Devante Cole

[Tunstall Fred]

I don't think we have any grievance with the lad. He clearly wants to join us and if we go in again with January both he and United will be much the wiser. My guess is his relationship with Fleetwood will be very strained from now on. Watch out for a transfer request next time.

Of course, much depends on him maintaining his form. We will have other targets, no doubt.

It would appear ,if reports are to be believed that his Dad is livid with Fleetwood,not somebody who forgives easily is Andrew,ask Teddy Sheringham,he refused to speak to Teddy because he did not shake his hand

 

[JohnDenver]

What I don't understand is why Fleetwood would have ever considered letting him go on a free in the first place? Young striker with 4 goals in 3 games; what club in their right mind would tell a club a division higher that he can go for nothing? Bizarre.

Sounds like they were wilfully mucking us about. Either that or wires were crossed somehow.

But whatever they were attempting to do, they've earned no money and now have a player whose head has been turned. Well done them.

 

[1danewhitehouse]

But Donaldson (33) has played the last 3 seasons in the Championship and scored 33 goals in that time.
Cole (22) has spent the last 6 seasons in Division 1 and has scored - oh! - 30 goals in that time

True but saying "6 seasons" goes back to when he was a 16 year old. I'm not aware of many players who have many goals to their name at 16/17.

It's worth noting that at Cole's age, Donaldson had a grand total of 0 league goals to his name. His first professional league goals came in Scotland for Hibs at 23. The only time he exceeded 20 league goals was in League 2 with Crewe in 2010-11 (the year I wanted us to sign him).

So Cole has a long time to go to become a prolific scorer.

 

[Cerberus Blade]

God I was fucked last night, free Peroni all day, I also remember vaguely doing shots of ameretto and Bailey's, I slept pretty well and the all you can eat breakfast, 2 mugs of tea and 2 large banana, pineapple and mango smoothies, coupled with an hours walk round, have proper sorted me out. I've just got home from a rainy Manchester and I'm about to get comfy ready for the obligatory "doing fuck all Sunday afternoon" I've planned, with the F1 highlights on.

You on a health drive BB?

 

[BigBed]

You on a health drive BB?

Just an attempt to keep myself "regular" pal.

 

[1danewhitehouse]

By all accounts, Devante Cole isn't a particularly good player. I think the fact that he's a fast black man got us overly excited.

Maybe he'll score 15 by January though and get sold to QPR for 4.5 million, who the fuck knows.

In the meantime, we've got a proven striker at this level to tide us over.

I think with Cole it’s about the fact he has the one attribute we’re short on in abundance and that being a young player, he has potential to improve. Given Wilder and Knill’s tendency to improve the positioning, decision making etc. of players, given the athletic gifts Cole has, there was a belief that under the Wilder and Knill combo, he could have been developed into a very good player. If you read the bleacher report article, you’ll see quotes from Knill that indicate how important he thought signing Cole was. Couple all of that with the consideration of how light we are up front (both numbers and quality), you've got the explanation for the disappointment at him not signing.

 

[1danewhitehouse]

But Joe Mason, with a worse goal scoring record, is full of goals?

If I said that my information was from a 'respected journalist' would it make a difference? You obviously don't want to believe it.

Not the fairest comparison though when you consider that Mason has played all but 34 games of his career in the championship (including a lot of sub appearances) but Hanson has never played a game at a higher level than league 1. Banging them in for Guiseley as the main man in the conference is a bit different to trying to score for a struggling Bolton side in the championship.


I have no idea how good Mason is. He’s not a player I have called for us to sign but the statistical comparison between the two given the circumstances is meaningless.

 

[1danewhitehouse]

L

That article makes some people on this thread look very very silly.

There’s still a strong argument when you consider the entirety of our recruitment over the summer, to suggest that Wilder hasn’t been particularly well backed. The article offers some explanation for deals falling through at the last minute (though I’m a bit concerned to learn that Wilder said the Cole deal would be a definite no-go at £500k given how Knill stressed the importance of the signing). But it doesn’t explain the last 3 months and that on deadline day we were trying (and failing) to sign a relatively unproven Fleetwood player in the last year of his contract to try to solve our striking problems. Whichever you look at it, we’ve been left short up front (hence having to keep Hanson). We’ve had an entire summer to sort in and it hasn’t happened.

 

[1danewhitehouse]

Nobody who is right in the head could possibly read that and place any blame on United, especially McCabe, or doubt the commitment of the club management to get the deals done. It also confirms that players, seldom the brightest individuals, can't put one foot in front of the other without asking a man who sees pound notes not people.

What the report shows is that we were in for 5 players.


Ben Henighan

Devante Cole

Clayton Donaldson

Jerome Sinclair

Domingos Quina


Which suggests the reports of a £2million bid for Egan were bollocks. Wilder said the Cole deal was a no go at £500k and the Donaldson one was only a goer at around £50k rather than £200k. I don’t think it tells us how much Henighan was but coming from Scotland, a relative unknown, we will be talking small change again. The other 2 were loans that fell through when the cost went up. Not one of these players would constitute an “ambitious” signing even if they had come off or a “special signing” (to quote McCabe). All of this information is indicative of an extremely tight budget. 5 players, all loans or very cheap, only one got done. We weren’t fighting for the likes of Lenihan, Coady, Egan etc. We were very much in the bargain basement here. The big signings many hoped for simply never came and were never even close. In championship terms, the backing is paltry whichever way you spin it. Whilst clubs are throwing around sums of £10-15 million here there and everywhere, we are left with our “biggest” signing being a deal thought to be worth up to about a million.


All that said, I don’t take huge issue with that in the sense that clubs have to run as a business, we don’t have owners willing to take enormous financial hits to try to get us to the Premier League and I don’t really take issue with that. If money is tight, so be it. At least we have a good manager who will get the most out of it.


My real grumble is the repeated pretence from McCabe that we will be financially competitive at this level. The list of deadline day targets makes it clear we’re not. Unless you class competing with Barnsley, Bolton and Millwall as competitive.

 

[The Crab]

I don't have any insights into the club and you've come out with some dreamt up bollocks there but planning is all about being intentional in a way, the club shouldn't have left it this long and there's a shitload of players out there for the scouts to have a look at, they should've had years worth of experience to have a gauge on players already but let's say they've had three months to recognise the players we need then they've left it too late to get players over the line, it's pretty simple really.

The only way I can see possible that we waited until the last minute to get a striker over the line is that we didn't think we needed a striker until we got an injury or suspension which if true is very naive at best, we've needed a striker to take some of the workload and pressure of Billy since before the season started.

The squad is stronger as a whole, that I agree with.

And I don't play on FM................anymore, that was a teenage thing years ago until I learned how to knock one out to midget porn.

I can do both, now none of my Centre Halfs are any taller than 4' 7"

 

[LJBlade]

Not the fairest comparison though when you consider that Mason has played all but 34 games of his career in the championship (including a lot of sub appearances) but Hanson has never played a game at a higher level than league 1. Banging them in for Guiseley as the main man in the conference is a bit different to trying to score for a struggling Bolton side in the championship.


I have no idea how good Mason is. He’s not a player I have called for us to sign but the statistical comparison between the two given the circumstances is meaningless.

I disagree that it's meaningless. I'm not arguing that Mason isn't a good player and I'm not even arguing that he isn't better than the strikers we've got. I was arguing against the use of the term 'full of goals'. You can't say that a person is 'full of goals' and then use the excuse that he hasn't scored many because of the level he's played at. The person who used the generic term has a habit of doing so for many players mentioned on here, many of whom he's probably seen very few times. He used similar terms to describe Ryan Leonard before admitting to only watching him play twice.

 

[1danewhitehouse]

I disagree that it's meaningless. I'm not arguing that Mason isn't a good player and I'm not even arguing that he isn't better than the strikers we've got. I was arguing against the use of the term 'full of goals'. You can't say that a person is 'full of goals' and then use the excuse that he hasn't scored many because of the level he's played at. The person who used the generic term has a habit of doing so for many players mentioned on here, many of whom he's probably seen very few times. He used similar terms to describe Ryan Leonard before admitting to only watching him play twice.

Oh that bit I agree with. He's not been prolific throughout his career looking at his stats. if the poster had said something like "I think, given a run in our team, with the way he plays he could score a lot of goals for us" or something to that effect then fair enough but his goal scoring history aint great. But I still maintain that a comparison to someone who has scored all of their goals at a lower level means little in terms of the goals they might each bring at this level.

 

[itsinyerblood]

For a 22 year old, making a lot of appearances off the bench his record is impressive.
Wilder doesn't negotiate, he says what he thinks a players worth, bravo. May have to pay a little more to sign him that's down to the board and negotiating team. 'Brave enough to do so' fuck me.

Didn't see you make another smart comment about the other targets I would've, did they suffice? Were they good enough in your eyes?

Good to see you applauding what happened in the video Danny.....a real pity therefore that your employer, The Star, can't bring itself to give it's readership something comparable. The video was enlightening, showed the true nature of what goes on, and puts to bed any of the candyfloss that passes for journalism in The Star. It's not news, it's regurgitated information that we're aware of, yet The Star continues to put a spin on what they do as if they're bring us something worthwhile.

 

[Liaminho9]

Which suggests the reports of a £2million bid for Egan were bollocks. Wilder said the Cole deal was a no go at £500k and the Donaldson one was only a goer at around £50k rather than £200k. I don’t think it tells us how much Henighan was but coming from Scotland, a relative unknown, we will be talking small change again. The other 2 were loans that fell through when the cost went up. Not one of these players would constitute an “ambitious” signing even if they had come off or a “special signing” (to quote McCabe). All of this information is indicative of an extremely tight budget. 5 players, all loans or very cheap, only one got done.

The main thing i would say regarding this comment is that the reason Wilder said no to the deals at £500k or £200k is that he didn't think the players were worth that much.
Would you pay £30k for a Ford Fiesta? No. But you would pay £30k for a BMW or a Mercedes.
For me it was more about Wilder making sure he got value for money.

 

[Moan? Nope-I saw Longhorn]

I don't think we have any grievance with the lad. He clearly wants to join us and if we go in again with January both he and United will be much the wiser. My guess is his relationship with Fleetwood will be very strained from now on. Watch out for a transfer request next time.

Of course, much depends on him maintaining his form. We will have other targets, no doubt.

Wasn't having a go @ DC & I misquoted Wilder, it was Michell's statement I was referring to:
"If he plays 50 times in our team, he will be doing very well for us,"
which appears to imply he was a stop-gap / punt - again nowt wrong with either approach - I just reckon, like yourself we will have other (better?) targets come January although it does no harm at all in letting Cole (& his da') know we're maintaining 'interest' especially IF he keeps netting

 

[Slim Man]

Good to see you applauding what happened in the video Danny.....a real pity therefore that your employer, The Star, can't bring itself to give it's readership something comparable. The video was enlightening, showed the true nature of what goes on, and puts to bed any of the candyfloss that passes for journalism in The Star. It's not news, it's regurgitated information that we're aware of, yet The Star continues to put a spin on what they do as if they're bring us something worthwhile.

Eh?

 

[1danewhitehouse]

The main thing i would say regarding this comment is that the reason Wilder said no to the deals at £500k or £200k is that he didn't think the players were worth that much.
Would you pay £30k for a Ford Fiesta? No. But you would pay £30k for a BMW or a Mercedes.
For me it was more about Wilder making sure he got value for money.

That may be it. I suppose we'll never know exactly how much was allocated, how far he had to try to make it stretch etc. But with the deadline coming up, you would think he's be willing to pay £500k for a player if he thought he would improve us given that it's nothing in terms of the division we are in and what players who can play at this level tend to cost. If he doesn't see him as that and merely a player who has a slight chance of making a positive contribution, you would have to question why these are the only players we are in for on deadline day? Again, the logical conclusion seems to be budget restriction.

 

[Harrisblade]

Which suggests the reports of a £2million bid for Egan were bollocks.

So SkyTransferCentre reported the bollocks bid, then reported that the bollocks bid had been rejected,which presumably was also bollocks as no bid had been made?

 

[Harrisblade]

The main thing i would say regarding this comment is that the reason Wilder said no to the deals at £500k or £200k is that he didn't think the players were worth that much.
Would you pay £30k for a Ford Fiesta? No. But you would pay £30k for a BMW or a Mercedes.
For me it was more about Wilder making sure he got value for money.

It seems that a few of us might pay much more for the Fiesta if it was shiny and went fast

 

[Keef Chedwyn]

Good to see you applauding what happened in the video Danny.....a real pity therefore that your employer, The Star, can't bring itself to give it's readership something comparable. The video was enlightening, showed the true nature of what goes on, and puts to bed any of the candyfloss that passes for journalism in The Star. It's not news, it's regurgitated information that we're aware of, yet The Star continues to put a spin on what they do as if they're bring us something worthwhile.

Wrong Danny I think...

 

[wizadry]

So SkyTransferCentre reported the bollocks bid, then reported that the bollocks bid had been rejected,which presumably was also bollocks as no bid had been made?

I'd prefer to listen to CW over some sky sports journalist everyday of the week, CW has not mentioned Egan anywhere from what I've seen.

 

[itsinyerblood]

Wrong Danny I think...

If so, my apologies. I'll correct it if necessary. Thanks for the heads up.

 

[itsinyerblood]

Eh?

My error, head of steam moment, apologies. Will search out the real culprit!

 

[Harrisblade]

My error, head of steam moment, apologies. Will search out the real culprit!

(Pssst! you want Danny04)

 

[Harrisblade]

I'd prefer to listen to CW over some sky sports journalist everyday of the week, CW has not mentioned Egan anywhere from what I've seen.

It's Alan Nixon
https://footballleagueworld.co.uk/sheffield-united-have-2m-bid-rejected-for-championship-player/

 

[Toronto Blade]

Our budget has gone from a big fish in a League One to a little fish in the Championship.

One thing the Blades do have going for them is Wilder and Knill have put a big heart into the squad,making them tough to beat.

 

[Slim Man]

My error, head of steam moment, apologies. Will search out the real culprit!

No worries pal, all Danny's are the same anyway.

I thought I'd gained new employment then, absolutely rather not work for that rag

 

[itsinyerblood]

No worries pal, all Danny's are the same anyway.

I thought I'd gained new employment then, absolutely rather not work for that rag

I'm almost blushing, thanks for not ripping my jugular out.

 

[Slim Man]

I'm almost blushing, thanks for not ripping my jugular out.

No worries pal, Danny04 is who you're after

 

[Th!stledo]

It would seem that a few of the previous posters are generally focusing on the history and reputations of players. Haven't we tried that before and ended up with players like:
Hammond.
Sammon.
Higdon etc.

I would like to think our current success is based where the players are assessed on the here and now and how they might play a role in our squad now and some possibly in the future.