It increasingly looks like the failure to sign Gordon Greer has been the most........

.............important incident of this season

Or if not Gordon Greer.........then someone with those qualities

If Keith Hill thought we needed him at the start of the season............he must now be desperate for someone like him

 

Re: It increasingly looks like the failure to sign Gordon Greer has been the most....

So why has he brought another three midfielders in since then?

 

Re: It increasingly looks like the failure to sign Gordon Greer has been the most....

I think it's the failure of signing a centre half full stop really. I really don't understand why we decided to send Collins and Edwards out on loan either when we were crying out for someone to come in, this was while McNulty was still injured too.

Signing only one defender this season, despite shipping the number of goals we did last year is pretty poor. But even then, Cranie has played a large part of the season in midfield, and for me thats his best position.

Apologies I forgot about Kennedy, but then again, he's not played much either. I liked the look of McNulty last season, although he did have his moments, I just feel Foster is past his best and Wiseman is a worser centre half than he was a full back. The only one for me that looks better than last season is Golbourne, who despite some criticism, has been a consistent performer.

A Leeds supporting mate of mine said at the start of last season, that Leeds wouldn't do well because they hadn't changed their back 4 from the season before. As soon as they did, their form picked up, they offloaded Richard Naylor to Doncaster (who were obviously relegated), and strenghthened. We must do the same in January.

 

Re: It increasingly looks like the failure to sign Gordon Greer has been the most....

Did he really fail to sign him, wasn`t it a derisory offer that was made to test the water.

 

Re: It increasingly looks like the failure to sign Gordon Greer has been the most....

Golbourne is better going forward than he is defending. I've lost count of the number of times he stands off his man around the edge of the area and allows him too much time and space.

In purely defensive terms, he's as culpable as anyone else this season, but it's a trade off between this and his attacking threat and workrate that keeps him in the team and saves him from more abuse, IMO.

 

Re: It increasingly looks like the failure to sign Gordon Greer has been the most....

The offer was described as derisory (wasn't it something like £50k, from memory?) I'm not sure we ever went back after that with an improved offer. It all seemed to die a death after the initial "offer" was turned down.

Not sure if it was lack of funds, or lack of interest at paying a higher price that killed it.

 

Re: It increasingly looks like the failure to sign Gordon Greer has been the most....

I think that was the first reported offer we made in the Summer, so you would have thought he would have moved on to No 2 on his list of central defenders, seems like he then had the brainwave of trying to turn Wiseman into himself, which he did quite well cos Keef were only average at best but Wiseman would have murdered him for pace.

 

Re: It increasingly looks like the failure to sign Gordon Greer has been the most....

I agree 100%. When it was announced that we were after Greer as a big centre half who would 'be the boss on the pitch,' I thought this the most important signing and a key clue that the penny had dropped with Hill. I cannot then understand why we did not pursue another similar player when that deal fell through. The acquisiton of left-sided players and midfielders has Spackman written all over it and we know what happened to him, even though he had all the right connections, as well as a good reputation as a coach. Cranie was a move in the right direction as a defender, but the rugged and intimating central defender was and is what we needed from the start. This is what has ultimately cost us and the error of judgement, or lack of opportunity in the transfer marker, whichever way you want to call it, could cost Hill his job unless things improve.

 

Re: It increasingly looks like the failure to sign Gordon Greer has been the most....

My view is that ALL the defenders are decent players including McNulty and Wiseman..........I think Golbourne is an absolute star
However, its obvious that there needs to be a tall commanding presence in the heart of the defence - a presence that can calm the ship, can win headers and can basically be heard in TK Max in the middle of town while shouting at the players on the pitch.

A player like that and all the defenders around him would improve

 

Re: It increasingly looks like the failure to sign Gordon Greer has been the most....

So how do you explain our failure to sign one?

 

Re: It increasingly looks like the failure to sign Gordon Greer has been the most....

Can only assume.........none thought to be good enough with the amount of money we have to offer ???

 

Re: It increasingly looks like the failure to sign Gordon Greer has been the most....

Greer's Brighton have let in less than a goal a game....

 

I think that is where a good leader is worth his salt.

They can help people such as Golbourne through the games, and also help them improve.

The captaincy issue has been a major problem for a number of seasons IMHO.

 

Re: It increasingly looks like the failure to sign Gordon Greer has been the most....

More chance of signing jermane Greer or whatever her name is! ;-)