Zone Update Trialists

[fredheim_holm]

this is the great thing about this sort of forum, I could not disagree more, freedman showed last season (when fit) he could be our best player, his early form last season was excellent not just scoring but setting goals up too, if we can keep him fit Dougie could be massive for us

Well someone will have to go, I still think Walker has the potential to do well for us and Dougies legs are going. Laurent should definitely stay, as should Barnard and in my opinion Revell.

 

[turkishm]

How many players have we got injured now?
Scannell, Betsy, Barrett, Freedman, Sankofa, is that it?
5 player is a lot in any squad but in our squad of our size we can't afford it

And we aint even started yet

 

[palexander]

The other worrying thing is 2 tough games coming up at Barnet and Stevenage, with the smaller teams always willing to go in that bit harder.

Be alright if we could 'rotate', but it will be pretty much the same lineups for both games.

 

[Shrimper_Wez]

Rigters looks like he has the potential to be a great signing. Everyone keeps mentioning his lack of confidence, and if he can get that back I think he'd do some real damage to L1 defences. His record for Barnsley wasn't great (no goals in 19 games) but internationally for the u21's he has a strong (despite fairly short) record.

A few of you might remeber his last minute goal against England in 2007:

http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=750nKMaTqmg

http://www.uefa.com/competitions/under21/news/kind=4/newsid=554033.html

Tilly: Sign him up, we'd be foolish not to! Get some confidence back in him and he'll come up with the goods.

 

[yogi bear up the cagire]

How do we interpret ..............."we will be talking to him and making a decision shortly?" Could it be an offer of a one year contract, with the possibility of it being extended?

Sorry to persist with this but I didn't get any response to the above quote from Tilly, concerning the Rigters situation. If he says that he is going to "talk to him,"............... he therefore doesn't need to watch him again.........thus, can we assume that he will be proposing some kind of deal? If this was not the case, surely he would be shown the door, like Pearson and others. If Tilly IS going to offer him a deal................. what do you think it will be?

 

[Smiffy]

Sorry to persist with this but I didn't get any response to the above quote from Tilly, concerning the Rigters situation. If he says that he is going to "talk to him,"............... he therefore doesn't need to watch him again.........thus, can we assume that he will be proposing some kind of deal? If this was not the case, surely he would be shown the door, like Pearson and others. If Tilly IS going to offer him a deal................. what do you think it will be?

Sorry mate, but on the OS Tilly is quoted as saying "We will be talking about him and making a decision shortly"

So not talking to Rigters personally at the moment, just "in house" discussions amongst management I guess...

 

[palexander]

think you are right Yogi and I guess a sticking point may be wages, hence the 'talk'. He will be on a fair whack at Blackburn - not 1st team money, but you have to assume (figures out the air... 5k-8k a week, maybe more).

Can he drop down to circa-2k for League 1 football? I'd guess a lot of the 'talking' will be coming from Rigters side.

I'd be inclined to offer a heavy bonus type contract to give him a bit of motivation and us a bit of security.

 

[Shrimper_Wez]

Could be reservations on both sides. Tilly will be worried that he may flop (like at Barnsley) and so I doubt he'd commit to more than a year at this stage. The other question is if we do want Rigters; can we afford him? Sure he was on a fair amount at Blackburn and everything seems to come down to the money at the moment. Maybe Rigters has asked for more than Tilly can offer - I hope not though, i'd love to see him pull on a SUFC shirt and run Clarkey ragged on the first day of the season!

 

[Andy_S]

Could be reservations on both sides. Tilly will be worried that he may flop (like at Barnsley)

In fairness to Rigters he had injury problems for most of last season. Only 6 of his games for Barnsley were starts, 1 of which at West Ham in the FA Cup, and they brought him back from a hamstring injury too soon which knocked his progress back.

At League 1 level I'm pretty sure he'd be a real handful for defenders.

 

[Shrimper_Wez]

In fairness to Rigters he had injury problems for most of last season. Only 6 of his games for Barnsley were starts, 1 of which at West Ham in the FA Cup, and they brought him back from a hamstring injury too soon which knocked his progress back.

At League 1 level I'm pretty sure he'd be a real handful for defenders.

We should thank our lucky stars that he did have injury problems as far as i'm concerned - I don't want to belittle us as a club but I don't think he would even consider us if he was banging goals in like he seemed to for the u21's. Undoubtably a great player, I for one can't believe there hasn't been much hype of any sort around him.

Despite his quality, we still need to sort the back line as a priority!

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

I'd assume Tilly doesn't base everything on just a couple of pre-season matches, but from what he also sees on the training pitch.

Rigterscketts was a world class prospect a few years ago and has fallen a long way. He's worth a punt on reputation alone. We saw at the tail-end of last season that Barney like to play alongside a fast and direct player. Walker is still very inconsistent and it appears that Laurent might be getting more minutes on the wing.

I'd be very keen for Rigterscketts to come in. I wasn't at Dagenham but his pace, strength and movement impressed me no end against Ipswich. We haven't had a striker with as much upper body strength as him for some time. It was slightly embarrassing for Barney how he collapsed in a heap everytime a defender was up his back, whilst Rigterscketts swotted them away like they were flies. He'd give us the option that Theo gave us last season and it's an option we most definitely need in my opinion. The thing that might swing against Rigterscketts is the fact, against Ipswich anyway, that he didn't get any help from our players. The amount of times he made runs and shouted for the ball, only for our players to ignore him and pass to someone else was a little bit ridiculous.

As for Saah and Worley, I'd be keen for either of them to come in as our 3rd centre back, but I'm not sure I'd want either of them alongside Barrett every week. One average centre half is enough, I'm not sure we want a partnership of them. Clarke & Dervite to Barrett and Saah would be some drop.

The name "Michael Ricketts" might be in the forefront of Tillys mind as he considers making contract offers based on past reputations of people who have fallen from grace.

Exactly.

I wouldn't say never take a player on the way down. There can be value in taking a player on the way down - Spencer Prior would be the best example of this - but generally I'd be incredibly wary of taking a player on the way down.

Our best players in recent years have tended to been the Eastwoods, the Baileys and the Gowers. I'd go for a player who has succeeded at a lower level over one who has failed at a higher level.

 

[yogi bear up the cagire]

think you are right Yogi and I guess a sticking point may be wages, hence the 'talk'. He will be on a fair whack at Blackburn - not 1st team money, but you have to assume (figures out the air... 5k-8k a week, maybe more).

Can he drop down to circa-2k for League 1 football? I'd guess a lot of the 'talking' will be coming from Rigters side.

I'd be inclined to offer a heavy bonus type contract to give him a bit of motivation and us a bit of security.

We can only guess.............but if we want to put a positive spin on it, can we assume that, unless he was completely naive or stupid, Rigters wouldn't even bother coming for a trial at Southend, if he didn't understand that he was facing the likelyhood of a huge cut in wages, should a contract be offered?

 

[yogi bear up the cagire]

In fairness to Rigters he had injury problems for most of last season. Only 6 of his games for Barnsley were starts, 1 of which at West Ham in the FA Cup, and they brought him back from a hamstring injury too soon which knocked his progress back.

At League 1 level I'm pretty sure he'd be a real handful for defenders.

Thanks for pointing that out. I suppose that with us having such a reliable strike force of Freedman, Walker, Revs and Barnard to count on...............it permits us to bring someone in who is liable to injury ;)

 

[BoyWonder2]

Exactly.

I wouldn't say never take a player on the way down. There can be value in taking a player on the way down - Spencer Prior would be the best example of this - but generally I'd be incredibly wary of taking a player on the way down.

Our best players in recent years have tended to been the Eastwoods, the Baileys and the Gowers. I'd go for a player who has succeeded at a lower level over one who has failed at a higher level.

I can see what your saying, and I'd always like to pick up the diamond in the rough in the Blue Square Premier, get a couple of good season out of them and see them move on and big us a healthy profit.

Thing is though, his only 25. He still won't have reached his peak as a player, and would still have a burning desire to make it as a professional football and get back up to the top level. That is why I think his worth the risk. If he comes here, hits 15-20 goals and finds that belief again we would have done well and he may move on and would bring us a decent transfer fee in return.

 

[fbm]

think you are right Yogi and I guess a sticking point may be wages, hence the 'talk'. He will be on a fair whack at Blackburn - not 1st team money, but you have to assume (figures out the air... 5k-8k a week, maybe more).

Can he drop down to circa-2k for League 1 football? I'd guess a lot of the 'talking' will be coming from Rigters side.

I'd be inclined to offer a heavy bonus type contract to give him a bit of motivation and us a bit of security.

Maybe this is what Tilly means by waiting for players to get desperate.

He may once have earned a reasonable whack for a prem striker but when there is no contract offer on the table AT ALL then sooner or later a decision will have to be made. £2k a week is infinitely better than £72.45 jobseekers allowance (or whatever it is - you get the point).

I predict an absolute torrent of signings as we get nearer to the deadline and players, plus their agents, want deals done and dusted.

It's a game of cat and mouse. The agent wants the best deal for the player, the club want the best deal from their point of view and can't all hang around until the last minute. If players keep clubs waiting then they are likely to look elsewhere, leaving the player high and dry. The nearer we get to the deadline the more of a buyers market it becomes.

Personally I'd rather make do with a one month loanee and get the right player permanently for a price we can afford at the end of August than just splash out on anyone to keep the fans happy.

 

[MARKET HARBORO]

how about this, tilly signs both the centre backs and asks barrett to play lb, could happen you know

why barret at left back we got herd he done well saturday at dagenham and gives us more going forward

 

[BoyWonder2]

Problem is that leaves us with 6 strikers. Still would be happy to see Dougie retire, a good player in his day but if we have 6 up top then I can't see him getting a game.

So lets say come Friday our strike force looks like this:

Barnard, Freedman, Revell, Walker, Laurent and Rigters with Calver gone on loan to someone.

Barnard and Freedman are likely to pick up the odd knock during the season putting them out for a while, Revell is still coming back from a broken leg, Walker is coming back from a couple of hamstring injuries and Laurent is being used wide right.

Yes, its probably too much and the wages could be spent elsewhere. Personally I think Walker will still be sold or loaned out before the end of the transfer window.

With that selection of forward players it gives us a bit of everying. Barnard is your fox in the box, Freedman bring experience, Revell comes as a targetman, Laurent is unpredictable, Walker and Rigters bring the pace. Thats why I think Walker will be off if we can get Rigters to come here.

 

[fredheim_holm]

Question is, wouldn't you feel undervalued when that 6th striker walks through the door?

Can't be good for morale.

 

[BoyWonder2]

Question is, wouldn't you feel undervalued when that 6th striker walks through the door?

Can't be good for morale.

Not really, its competition for places and its something the current forwards should thrive upon. If they don't and they **** and moan, they can easily be moved on.

If your in playing well and scoring goals your the man in possesion of the shirt, if not someone will come in and take your place. Competition for places should make us a better team.

Just look at Flavs, he started to go a bit stale until Bart came in and gave him some serious competition for his spot.

 

[fredheim_holm]

Thrive upon 6 forwards at a club? It's madness. Thrive upon competition between 4, possibly 5, but 6!?