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Cricko

Zone Owner⭐⭐
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This guy who seems to be scoring for fun at Harlow, why are we not looking at him? have we?....24 goals already this season is surely the exact player we are looking for?

Freddy came from non-league, if I was PB I would be all over him like a rash.

Thoughts?
 
Thoughts are that he will be snapped up by somebody outside of our catchment, such as Peterborough, which makes this all the more frustrating - happened plenty of times in the past.
 
Said we should of picked him up last season when he banged in 50+

He is well on course for that again this season.

Will probably end up at Peterborough or Dagenham.

For those thinking yeah but its a big step up from the Ryman to League 2......ask yourself this....would any of our current "strikers" hit 50+ in the Ryman?....I very much doubt it.
 
Harlow Town are in the Ryman north, thats about 4 divisions below us. He might, or might not be any good but there's probably 50 players on a scouting list in front of him. I suspect even some of our mis-firing forwards could bag a truckload of goals at that level.
I'd much rather we looked at leage 2 or Conference, or possibly a youngster on loan from a championship side (like Assombalonga a couple of years back)
 
Harlow Town are in the Ryman north, thats about 4 divisions below us. He might, or might not be any good but there's probably 50 players on a scouting list in front of him. I suspect even some of our mis-firing forwards could bag a truckload of goals at that level.
I'd much rather we looked at leage 2 or Conference, or possibly a youngster on loan from a championship side (like Assombalonga a couple of years back)

Take another perspective on this - goalscorers are often made to look good by the players around them. Barnard and Corr can't hit a barn door even with quality around them (albeit deployed in completely the wrong manner by our magnificent Manager). This lad Read has bagged a tonne of goals in a division where the service will almost certainly be direct and not particularly accurate, and whilst he is facing weaker defences, the League 2 lads really aren't a World away.
I remember when Mark Salter arrived with a similar background and pedigree and duly flopped, so it can go either way, but it has to be better than persisting with what we currently have?
 
Said we should of picked him up last season when he banged in 50+

He is well on course for that again this season.

Will probably end up at Peterborough or Dagenham.

For those thinking yeah but its a big step up from the Ryman to League 2......ask yourself this....would any of our current "strikers" hit 50+ in the Ryman?....I very much doubt it.

I think Coulthirst probably could, he's pretty skillful on the ball and I expect Ryman North defenders would give him a lot of time to do skill on the ball. Keep in mind our defense against Harlow were all youth teamers and Bolger, so not exactly much of a step up from the Ryman.
 
Where were Grays when we signed Freddy?

That would be the Freddy who was 21 when he joined us, whereas this Read is 26. Eastwood also had experience at West Ham youth, whereas we know nothing about this guy.

ps Conference South is 2 divisions higher than Harlow.
 
Didn't we have this same discussion about Gary Paterson when he scored two past us in pre-season?

I'm all for scouting in the lower leagues but the players age plays a huge factor. Like Napster said, Freddy was 21 when he first joined and had many years ahead of him to learn and improve. Not doubting Alex Read is a good player, but at 26 he should be in his prime and players have done all their growing and maturing at that age.

If we can sign him for a nominal fee of a few grand or even free on a one year deal with an option of a second, he might be worth a look as it can't do much harm. We paid £40,000 for Freddy though and I wouldn't fancy paying anything like that for Read.
 
Didn't we have this same discussion about Gary Paterson when he scored two past us in pre-season?

.

Exactly and he scored less than a handful of league goals in eighteen months.

Read would be worth a loan based trial much like Freddy, but a huge gamble for a 26 year old if it means parting with money.
 
Where were Grays when we signed Freddy?

It was the first year of Conference South which Grays went on to win without Eastwood. The previous year Eastwood had top scored with 28 in the Isthmian Premier League. The following year Kightly top scored for them in the Conference Premier.
 
There is a bit of snobbery when it comes to non-league players. Remember when Freddie Eastwood first came on trial to Southend and many people, including the manager, were initially skeptical he could make the transition to full-time league soccer.
 
These lower league guys are often worth a punt. John Still has built his managerial career around signing this sort of player. Maybe Read will end up at Luton.
 
I cant comment on how good this guy is but you would hope the club keeps tabs on lower league players especially from fairly local clubs. Not just for young players either, how old was Mark Bentley when we got him?

Maybe Buffalowolf should let us know how good Reed is seeing as his the master of judging players without seeing them :winking:
 
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