Lee Johnson says they don't exist so where do they go? Almost 2500 games a season are played from league 2 level up so in the last 5 years alone 12500 ish games have been played by players in each position and yet they have all disappeared into a hole? ********
I believe David attenburgh is doing his next series on the elusive, experienced footballer. The first episode he started filming in the deepest darkest areas of Manchester, and is focusing on midfielders. The second episode is about left backs, And the final episode is about the critically endangered 20-goal lesser spotted striker. You heard it here first!
I have heard that Bear Grylls is doing a one off special where he delves deep into the bbs archives to find a funny or interesting post by thereev. Possibly his hardest ever challenge
They are so valuable and contribute so much, especially to young squads that clubs keep them and play them. We don't seem to value experience. I did a bit of a search a few weeks ago and was surprised how many 30+ age players are still playing in the Prem and Championship.
4 leagues worth of experienced midfielder cant all be playing in the leagues above us as well as the young players playing there unless the championship and premiership teams all name 11 midfielders in their starting 11 every week. Look at it this way, the average team has the same amount of central midfielder as it does centre backs yet there are plenty of older centre backs available so where have the midfielder disappeared to? My guess is they DO exist but we have deliberately tried to sign youth.
My point wasn't that they are all in Prem and Champ. My point as stated was I was surprised how many older players are regulars at that level. I agree in some respect and as I said in my post, I'm not sure we value experience.
But we are not just looking for any experienced midfielder are we. We are looking for one who is a lot better than those we already have. WE are looking for one worthy of a 3 year contract, around who we can build our team. We are looking for a particular type of experienced midfielder. We are looking for someone who is strong and who can hold his own, someone who can organise us defensively, someone who is tall enough to stop us being dominated in the air, someone who is still young enough to do the running from box to box. When we find this guy, he will be under contract until at least 30 June with his current club. His current club will want a fee for him, and if he is going to improve us, that fee will be substantial, perhaps even more than he is worth. That club knows our situation and if they are not under financial pressure themselves, they know that they are in the driving seat in negotiating the deal. Do we want to pay more for a player than he is worth, in the knowledge that he may be available at a lesser fee in the summer. When we have agreed a fee with his club, we must then convince the player that his best interests are served by joining us. If he is an experienced midfielder, he will already be playing at our level or above. He will be trying to make the most of his short career by maximising his earnings, and that means playing at the highest level possible. He is obviously better able to pick and chose his next move if he waits until his contract runs out, because he knows that he can demand a higher wage if his new club will not be paying a fee. At this time of year his agent will be advising him to wait until the summer unless something special comes up, something special being something too good to turn down. So shopping in the transfer market at this time of year is not a good idea. Any decent player who needs to move will get a better deal if he leaves it as late as he can when the transfer deadline imposes additional pressure on clubs to conclude deals. Our mistake was in the summer transfer window when we failed to conclude the deals we should have. If we are lucky, we may get players on long term deals. If we are not, they will be short term deals or loans. The sad thing is that we are now well down the pecking order. I know that we are all frustrated by it, but there is just no point in constantly bitching about it. From what I have heard from him, Lee Johnson is not a liar and I do not think that it does anyone any good to keep accusing him of it. By all means, analyse his statements, but give him the benefit of the doubt. It is a love hate relationship between the club and its fans, but a little more love and a little less hate would give you a better balance I feel, and a start would be to believe a little more and question a little less. It is not clever to be cynical. Nothing was ever built by the cynical. The builders are those with ideas and the determination to carry them through in spite of the cynics who insist that it will not happen.
Alternatively you must first identity problems before you can solve them. If everyone buries their head into he sand and pretends everything is fine then nothing will ever get better. Im at a loss as to why we are only looking for a player who ticks every single box and unless he ticks them all then we will plod along without anybody ticking any boxes. I wanted an house with 4 bedrooms, a huge garden, swimming pool, cinema and double garage. I couldn't find one that I could afford so I had a decision to make. Buy a smaller one that ticked the main criteria I needed or say '**** it they don't exist' and sleep in a cardboard box on a park bench. Funnily enough I chose the former, you are supporting the club in doing the latter
The club has wasted money at this time of year in the past by taking players that were not right. As I say, we are all frustrated but should we allow our frustrations to put us under so much pressure to make a decision, that we make yet another poor one. As I tried to illustrate above, the odds are very much stacked against getting the right long term addition when shopping at this time of year. That does not mean that we should not try and Johnson confirmed in his last interview that every British team had already been contacted in the search for the right addition. I am sure that we have not stopped looking, but there may come a time when we just have to accept that the permanent transfer market is out of our reach in January. I do not know, because like you, I have no inside knowledge on these things. However, if that time does come, and we are once again forced to use the loan market, I will accept that everyone has done their best. I will accept whatever statement the club makes because I do not think that they are deliberately lying to us. I hope that we can stay up this season, because failure in the January transfer window puts that in doubt in my opinion, and I hope that we will be more successful in the summer transfer market. But I know as a long term Barnsley supporter that I will be tested, and I accept that we are currently being tested more than for a number of seasons. The trick is not to let it make you bitter or cynical because that destroys your balance.
So if we say we can't sign anyone now because no one of sufficient quality available does this still count as one of the three Windows it will take to sort out the team. Onwards and upwards.
Mester Johnson talks utter carp....which is his prerogative. what gets me is people saying he speaks well!!! obviously some people didn't go to school very often if they think he speaks well. hth
Mester Johnson talks utter carp....which is his prerogative. what gets me is people saying he speaks well!!! obviously some people didn't go to school very often if they think he speaks well. hth
