And me. In the recent past we've had players like Wiseman and McNulty leave us only to slag off Barnsley at their first opportunity when interviewed at their new clubs. In the case of Wiseman he went as far as to say that he never wanted to be at Barnsley. These players were given the opportunity to play at a higher level, they were paid handsomely, probably on contracts the likes of which they could only previously dream about, yet they offered our club very little in terms of performance. That's OK, sometimes it just doesn't work out for players at a particular club, but to then criticise that club after all the opportunities and financial rewards they were given is not the mark of a true professional. Compare that to Luke Steele. This lad really did give his best for Barnsley. He wasn't perfect, like JLWBL said, but like he also said, no player that has ever put on the shirt has been. He was, however, an extremely competent player at our level and on numerous occasions went well beyond that and put in some genuine world class performances. In all his dealings with the press he spoke well of our club and our town and you couldn't ask for a better club representative. Radio Sheffield knew it and interviewed him time and again. Apparently, before he left for Greece, there were a number of Championship clubs interested in signing him and willing to offer the same wages he had enjoyed when playing for us at that level, but Luke loved Barnsley and wanted to stay. It wasn't until the opportunity arose for him to play for a club in Athens with the chance of European football that his mind was changed. Panathinaikos have taken a bit of a mauling on here, but they've qualified for the Europa League group stages. Luke is on the bench at the moment, but he's at a new club in a different country with a different culture, let's give him a few months to settle in before we write his transfer off as a failure. When Luke left he didn't slink away without giving us a second thought. He came back to the club and gave a long and in-depth interview, which, I don't mind admitting, I found quite emotional. It's easy to criticise footballers as mercenaries, only interested in the next big pay day, but unless Luke Steele is the best liar I've ever encountered, that lad genuinely cared for our club and our town. None of that means you should rate Luke Steele as a good player. Being a nice bloke does not make you a good footballer and we've all got our own opinions on what makes that. But to continue to criticise him after he has left, after all the hard work and dedication he put in to our club, after all the good words he said about us, well, I can't understand the motivation for that. As far as Davies is concerned, I haven't seen the lad make a single mistake yet. He made a couple in pre-season, but that's exactly what those games are for: a chance to blow away the cobwebs, to get your mistakes over and done with before the proper games start. I've no doubt Turnbull will soon be called up to the first team, we signed him as our first choice 'keeper, but from what I've seen of Davies, we've got a very decent understudy and a good prospect for the future.
We've been lucky that in recent times we've had players like Stephen Foster and Luke Steele who have been the antithesis of what we all think the 'modern' footballer is.
Excellent post. Remember the cup draw for the semi final, the cameras were live at Oakwell and Luke was praying we didn't draw WBA so he could play. The lad was punching the air with joy when we drew Cardiff.
i am sure they knew about his bad kicking etc..t's just that we are trying to get players with peanuts,so it's not like we could have signed ciasillas..i am also pretty confident they told him he would play to make him sign ,but seems like the 35 year old seems more stable to them for now..i have to admit from the few videos i've seen him he does some great saves but doesn't look too stable ,meaning he doesn't give much confidence to his defense..of course i may be wrong,you know him much better. by the way,what was his wage in barnsley? i am very curious because they didn't menton anything about his wage here,..i know we can't have given him much..
I have nowt but thanks and praise for Luke Steele, if only for Anfield that day will live with me for eternity. OK so we won 2 - 1... but had it not been for his heroics it may have been a cricket score defeat.... and that was his first game for us an all.Then we had the Chelski game at the 'Well..... He had his flaws yes, but we will do well to get one of his calibre. I am hoping young Davies shapes up well, he is showing real promise IMHO. Turnbull is a good quality keeper, but he is gonna be hard pushed to displace Davies for me. But as for Luke I will say just this, huge thanks fella and hope you do well.
Re: I have nowt but thanks and praise for Luke Steele, if only for Anfield Davies' kicking isn't great, but for me that isn't important. Unless he's kicking the ball like Schmeichel (John Hendrie..) all the time. I'm more interested in what he does between the sticks. And so far, he's impressed me. Slowly getting better with each game played. Which is all you can ask of a young player, especially a keeper so young with zero experience prior to August 9. He can keep the gloves for me until such a time as Danny decides otherwise.
Just thought I'd bump this thread. My old man was recently speaking to a friend of Steele's. He's apparently loving it over there, loves the lifestyle and the sun but says no one ever understands him and vice versa. He asked why he chose to move over there and Steele said he couldn't not do, apparently on 50K a week! Fair play to him, with the first team keeper 35 i'm sure he'll be pushing for his place in the next season or so. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Thanks for info! 50k a week, blimey - not 15k? As you say, fair play - top PL wage that surely!? Does he fancy coming back on loan
Was pretty shocked myself, just thought I'd share what I've heard. At least it's started a small debate aha Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
He is earning the same as he was at Barnsley !! No where near £50k a week, no where near even £10 a week, in fact less than £5K a week. In the words of the threev hope this helps ?
According to Wiki (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013–14_Panathinaikos_F.C._season), their average wage is 300k per player this season (5-k per week).