Lee Barnard in January

[Richard_Cadette]

It came to me tonight that would it not be in the best interests of this club to offload Barney in January if the opportunity arises?

I like Barney, I think he is a decent poacher at this level, and when he is fit and on form, he will score goals, given the service. Trouble is, he is almost on the treatment table as much, if not more, than he actually is on the pitch. It is so frustrating to have someone who is almost always a doubt to play, and whilst the fact he has had a number of injuries maybe coincidental, it strikes me that he is the typical 'sick note'.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not suggesting we place him on the transfer list or anything like that, but thought it might be worth a debate.

I appreciate he is not the only one suffering right now, but he is consistently injured or a doubt, and is he taking up valuable funds that could be used to bring someone else in who would give you more games a season? Of course, the flip side of this maybe that he may not give you as many goals.

Tough one, but all I know is for a club with a budget allegedly as small as ours, and a squad as thin as the ever melting arctic ice, can we afford to have players who cannot be relied upon to be consistently fit?

 

[Blueshrimper]

Not sure if it would be worth it really. How much would we realistically get for him? He's a good league 1 stiker who would probably do a job if we were ever promoted to the Championship but I doubt he would go for big money. Will be great to see him back on the pitch soon though!

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

It came to me tonight that would it not be in the best interests of this club to offload Barney in January if the opportunity arises?

I like Barney, I think he is a decent poacher at this level, and when he is fit and on form, he will score goals, given the service. Trouble is, he is almost on the treatment table as much, if not more, than he actually is on the pitch. It is so frustrating to have someone who is almost always a doubt to play, and whilst the fact he has had a number of injuries maybe coincidental, it strikes me that he is the typical 'sick note'.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not suggesting we place him on the transfer list or anything like that, but thought it might be worth a debate.

I appreciate he is not the only one suffering right now, but he is consistently injured or a doubt, and is he taking up valuable funds that could be used to bring someone else in who would give you more games a season? Of course, the flip side of this maybe that he may not give you as many goals.

Tough one, but all I know is for a club with a budget allegedly as small as ours, and a squad as thin as the ever melting arctic ice, can we afford to have players who cannot be relied upon to be consistently fit?

Do you mean as a salary dump?

I certainly wouldn't look to sell him to realise funds as his transfer value is at its lowest point because of those injuries.

 

[Clinton Baptiste]

Our collection of strikers is fine, we need players to supply them and defenders. Besides, who would buy a crock like him? The reason we paid so little for him was because of his injury record. Even if he is injured Dougie, Revs, Laurent and Walker should be able to provide enoguh goals. The real problem is lack of goals from midfield.

 

[Richard_Cadette]

Do you mean as a salary dump?

I certainly wouldn't look to sell him to realise funds as his transfer value is at its lowest point because of those injuries.

Effectively, yes. I wouldn't expect us to gain anything from selling him apart from maybe what we paid. I know we have a tight budget, and that Tilly likes a small squad, and with places thin on the ground, could his be better used? Just a thought, not saying we definitely ought to, just wanted to see what opinion was.

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

Our collection of strikers is fine, we need players to supply them and defenders. Besides, who would buy a crock like him? The reason we paid so little for him was because of his injury record. Even if he is injured Dougie, Revs, Laurent and Walker should be able to provide enoguh goals. The real problem is lack of goals from midfield.

The problem isn't lack of goals from midfield. It is a lack of creativity from midfield. McCormack has shown that he can score double figures in a good side. Christophe has weighed in with a few goals recently, the wide-players will also chip in. Where we will struggle is a lack of quality that Gower provided and defensively where we don't close down in midfield tightly enough and our central defensive partnership doesn't work.

 

[shrimperjon]

The problem isn't lack of goals from midfield. It is a lack of creativity from midfield. McCormack has shown that he can score double figures in a good side. Christophe has weighed in with a few goals recently, the wide-players will also chip in. Where we will struggle is a lack of quality that Gower provided and defensively where we don't close down in midfield tightly enough and our central defensive partnership doesn't work.

Spot on, we must buy at least two midfielders, one on the wing and someone who can unlock the defence. selling Barney......no way!

 

[ShrimplyTheBest]

No value in selling Barney... if anyone we should be selling Walker! Cash in while hes got a few goals and other teams think hes good. He may actually be worth something while at best hes at best our 5th choice striker... let him go and give Ademeno a chance!!!

Shrimperjon is absolutely spot on - we need more creativity in the midfield! We also need to bolster the defence and if anyone needs to make way, for me it should be Walker!!!

 

[shaneyshrimper]

Defence definitely needs a kick up the ***. There should be more to choose from and create some competition for positions. Midfield needs a bolster but i feel with super Mac nearly 100% JFC can be his midfield buddy.

As for Barney, I cant completely agree with my neighbour in Eastwood. But i do worry about his injury time. A fit Barney is bloody good, but when we are only getting that half the season can this be justified?

This is just a blip in the teams performance and i am sure we will bounce back when they are fully fit

 

[DTS]

Can see no point in selling him. Hard to replace and think all we could expect to get is a nominal amount due to his injury record. A good striker on his day but one that sadly has injury worries.

In fairness I think he did play something like the first 14 without missing a game so it may just be a bit of bad luck he in now injured.

 

[yogi bear up the cagire]

Defence definitely needs a kick up the ***. There should be more to choose from and create some competition for positions. Midfield needs a bolster but i feel with super Mac nearly 100% JFC can be his midfield buddy.

As for Barney, I cant completely agree with my neighbour in Eastwood. But i do worry about his injury time. A fit Barney is bloody good, but when we are only getting that half the season can this be justified?

This is just a blip in the teams performance and I am sure we will bounce back when they are fully fit.

Unfortunately, I would like to but, I can't fully agree, see the piece I recently posted on last nights Official Match thread.

 

[mattytheshrimper]

It came to me tonight that would it not be in the best interests of this club to offload Barney in January if the opportunity arises?

I like Barney, I think he is a decent poacher at this level, and when he is fit and on form, he will score goals, given the service. Trouble is, he is almost on the treatment table as much, if not more, than he actually is on the pitch.

end of the day we knew he was going to get knocks here and there but he is a quality striker and if we sold him how would it possibly help us. last night proved how much we need a decent striker force. i could not bare to watch last nights game all season.

 

[OldBlueLady]

Would rather have a Barnard that's fit 50% of the time than a Harrold or Walker that's fit for a much higher percentage. That's honestly not denigrating them, he's just the type of player to really cause problems for opposition defences.

 

[Richard_Cadette]

No value in selling Barney... if anyone we should be selling Walker! Cash in while hes got a few goals and other teams think hes good. He may actually be worth something while at best hes at best our 5th choice striker... let him go and give Ademeno a chance!!!

Shrimperjon is absolutely spot on - we need more creativity in the midfield! We also need to bolster the defence and if anyone needs to make way, for me it should be Walker!!!

I completely agree, our problems definitely lie in the lack of creativity in midfield, and also our inability to defend correctly.

However, my post wasn't based on Barneys ability, or the ability of the team to create chances, it was about the fact that he is so injury proine, would we be better off getting rid and getting someone in who is more reliable? It is difficult to base your strike partnership around someone who is injured as frequently as Barney is - the problem there is that you cant build up a strong partnership between 2 strikers if one is on the treatment table as often as he is.

I believe if he could stay fit, he would be a huge asset to our club, but because he cannot be relied upon, does this not create instability within the side?

My post certainly wasn't nased on his ability, nor the fact that we may get a large fee for him - we won't, but his wages and place in the squad could be filled by someone who was more robust, thats all.

 

[Reg Martin]

I think Tilly would get rid of Furlong if he wasn't scared of him turning out to be another Michael Kightly

 

[leeblue]

I totally get what RC is getting at, barneys nickname is porcelain, he is probaly not as tough in fact, we got him on the cheap and pretty competition free because he is a walking injury, get rid I say and pay someone who will actually play, a decent centre back to play with barrett would be far more useful than a good striker who is always injured

 

[BoyWonder2]

I understand what your saying RC, but a fit and firing Barnard is one of the best strikers in this division. Yes he will pick up injuries along the way, but he stayed injury free up until recently this season.

The guy just oozes class. You can tell he was brought from a Premiership sides academy with his touch, and his intelligence.

The reason we signed him for a small fee is because of the injuries. IF Barnard wasn't a "sick note" we wouldn't have been able to sign him.

 

[leeblue]

the point being he is never fit and firing for more than a month really

 

[BoyWonder2]

the point being he is never fit and firing for more than a month really

Barnard was fit up until the Stockport game back in October. So August to October is over a month...

 

[Firestorm]

Barnard was fit up until the Stockport game back in October. So August to October is over a month...

To be fair, he did say Fit and Firing ,apart fron the last death consolation at wallsall he didn't really hit form until Hereford on September 13th. His last game before injury was Stockport on October 11th