Do you think this might be saints?

[doddisalegend]

unnamed league one side could it be us?

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/t/torquay_united/9207245.stm

 

Nigel is supposed be good at spoting strikers and turning them in to the finished article isn't he?

[Appy]

I hope so, he looks a cracking player.

[Nexstar]

Sounds like just what we need, would depend on how much Torquay can hold out for

[Window Cleaner]

Could be any team although some might tell you it's Dagenham .

[hypochondriac]

I really really really want adam le fondre.

[Saint_Jonny]

I really really really want adam le fondre to squirt all over my face

 

Bit heavy, that.

[scotty]

Bit heavy, that bukkake lark. I'm glad I only stayed for the first half-dozen to finish off, barely had room for my supper afterwards

 

where were you Jonny? Brighton?

[hypochondriac]

where were you Jonny? Brighton? I only ask because it's my spiritual home. I love a bit of a bum in Brighton, the mincing capital of England.

 

Scotty too hotty.

[scotty]

Scotty too hotty.

 

lol, sorry about the other night mate, I thought you could take it.

 

 

 

And you did......

[scotty]

.... thats another thread hijacked. Sorry Doddsy

[Saint_Jonny]

where were you Jonny? Brighton? I was looking for you, I was walking round with a total rager! Then I saw this hot black guy and I blew my load right there in the street, so I gave up and went home.

 

Woah dunno what your on about mate...!

 

 

Back on topic. Yes, it could be Saints...

[doddisalegend]

.... thats another thread hijacked. Sorry Doddsy

 

Well I have to admit I hadn't expected this thread to spark a mass cumming out of forum memembers.

[Golden Balls]

Back to the subject

 

My mate whos a Torquay fan has rated him highly for a couple of seasons now.

[doddisalegend]

Back to the subject

 

My mate whos a Torquay fan has rated him highly for a couple of seasons now.

 

what sort of striker is he? a Lambert type or pacy one ?

[scotty]

what sort of striker is he? a Lambert type or pacy one ?

 

never mind that, is he a looker?

[hypochondriac]

never mind that, is he a looker?

 

My female housemate informs me that saints currently have a team of lookers. I wouldn't want him to upset the balance.

[Turkish]

8 goals in L2? Hardly prolific.

[Dalek2003]

8 goals in L2? Hardly prolific.

 

 

We are an ambitious club.

[Legod Third Coming]

I will get excited when we sign someone I have heard of - ideally a Paulo di Canio type who will put 10k on the gate, scare the feck out of our opposition and indicate to the world our status as a RICH club...

[benjii]

I will get excited when we sign someone I have heard of - ideally a Paulo di Canio type who will put 10k on the gate, scare the feck out of our opposition and indicate to the world our status as a RICH club...

 

Yeah, someone like Sol Campbell. It's bound to be a good idea.

[scotty]

I will get excited when we sign someone I have heard of - ideally a Paulo di Canio type who will put 10k on the gate, scare the feck out of our opposition and indicate to the world our status as a RICH club...

 

agreed, but to be brutally frank I wouldn't hold your breath.

[st alex]

His goal ratio looks average, and at 23 he's unlikley to improve much, so on the surface doesn't look any better than what we have already, but without seeing him can't judge for sure.

[corsacar saint]

If a league 2 player is the height of our ambition,then god help us.

[MarkSFC]

If we only sign one player in Jan it needs to be a striker who's basically been there done that etc. LeFondre, okish, Austin, okish. A REAL statement of intent required by NC and the Leibherr Family that they/Saints mean business and will spend. Build the the team and the fans will come. Their cash is the fuel to success over the next few months and beyond. Putting a fiver in the tank once in a while just to get to work and back means st some point in the very near future you'll probably breakdown!!

[Saints foreva]

statement of intent

 

I am getting so bored of seeing people say this.

[CB Fry]

I will get excited when we sign someone I have heard of - ideally a Paulo di Canio type who will put 10k on the gate, scare the feck out of our opposition and indicate to the world our status as a RICH club...

 

I think we should sign Michael Owen.

[Badger]

If a league 2 player is the height of our ambition,then god help us.

 

I bet Swindon said that when they signed Charlie Austin- after all, he was only from non league.

[david in sweden]

unnamed league one side could it be http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/t/torquay_united/9207245.stm

Nigel is supposed be good at spoting strikers and turning them in to the finished article isn't he?

 

 

well he fits the bill for the " new player-profile we have. Under 25 / 25 ish, over 100 games..34 goals isn't so bad especially in a team like Torquay, and he shows some consistancy without being a world beater.

 

It might be us bidding ..let's face it ..who else in this League has money enough and would go down to the west country to buy a player ? Tell me ..he's 6' 3" and I'll be convinced.

[Wes Tender]

If it were us after him, I'd be decidedly underwhelmed. If we got a 16/17 year old kid with the sort of potential of AO-C or Lallana when we got him in as a kid, then fair enough. As it is, where we are now, we ought to be setting our sights a bit higher than a fourth division striker.

[Saint in Paradise]

Swindon, as a replacement for Austin who will be sold in January to a Championship team.

[Wade Garrett]

I wouldn't exactly be wetting myself over the signing of a 23 year old who has scored 34 goals in 116 games at a lower standard than league one.

[Turkish]

I wouldn't exactly be wetting myself over the signing of a 23 year old who has scored 34 goals in 116 games at a lower standard than league one.

 

i take it you didn't get your fiver back?

[NickG]

Swindon, as a replacement for Austin who will be sold in January to a Championship team.

 

sounds possible

[scotty]

i take it you didn't get your fiver back?

 

[jam]

If a league 2 player is the height of our ambition,then god help us.

 

Could be worse, Reading have been trawling around the non-league - they signed that lump Antonio from Tooting and Mitcham..!

[Turkish]

Could be worse, Reading have been trawling around the non-league - they signed that lump Antonio from Tooting and Mitcham..!

 

and what were Leeds and Swindon playing at signing those wasters beckford and Austin FFS.

[supersonic]

and what were Leeds and Swindon playing at signing those wasters beckford and Austin FFS.

 

Leeds signed Beckford from S****horpe didn't they?

[Window Cleaner]

Leeds signed Beckford from S****horpe didn't they?

 

nope, he was only on loan at S****horpe, from Leeds, came from a non-league club to Leeds.

[Turkish]

Leeds signed Beckford from S****horpe didn't they?

 

Wealdstone, Leeds loaned him to S****horpe and Carlise in his early days there.

[Jez]

Ian Wright played non league football ffs!!!

[The9]

My female housemate informs me that saints currently have a team of lookers. I wouldn't want him to upset the balance.

 

My missus informs me she thinks they're pretty much all minging. I think I'll use "gopping" actually, it's long been a point of concern to her that we never sign any attractive players.

 

Not that it's relevant.

[benjii]

And how many times have statements like that been proved to be stupid?

 

Firstly, why does signing a L2 player make them the height of ambitions, when we've already signed Championship players?

 

Secondly, Morison or Austin wouldn't have been bad signings from non-league would they, let alone L2.

 

Solely looking at L2 would be worrying. Signing a good prospect who happens to be in L2 or the Conference is fine by me.

 

Exactly. Dinlos of this thread, take note.

[The9]

Ian Wright played non league football ffs!!!

 

But that was in an era before every club in the country signed up all available talent to an academy almost before the conception.

 

The long and short of it means that any player coming through at a non-League club is likely to be flawed in a way that was identified when they were young - which tends to rule them out of playing at a high standard .Talent level is identified fairly accurately and a player has to show significant improvement on the expectation for a reasonable amount of time to get a look-in higher up, unless "the problem" is something they can eradicate (like attitude, for instance).

 

Thurrock's U-18s had some tiny players who would probably have no chance of getting in the Saints academy due to stature alone.

 

The days of players "slipping through the net" like Ferdinand and Wright are gone, though there has to be something said for Aaron Martin and Charlie Austin to a certain level, I guess.

[ottery st mary]

Austin was at Reading before dropping into non league....Hungerford and Poole.

 

So in effect his ability had been spotted during his teenage years.

 

Lucky lad proved Reading wrong.

[JibMcdo]

Torquay fan here, using my brother's account who is a Southampton fan.

 

The bidding team is Dagenham.

 

He's not good enough to play in a top League 1 team. Although to be fair to him he is improving every game and a lot of the 116 appearances he's made or whatever it is were from the bench in our non-league days. The fact he's now a 20 goal a season striker in the Football League speaks for his improvement. But Southampton won't be buying Benyon.

 

You lot may vaguely remember him from our game against you in the JPT last season where he missed a one on one in the final minutes to win it in front of the Northam. Gutted.

[thesaint sfc]

where were you Jonny? Brighton?

 

 

Nothing wrong with a squirt to the face.

[Badger]

I think we should sign Michael Owen.

 

He'd be the best striker at the club,if he didn't spend so much time in the treatment room.

[The9]

Austin was at Reading before dropping into non league....Hungerford and Poole.

 

So in effect his ability had been spotted during his teenage years.

 

Lucky lad proved Reading wrong.

 

Cheers, didn't know that. Supports the argument nicely.

[Wes Tender]

But that was in an era before every club in the country signed up all available talent to an academy almost before the conception.

 

The long and short of it means that any player coming through at a non-League club is likely to be flawed in a way that was identified when they were young - which tends to rule them out of playing at a high standard .Talent level is identified fairly accurately and a player has to show significant improvement on the expectation for a reasonable amount of time to get a look-in higher up, unless "the problem" is something they can eradicate (like attitude, for instance).

 

Thurrock's U-18s had some tiny players who would probably have no chance of getting in the Saints academy due to stature alone.

 

The days of players "slipping through the net" like Ferdinand and Wright are gone, though there has to be something said for Aaron Martin and Charlie Austin to a certain level, I guess.

 

A good response to all those who believe that it is stupid to dismiss the possibility of us signing a player from the fourth division as unambitious. As I said, I'm quite happy for us to pick up promising youngsters and to develop them as teenagers, but a 23 year old that is starting to knock in goals in the fourth division doesn't fill me with excitement that he could do it at a higher level. The exceptions that have been cited, are those who prove the rule and are noteworthy purely for being the exceptions.

[The9]

A good response to all those who believe that it is stupid to dismiss the possibility of us signing a player from the fourth division as unambitious. As I said, I'm quite happy for us to pick up promising youngsters and to develop them as teenagers, but a 23 year old that is starting to knock in goals in the fourth division doesn't fill me with excitement that he could do it at a higher level. The exceptions that have been cited, are those who prove the rule and are noteworthy purely for being the exceptions.

 

I'm not saying that no-one below where Saints are is worth signing, just that they're unlikely to be successful higher up unless they show significant improvement on what's gone before.

 

Obviously with football being a meritocracy the best performers almost always rise to the top in the end anyway, whether via transfer or their club being successful due to their individual performances, but information and "intelligence" on players is widely known and distributed and there just aren't that many surprises any more.

 

Which is not to say there aren't players in League 2 who are good enough to do well in League One and the Championship, it's just whether the timing and circumstances are suitable and the risk is worth taking. If we bought a League Two player now who had, say, "top of League One ability" there aren't many who would expect him to go straight into the side and the assimilation might not be worth the effort if we ended up being promoted and he can't then step up to the Championship.