FAO Whitey re- foreign players

A couple of week ago you mentioned that you thought BFC could use the overseas market.Was that your thoughts or maybe a bit of inside info.? I only ask after we'ed been linked with the lad from Australia.

 

Not sure who asked him, might have been Hicksy, but he said we were after quality footballers and quality people and that it didn't matter where they came from but mattered what they did on the pitch in a BFC kit. That he would look overseas as well as across the UK.

So no, he didn't give any inside info. As I said before, he was very friendly, very open but none of us asked him for 'info' as such and neither did he present us with any. He gave us his thoughts on whatever current player we put to him, for instance I asked what he thought about Digby and he reiterated what he'd said to the media, that Paul was thought of as useless by our fans but seen as exceptional by the England setup and coaches at clubs all over the country, and that it was more likely that in reality, Digby was somewhere inbetween, and if that's the case then we've still got one hell of a player on our hands who "give me 6 months with him and I'll try getting him closer to exceptional than useless...".

I was in the bog when Roy asked about Jennings, I'll leave him to tell you what he said. But aye, he just gave his opinions on players and through that we made educated guesses on the retained list. And nothing on it once released surprised us.

Only other stuff he said was again opinions on where he saw us improving, his aims and remit for next season and his opinion that Leroy Lita was a bellend who'd had the clubs pants down last summer.


He's spoken with umpteen random reds fans around BFC recently and whilst I appreciated bumping into him that night I can't tell you I know anything more than what I've shared already. Some folk PM'd me at the time and I told em everything he said, but at that precise time we were still playing, the retained list wasn't public and so I wasn't going to go into much detail on here publicly.

As the chelper says, hope this helps.

 

How ***** is it to read our fans think digby is "useless". I don't think that's the case. He didn't live up to expectations this season but after being out so long with injuries it's hard to be surprised by that.

He clearly has bags of talent and potential. Just needs right coaching and fitness levels up and he'll be superb for L1.

Hoping Jennings can find fitness and form. Both him and Digby could be like 2 new signings.

 

Digby is yet to have a good game for us, in all honesty. Best I've seen him play was away at Derby as a substitute under Keith Hill. I do think there's a player to work with though, and I don't think he's been as poor in some games as others do. Bradford away recently, I thought he did well before being taken off. He's under contract for another couple of years and it makes sense to try and develop the lad especially if he's so highly thought of in England. If for example he starts the season and his mobility has improved and he looks the part for us in a winning eleven, you'd expect big money for him in January. Alternatively, he could remain the enigma he's been for four years now and rarely impact upon the starting lineup.

I get the feeling Jennings is only here because on the wage he's on he's unwilling to take anything else. Why would he? It'll be the last big money salary he'll get. But he's clearly talented and with the right attitude and application we might still get some money's worth from him next season, despite the last two seasons giving us evidence that that'll be unlikely.

 

Thank you.

 

When Digby first came into the first team as a 16 year old I said he was the best young player I'd seen since David Hirst.

He looked fantastic - big lad full of energy.

Since then he has had loads of injuries and I suspect this is because of his size - often tall lads muscles and tendons don't grow as quickly as their bones and it can lead to all sorts of problems.

He cant be that bad if hes been in the England set up - he just needs time to adjust to his body.

It doesn't always follow that a brilliant young player turns into a decent professional footballer - but if Digby reaches his potential, coupled with the size of him, then we will have a reight player on our hands

Not many tall players make it in midfield. Players such as Patrick Vieira are quite uncommon. Probably Digby may be more suited to a centre backs role?

 

Should have made the point that I meant of the games I'd seen. He was summat else against Brugge the other summer too.

 

Would like nothing more than Digby to kick on this season and realise his undoubted potential.

I worry that his injuries could set him back like Miles Addison.