<table width="95%" align="center" border="0"><tbody><tr><td valign="bottom" align="left"><font color="#ff0000">Barnsley FC Bulletin Board</font> -> <font color="#ff0000">Bulletin Board</font></td><td valign="top" align="right">Message format FlatThreadedNested</td></tr></tbody></table><table cellspacing="0" width="95%" align="center" border="0"><tbody><tr><td><table class="bbstable" cellspacing="1" width="100%" border="0"><tbody><tr><td class="messageheader"><font color="#ff0000">BFCFan4Life</font> <font color="#ff0000"></font></td><td class="messageheader" style="width: 100%"><table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%" border="0"><tbody><tr><td><a name="M800170"></a><font color="#ff0000"></font> <span class="smalltext"><font size="2">Posted 28/9/2008 1:43 PM (#800170) Subject: What else can we do with Howard?</font></span></td><td class="smalltext" align="right"><font size="2"></font> </td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr><tr><td class="messagemiddle" style="height: 150px" valign="top"><span class="smalltext"><font size="2">Online Expert Posts: 3640 Location: Leeds University (</font><font color="#ff0000" size="2">86.151.91.3</font><font size="2">)</font></span></td><td class="messagemiddle" valign="top">The fact is that the club have put themselves in a position where they don't have a choice. Whether people believe it or not, I guarantee you (from the horse's mouth, not to me directly but to a family member) that Brian Howard did not want to sign a new deal. It didn't matter what we offered him, he wanted to leave. The club therefore were in a position where they should have sold him in the summer, and they didn't. If we got an offer of £1m+, then I can only assume that they didn't want to lose him until the return of Anderson. The summer was the mistake. Either tie him to a deal or cash in. This situation was always going to unfold when we did neither. Does that mean that I don't rate him or I think he's a w*nker? Or that I think Diego Leon is better than him? Not at all. He's given some fantastic memories, he's not a Barnsley lad, and if he can move to a bigger club or a club where he feels he can have more success, then he owes us nothing. He HAS BEEN our best player during our time in the Championship but I think its fairly clear that the situation this season has affected his performance - its not all down to his midfield partner, he's looked sluggish, unfit and unmotivated to me. But while I think we'll miss him, this situation has been developing and it stems from a failure to make a concrete decision over what to do in the summer to the point where, as far as I can see, we don't have a choice. Bring in a striker on loan who is capable of scoring the goals to replace Howards (and maybe take a penalty reasonably well!) and try to use the money in January to strengthen, and thats all that we can do now for me. Good luck Brian.</td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table>
the most annoying thing about this we need a striker malarky is we have just spent one of the biggest sums ever by this football club on a striker!! So are we all of the agreenment that Hume is not a striker then? To start with i was very unsure of hm and thought he looked lost but i feel hes coming good and will work out being a legend - hes looking better every game he plays - when hes not sedated anyway (even then hes better than oddjob). All hes missing is a decent partner. On saturday him and Macken showed flashes of brilliance - and if they can strike up a good partnership we really have got a strong forward line - im just a bit apprehensive about macken as hes been well under par this year and the penalty miss was always going to happen - he should never have taken it.
You have answered your own question Omen - Hume will probably come good but he needs a partner to play with and we havent got one for him! To answer one of BFCFan4Life' points - we only have posters on here telling us that there were any offers for him in the summer the club have said that there weren't any. If there were no offers then we couldn't sell him.
We need a striker to partner Hume. One striker can't do it alone. Hume's definitely a striker, and a good one. But we don't have anyone else at the club who suits partnering him. If the club got no bids, and Howard wouldn't sign, then this situation was just bound to happen.
15 goals in 9 games not bad so far for big stan, wonder how many KO would have scored out there or Macken for what its worth
