Tomorrow - gutting

[lenners]

This is based on seeing Kyle, what, 5 times and Ched, what, never ?

Pretty obvious we had an absolute gem on our hands in those games.
The game he had at Wembley was outstanding.
Then there's Ched.
It's a bollock dropped, a massive one, and I suspect the board realise that now.
We can but sincerely hope they mean what they say about young players and in future sell only when absolutely necessary, for the right price and as part of a genuine, planned development of the club.

 

[Jim Chimmerney]

Pretty obvious we had an absolute gem on our hands in those games.

Citeh fans said the same thing about Ched in his formative years

Sadly, as mentioned elsewhere, anyone coming to the fore in our team will be subject to bids from above if they're half decent. Will be the way of things until we confirm our place in the country's elite

 

[raul]

This is based on seeing Kyle, what, 5 times and Ched, what, never ?

Is it incorrect then?

 

[Jim Chimmerney]

Is it incorrect then?

File this in the 'no reply means a correct assumption' drawer

 

[NE Blade]

Hi all, first time poster here so please be gentle with me!

Whilst I agree that it's a tad extreme to argue that selling Naughton and Walker 'ripped the soul out of the club' I have to say that I do see where Len is coming from to an extent.

The argument that they were sold because the club needed the money would have been fair enough had we not bought a virtually unproven striker for £3m in the following months. Again, I have some time for the opinion that a gifted striker will have a greater impact on a team that a gifted fullback. The problem in this case though was that Walker and Naughton were Blades and academy products. How long had the club been banging on for about building a side from the academy? A rather long time. To then get 2 excellent players brought in to the 1st team and then for them to be sold almost immediately was rather difficult for the fans to take. Also, had Ched banged in 25 goals in his first season the chances are he would have wanted away and we'd have had a potential problem on our hands. The benefit of bringing local lads through the academy is that they'll be passionate about the club and won't necassarily push for a move to the big boys the first time their name is mentioned in the papers.

All in all it was a terrible decision by the board, and to be fair I'm sure McCabe now acknowledges his mistake (in private at least).

 

[Highbury_Blade]

Good first post NE Blade, and welcome to the forum. I take your point about crying poverty on one hand and then spunking it a couple of months later.

 

[lenners]

Citeh fans said the same thing about Ched in his formative years

Sadly, as mentioned elsewhere, anyone coming to the fore in our team will be subject to bids from above if they're half decent. Will be the way of things until we confirm our place in the country's elite

Did Ched actually play any meaningful games for City?
And you shouldn't tell porkies...

 

[Wards]

I still side with Len on this argument (except the Ched part, who I still believe will bear fruit - and is indeed starting to do so past few weeks) and that selling both Kyles was a silly, silly decision. One of them going could've been understandable given that they played in the same position but to sell both seemed very short termist IMO. We saw the £ and snatched their bloody hands off. It was plain for me to see, even from his debut away at Hull, that we had one hell of a player on our hands and his value was only going to increase by playing more first team games for us. Straight after the PO final we should've sat him down and got him tied into a long-term contract to protect our interests and maybe sold him the next season if we needed the money that badly.

Still, as is the usual case with the board, we'll accept the first offer that comes our way and sell the crown jewels. Keep on doing that and the only way is down - as it's proving at the moment. I still can't believe we've let us get into such a state that we've sold almost every decent player on the books and left with the shite we're watching now.

 

[Jim Chimmerney]

Did Ched actually play any meaningful games for City?
And you shouldn't tell porkies...

The fact seemingly remains that you judged KW to be a better player without seeing Ched play.

 

[Revolution]

The fact seemingly remains that you judged KW to be a better player without seeing Ched play.

Well done Len, then. He was right.

One of the tragi-comic things about that period is that during or before 2008-9 United got rid of 3 forwards who were definitely better than Evans (Beattie, Hulse, Stead) and each for less money than they spent on him...

 

[Jim Chimmerney]

The fact seemingly remains that you judged KW to be a better player without seeing Ched play.

Well done Len, then. He was right.

One of the tragi-comic things about that period is that during or before 2008-9 United got rid of 3 forwards who were definitely better than Evans (Beattie, Hulse, Stead) and each for less money than they spent on him...

Yes, we can all make judgments in hindsight

The longer Ched's here, yes, he'll cost us more than the three you mention but all three were on big contracts, particularly BT, but I feel obliged to point out the Steadinho only scored 1 in 5 for us and Hulse was worse than that albeit both partly at a higher level.

Before anyone jumps on me, I'm not saying Ched has achieved anything yet, and I'm not saying he's a better player, I'm just pointing out that BT apart, the other two didn't score many more goals for us and as a cost/per goal exercise, there probably isn't much in it.