Loan Updates

[1danewhitehouse]

It seems like Whiteman would be very adequate cover for Coutts and Fleck. We really need to commit to keeping him, I think he'd be a really safe bet to give decent contract to. Got a feeling he could be a really big player for us.

Agreed. If a player is standing out as quality in League 2, odds are they’d be decent in league 1. To be a decent league 1 player at 20 with only about 10 senior games under his belt, you’d assume he’d have the potential to kick on and be a decent championship player. Especially when you look at his frame and physique. Could see him and Brooks possibly being long term replacements for Coutts and Duffy as age takes it’s toll.

 

[1danewhitehouse]

Ben's goals for Mansfield. Not bad!

A touch of the Michael Browns about those finishes?

 

[1danewhitehouse]

Far, far too expensive for a fullback.

I know our opinions differ on the ease of filling that position, but he was too expensive in any position. It was a really big mistake signing him, given the financial backdrop.



UTB

I agree it was a mistake to sign him in terms of the financial deal given our priorities at the time. However, we won’t recover our money by selling him (might get £500k if we’re lucky). We will need quality players in the championship and with Brayford we’ve just got to pay whatever we’ve committed to as a league 1 club in wages rather than going out and buying a player for the championship. I’d be more than happy for him to be part of our squad next season. My only concern is as mentioned above, the injuries he seems to be picking up.

 

[1danewhitehouse]

Brayford hasn't been good enough since the day we signed him permanently. Certainly not for the money he cost. He's been a good player in the past but has deteriorated and will continue to deteriorate.

Whiteman is a very promising young player, I like what I've seen of him and to go straight into L2 and make such an impact speaks volumes. He's only going to get better, so I'm far more concerned about his future here than I am about Brayford's.
I say he'd be a safe option to give a decent contract to because he's an all rounder, decent physically and has a good attitude.

“Good enough” is such a subjective term. I thought after he signed permanently he was comfortably our best centre half until he rupture his ACL despite that not being his position. He also had a good spell just after returning from injury when we picked up over xmas last year. It all seemed to unravel after the old Trafford game, not just for him but for the whole team.


He’s never hit the heights of his loan spell since signing permanently though and I agree that physically, he is perhaps in decline. If we could get a fee for him then perhaps we should consider it but he’ll have a year left on his contract and if he ends up playing out that year with us as we try to consolidate in the championship, I’d take that.

 

[1danewhitehouse]

Despite a the avatar i don't want brayford back. Freeman has earnt that place and i actually think hes been better this season than brayford was last.

The fact hes spat his dummy out and run to his daddy because he diesnt want to Roll up his sleeves and help us getnout peague 1 l is the end of it for me.

He's dead to me - hope burton go down and we sell him to them so he has to play in league 1 with them next year. Wouldnt care if we gave him away

Fyi - the avatar is more because of the occassion as the player i dont hold in the highest regards.

He didn’t spit his dummy out at all. Wilder has said the player never asked for the move and that it was Wilder’s decision made purely because the financial benefits allowed him to strengthen the squad (bringing EEL, Lafferty and Moore in).


As far as I’m aware Brayford has always been a model professional. When he wanted to come back to us after his loan he still did a good job for Cardiff too. If you were at Bolton on opening day you might have seen him put his body on the line getting injured ( I suspect broken ribs) making a goal saving block in the first half. He’d looked very good up to that point in the game but that seemed to slow him down. But then breaking ribs makes it hard to breathe so I’m not surprised he didn’t bomb up and down the flank as much.

 

[1danewhitehouse]

I remember when we signed him. He was regarded as a hot prospect - I think he'd played for England under 21s already. Unfortunately, whilst his assessment of the squad at the time may be accurate, he was a big disappointment. He was one of a long line of United midfielders that starts with Jamie Hoyland, covers the likes of Paul Thirwell, Bobby Ford and Brian Howard, and ends (currently) with Louis Reed and Dean Hammond, that inhabit some sort of black hole and don't actually seem to do anything. He was not good enough for the second tier.

I do remember his only league goal for us, a neat finish at Southend after playing a 1-2. That was the only highlight of a miserable day, when we lost 2-1, Blake got sent off and pro- and anti-Bassett factions of our support came to blows.

I have to admit, I quite liked Bobby Ford. Unspectacular but always did a decent job for the team I thought. The Daniel Lafferty of his era you might say.

 

[I should coco]

I have to admit, I quite liked Bobby Ford. Unspectacular but always did a decent job for the team I thought. The Daniel Lafferty of his era you might say.

Well you might, but I wouldn't.

I always felt Ford was very lightweight. He had some ability but seemed scared to try and make his mark on the game.

I know Lafferty has plenty of antis on here, but to me he is the epitome of an honest professional. He keeps going when the chips are down and doesn't ever refuse to receive the ball. He works hard, isn't afraid to put his body on the line and can make a decent cross.

Put it this way. I'd rather have a team of Laffertys than a team of Bobby Fords.

 

[1danewhitehouse]

Well you might, but I wouldn't.

I always felt Ford was very lightweight. He had some ability but seemed scared to try and make his mark on the game.

I know Lafferty has plenty of antis on here, but to me he is the epitome of an honest professional. He keeps going when the chips are down and doesn't ever refuse to receive the ball. He works hard, isn't afraid to put his body on the line and can make a decent cross.

Put it this way. I'd rather have a team of Laffertys than a team of Bobby Fords.

As a lovely old fella on blades mad used to say, "it's all abart opinions". I wouldn't want a team full of either because I think every team needs matchwinners which neither are IMO.

 

[Lane Ender]

You think Whiteman is good enough after half a dozen games in the bottom division ,yet you don't think Brayford is after 300 games at a higher level ??

Spot on with that, as proved when weve played L2 opposition in the cup theres a big gap in standards.
Brayfords way in front of Whiteman in what we need but let the young fella keep on what hes doing it aint doing his rep any harm.

 

[I should coco]

As a lovely old fella on blades mad used to say, "it's all abart opinions"

Agreed completely and FWIW, I often agree with yours.

I wouldn't want a team full of either because I think every team needs matchwinners which neither are IMO.

That's very sensible stuff but a bit of a cop out. I'll have a wander onto some other thread and see if I can't get an argument going with someone else, being as how you're being so mature.

 

[1danewhitehouse]

Agreed completely and FWIW, I often agree with yours.



That's very sensible stuff but a bit of a cop out. I'll have a wander onto some other thread and see if I can't get an argument going with someone else, being as how you're being so mature.

Sorry, meant to say Lafferty's not fit to lace the all time great, Bobby Ford's boots you clueless wanker.

Better?

 

[Blade58]

Apologies if already posted

White voted supporters player of the month

 

[I should coco]

Sorry, meant to say Lafferty's not fit to lace the all time great, Bobby Ford's boots you clueless wanker

I was coming round to put your windows through until I saw the "all time great".

Tee hee hee

 

[Iceybabey]

Don't think we need Brayford and i reckon we'll keep Whiteman.

 

[Balham]

Apologies if already posted

White voted supporters player of the month

He's doing exceptionally well given how much shorter his left leg is than his right.

 

[TBW57]

He's doing exceptionally well given how much shorter his left leg is than his right.

Lovely impersonation of a teapot there.

 

[Cheets]

Paul Holland joined United at the beginning of the diamonds season of 1995/6. In his autobiography, Talking Double Dutch, he is scathing about many of the squad at Bramall Lane who he considered to be pampered pussies, basically. They had a psychologist who they used to provide them with excuses not to train properly, they were overpaid, lazy and mollycoddled and he had little time for them.

He didn't fit in, and was transferred to Chesterfield where John Duncan made everyone train till they were sick. He loved it there.

It's a good book. It's about football rather than a lot of boasting about how much he drank/many women he shagged which far too many footballers' autobiographies turn out to consist of. The two things that stand out are his dodgy knees, which finished his career early and which Bristol City were kept in the dark about when they paid a big fee for him, and Dutch's intense dislike of Keith Curle, who comes over as a very strange person indeed.

I'm surprised that a Bassett team were lazy and molly-coddled. It was a terrible team though.

 

[Silent Blade]

I'm surprised that a Bassett team were lazy and molly-coddled. It was a terrible team though.

I was told that Bassett had lost the dressing room as the players were laughing at his shouting