire at Abbeydale Park.

In the Yorkshire Council we also came up against some ferociously good cricketers who looked outstanding on the green swards of Wombwell, but again, as far as I know none of them did anything at a professional level. I also made a guest appearance for Sheffield University Lecturers against South Yorkshire Police, a side that was so strong we went for the losing draw from the off. Here I came up against the best cricketer I ever played against, Alan Hampshire, Jack's brother. Jack was obviously much better than Alan, with Jack being a very good Yorkshire batsman and a Test cricketer with a handful of caps to his name, and yet Alan looked every inch the pro on that field. In case you're interested, I went in at number 7 and we held out for the losing draw thanks to my gritty 5 not out from 12 overs. Sir Geoffrey would've been so proud of me.

But probably the best example is that of the professional cricketer who bowls for his county side and looks like a proper rabbit with the bat in either the county or Test arena, and yet when he plays club cricket in either the Lancashire League or the Yorkshire Council, he bats up top, sometimes even opening, and looks like Freddie Flintoff by comparison.

In short then, there is a huge, almost unfathomable gulf in cricket, and I always presumed it to be the same in football.

Have we re-signed Ted Hemsley yet?

 

[Lane Ender]

Doyle has improved a little from the start of last season but ..... first on the team sheet !!!!?????
Good lord no .....
UTB & FTP

Forgot to put the smiley on that last bit fella!

Having said that hes bringing more to the team now

 

[wizadry]

I've played with better players than Ronaldo and Messi. I have no evidence to back up such a claim, and you can't prove otherwise.

You're right i can't prove it,but i also can't remember me saying i could prove it either.What i will say imo is that Monty and Porter are shite,and that you can't prove either that they are better than some of the players iv'e played with or against.

 

[wizadry]

Now come on Wiz, why would I take this the wrong way?

Having played at the levels you state and a bit higher (a long time ago albeit), I must ask the question, how would you know if these aforementioned players are better than CP or NM, if you only played with them at that level? How would these players have looked if put into a Championship team?

Good question LSF ,this is where i trust my own judgement on things as a footballer.I have never rated Monty or Porter,i think they have been very lucky to do what they love doing,and that players do actually slip through the net.

 

[wizadry]

Oh stop it.

Stop what? Stop putting my point of view across on the lack of quality these two players have.Anyone is allowed their view on things,and this was mine.Thanks for yours btw.

 

[LSF]

Good question LSF ,this is where i trust my own judgement on things as a footballer.I have never rated Monty or Porter,i think they have been very lucky to do what they love doing,and that players do actually slip through the net.

Which is fine, but I just don't think players "slip through the net' these days. If you are good enough and have the desire, you'll get further than County Senior or Meadowhall League.

 

[Grecian2000]

Going right back to the top. Regardless of whether I genuinely believe my dead maternal Grandparents would have been a match for him, or not, I must say I'm dreadfully underwhelmed by Mr Higdon.

I thought he was poor on opening day and couldn't believe some of the rave reviews he was getting. Saturday was my first away game of the season and I thought he was no better or worse than that first day, but just not at the races. I don't see any improvement and that worries me enormously.

 

[wizadry]

Which is fine, but I just don't think players "slip through the net' these days. If you are good enough and have the desire, you'll get further than County Senior or Meadowhall League.

I think we will have to agree to disagree on this,although i should state it was 12 years ago when i played at that standard so i suppose times could have changed.

 

[LSF]

I think we will have to agree to disagree on this,although i should state it was 12 years ago when i played at that standard so i suppose times could have changed.

no problem It was 40 years since my days at that level

 

[Jehovah]

I wasn't calling him a bell end, I was intimating he is shit compared to players playing at the same level. Maybe in Australia he looks good, but he was bloody awful here.

 

[William Large]

In recent years I've played a few times with and against a former blades player who is a couple of years shy of 60. On each occasion he was easily the best player on the pitch, running games from right back and giving the left winger (who also played to a reasonable standard and nearly half his age) barely a sniff.
This highlighted to me the gulf in being someone who can play a bit and a professional footballer.
That said, I still will shout about how shit someone is or how my dog has better ball control if I feel the need to. I don't actually think that my dog could do a better job up front, nor do I think that my (now deceased) grandmother was quicker over 10 metres than porter, but I'm sure I've shouted it.
I've previously slagged Doyle and Collins off and said they were shite when what I should actually have said is 'I appreciate that although they are in a select group of males who have proven themselves fit to be proffesional footballers, I don't believe that they are necessarily suited to our team and would be better placed at a lower lever.'
Doesn't quite have the same snappiness to it as 'FOR FUCKS SAKE DOYLE, YOU ARE FUCKING WANK!'
Its just an expression of frustration and how I feel at the time.

 

[William Large]

Montgomery was shite tho....

 

[Zanzibar]

Of course, it all depends where you set the parameters when comparing.

High...very high.
Just like admission prices.

 

[Zanzibar]

no problem It was 40 years since my days at that level

aw...shucks

 

[metalblade]

The strange thing is some have the desire and some don't, our school centre half was ever present for Sheffield boys and was a very very good player but it was just a game for him, another lad in the same team was average yet went on to play at a professional level representing the pigs reserves on a few occasions I know without a shadow of doubt who the best player was and it wasn't the pig..

 

[Bladesway]

Stop what? Stop putting my point of view across on the lack of quality these two players have.Anyone is allowed their view on things,and this was mine.Thanks for yours btw.

Wow big strop! Point of view is all well and good but saying you played Sunday League and played with players who were better than Porter for example makes you look stupid in my opinion. Good players play football, those not good enough don't.

 

[wizadry]

Wow big strop! Point of view is all well and good but saying you played Sunday League and played with players who were better than Porter for example makes you look stupid in my opinion. Good players play football, those not good enough don't.

It wasn't a strop pal,you're entitled to your opinion but whatever you do don't call me stupid.

 

[Bladesway]

It wasn't a strop pal,you're entitled to your opinion but whatever you do don't call me stupid.

Ok but do you understand what you are saying? The gulf between professional and Sunday League is huge. You cannot quantify it.

It's like saying you are a master craftsman because you have some chisels in the garage and made a clock in woodwork once.

Furthermore it's disrespectful to someone who has spent his career playing professional football for a living, the people who paid money to buy him and the managers who pick him. I'm all for saying someone isn't very good but let's have some perspective.

 

[ghandi]

It wasn't a strop pal,you're entitled to your opinion but whatever you do don't call me stupid.

I don't think you're stupid but what you have said regarding better players in the County Senior does sound stupid unless there is evidence to back it up. I think when people on forums refer to players as crap etc the comparison they are making is against other professionals not County Senior standard players.

 

[wizadry]

Ok but do you understand what you are saying? The gulf between professional and Sunday League is huge. You cannot quantify it.

It's like saying you are a master craftsman because you have some chisels in the garage and made a clock in woodwork once.

I don't think you're stupid but what you have said regarding better players in the County Senior does sound stupid unless there is evidence to back it up. I think when people on forums refer to players as crap etc the comparison they are making is against other professionals not County Senior standard players.

My general issue was players not slipping through the net,which i think some do.I'm not saying there are loads in the county senior,i'm just saying i think i have played with the odd one or two players who are better than the players mentioned in one of the first posts made on the issue.

 

[Mancblade1889]

My general issue was players not slipping through the net,which i think some do.I'm not saying there are loads in the county senior,i'm just saying i think i have played with the odd one or two players who are better than the players mentioned in one of the first posts made on the issue.

Let's get back to the point both porter and higdon are shite and never going to be enough to get us out of this division.

 

[Patrick Suffaux]

Suffaux / Fulwood.

The comments you have made on this thread are more than interesting.

Which has led me to an idea for the both of you.

As this notion of a "static" centre forward is not covered in any Uefa / FIFA / raggyarseroverstinpotsundayleague coaching manuals, maybe the two of you could write one ? I am all for new ideas and you just might be on to something that the likes of Guardiola / Mourinho et al might find more than useful

You'll be happy to know that the sarcasm isn't lost on me. I think the notion of a "static" centre forward is being treated a little more literally by you though Dronnie.

 

[DronnieBlade]

You'll be happy to know that the sarcasm isn't lost on me. I think the notion of a "static" centre forward is being treated a little more literally by you though Dronnie.

No it isn't. Static is static and isn't really open to much of a differing view point. The CBs he has been up against, which you mention he has "occupied" will not have had or will have an easier time of it.

The guy needs dropping till he is fit. Which might take a while.

UTB

 

[cahill]

Strewth Higdon does divide opinions., came back from holiday this week so not seen him since the Brizzul game in which I thought he looked ok, had good touches and took his goal well. I'll have to reserve judgement but I thought he seemed ok

 

[Lane Ender]

My general issue was players not slipping through the net,which i think some do.I'm not saying there are loads in the county senior,i'm just saying i think i have played with the odd one or two players who are better than the players mentioned in one of the first posts made on the issue.

I too have played with players at County Senior /Top Sunday League Level and thought they should be playing in a lot higher standard.
But what they lacked is commitment and most of them loved the night life and what went with it.
Women and booze the downfall of many.

 

[BornOnShorehamStreet]

Surely all the scouts, coaches and managers can't be wrong can they?

These would be the coaches and managers who, ultimately, always fail at whatever club they work for and who always get employed by somebody else regardless of their previous failure(s)!