Pass of the season..

I styled mine this way to keep you company

 

Nobody can keep up with mine. Styled on Chris Shuker's.

 

Mine's more along the lines of Wayne Rooney. We've got the same amount of chins too.

 

Jacob's as skillful as the other midfield players you've mentioned. More so, maybe. But to play in the premier league you not only have to be a great footballer, you also have to be a superb athlete. Compared to the likes of me and thee, Butterfield is a superhero - faster, more stamina, we'd be blowing out of our arse after 2 minutes trying to keep up with him and we'd probably get nowhere near. He's easily got the physical attributes to not only play, but also star in the Championship. He's a very fit bloke. But the Premier League requires summat a bit extra and I'm not sure he's quite got the speed, strength and leather lungs it requires. He's not a million miles away, he might get another opportunity at it and do OK, but the midfield players you've mentioned have got the edge on him in that department.

Butterfield is one of my favourite Barnsley players since it all started to go tits up after the defeat to Ipswich in the play-off final. I don't give a crap if he never makes it a Premier League level because in the Championship, where I've seen us play more than any other division, he's a cracking player. It's good Championship players we need to keep producing. If we'd offered him a decent contract a year before we got around to it, we might never have been relegated. We would still have struggled to keep hold of him, but we might have received what he was worth when he was inevitably sold, rather than what we could get.

 

He must be about 400 years old now, brings back memories of watching football as a bairn (when you didn't need a sky subscription to watch it) and he can't have been particularly young then either.

 

I wish you'd seen him this season regularly. Seriously, the lad's all round game has improved dramatically. I do accept your doubts though, as I've had them myself until recently. He isn't a quick player (physically). That's a fact. He's not slow or owt either. But you can't help but wonder how easier he'd find things were a yard quicker. He is in mind and feet though. Quicker than most footballers I've ever seen. And he's definitely got the lungs these days. He tops all the fitness testing ******** that they do, hasn't an ounce of fat on him. And as I've no doubt said before, before Keith Hill got hold of him he was well overweight that pre season, for a footballer. He changed his lifestyle that summer, and the success it brought him obviously convinced him to continue eating the right things and putting extra sessions in on the training ground/in the gym etc. He's completed 90 minutes in every game this season, barring two games I think, where Powell brought him off in injury time to receive an ovation from the fans. He's not Brendan O'Connell, he won't just run and run all game and I think Delph has a much better engine. But the Jacob you saw for Barnsley has matured into the complete (for that level) central midfielder. Statistically, he is rated 4th best in his position in that division, behind Ritchie and Arter at Bournemouth, and Leadbitter at Boro. Not bad for a lad playing for also-rans. One telling stat - he's made more key passes than any other footballer in the football league this season.

However, I'm with you totally on strength. He's still too easily knocked off the ball for my liking. And, there's been the odd game where I think he's been bullied out of it. I noticed it at Wigan. Town won the game, he played well with the ball. But without it, he wimped out of 50/50's and just didn't seem arsed to do that side of the game. I was pissed off after the game, fell out with the missus obviously. But it riles me when I don't see him putting graft in, because his talent will always be there, but to get it out regularly you have to marry it with application. In the top flight, I would worry that he'd be forced out of the game, bullied etc.

Ask the lads on here who know me, and they'll tell you that whilst I'm biased, I'm honest in the end. And, up until this season I've always said I don't think he's Premier League quality, and for the reasons you said. But I've been won around this year. He's just added different things to his game and the fact he's still chasing opponents down in the 95th minute of games makes me smile.

I hope he stays at Town, becomes a bit of a legend for them and retires there. But I know he himself still believes he's good enough to play at the very very top. He knows how much of a risk it is though to jump ship. I hope to see him in August in a blue and white town shirt. Might sound daft, because surely it'd be perfect for me if he played again for my club. Free tickets, acccess to the club/players again. But seriously, I wouldn't wish all that on a regular supporter, which is all I am. You end up finding things out that you wish you hadn't. You build relationships with folk which affects your support etc. It's wannk.
Oh, and I'd be getting badgered 24/7 on here/twitter etc whenever he played ****.

Final point - the missus used to read this forum all the time when he was here. You and BigLil were her favourites.


I'd best end my love-in of her son for now. I know it grates on some.

You Reds.

 

Etched forever in my memory for his commentary of the Marcelle goal, and the O'Connell brace vs Sheff Utd. Legend.