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Dale Stephens


Dazza82

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I love the fact that you all feel you can judge a player after a handful of games in a new team.

 

From friends who are Oldham fans, he really is a very good player. I think it would be a shame to lose out on him, the same way we did with players like Adam Hammill etc.

 

Wasn't Adam Hammill one of those players who came here on a seasons loan to give him playing experience, but without any suggestion that we would ever be able to sign him permanently? A bit like Danny Guthrie?

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With a view to permanent signing as stated when he signed.

 

Where have you got that from?

 

No mention of it from Saints or Oldham...

 

http://www.saintsfc.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10280~2323576,00.html

 

http://www.oldhamathletic.co.uk/page/NewsUpdate/0,,10337~2323535,00.html

 

Even Dale says in his interview on the day he signed...

 

"as far as I know it is just a loan at the moment"

Edited by Matthew Le God
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Where have you got that from?

 

No mention of it from Saints or Oldham...

 

http://www.saintsfc.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10280~2323576,00.html

 

http://www.oldhamathletic.co.uk/page/NewsUpdate/0,,10337~2323535,00.html

 

Even Dale says in his interview on the day he signed...

 

"as far as I know it is just a loan at the moment"

 

I think Nigel said in an interview that it was a loan with a view to a permanent deal. The manager and player may have been hedging their bets, possibly DS had promotion down as a factor in whether he'd sign or not. Will be interesting to see what happens, I thought he looked a very tidy and useful player in the few games I saw him. Not many players set the world alight in their first few games for a new club.

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Not in any interview I remember seeing. Do you have a link to this interview?

 

I said "I think" he said it, but I could easily be wrong. Thought it was on a radio solent interview just after Dale signed on loan, I wouldnt put my mortgage on it tho.

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Wasn't Adam Hammill one of those players who came here on a seasons loan to give him playing experience, but without any suggestion that we would ever be able to sign him permanently? A bit like Danny Guthrie?

 

It was more the fact that people here thought he was crap, a lot of posters seem to be quite myopic like this.

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I said "I think" he said it, but I could easily be wrong. Thought it was on a radio solent interview just after Dale signed on loan, I wouldnt put my mortgage on it tho.

 

I'm certain that we had the option to buy him. Oldham were/are strapped for cash and were looking for a bit of a windfall. It has gone quiet but I would like to sign him, as long as the price was sensible.... We are all very good at spending the Liebherr's cash aren't we! Lers hope we are not taking it for granted.

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I'm certain that we had the option to buy him. Oldham were/are strapped for cash and were looking for a bit of a windfall. It has gone quiet but I would like to sign him, as long as the price was sensible.... We are all very good at spending the Liebherr's cash aren't we! Lers hope we are not taking it for granted.

In the market we're still in, the wages are more important than the price. You ought to get the transfer fee back when the player moves on, if you buy wisely, but 10K a week for a player on a 3 year contract is 1.5M that you don't get back.

 

No need to bloat the squad.

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In the market we're still in, the wages are more important than the price. You ought to get the transfer fee back when the player moves on, if you buy wisely, but 10K a week for a player on a 3 year contract is 1.5M that you don't get back.

 

No need to bloat the squad.

 

How do you rate him, Hutch? I've been impressed with him so far, but I seem to be in a minority.

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When Dickson came to us I thought Mmmm he's not that good, however once you fit the system and you get a run of games they often turn out good.

I will leave it to Adkins to decide as he knows what he wants as he might want to bring in someone twice Dales class!

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When Dickson came to us I thought Mmmm he's not that good, however once you fit the system and you get a run of games they often turn out good.

 

Interesting as when I saw Dickson I knew straight away that we'd signed a good player. After 6 appearances I can't say the same for Stephens. Mind you everyone thought Pires was **** and in his second season he was one of the leagues best players. I guess it can take a while for some players to settle in and show their true potential.

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Dickson I believe was brought as our first choice left back or at a minimum to challenge Harding hard for the starting berth, but it never quite worked out like that.

 

He had a poor start topped off by the Man Utd debacle and he was not seen for weeks.

 

Fair play to him though, he fought back at the end of the season and put in some good performances.

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I think there's a good footballer in there, but he seemed to struggle to express himself in the role he was handed at Saints. I never saw him play at Oldham (accept against us of course) but his scoring record would suggest that he played in a quite attacking midfield role there. At Saints when paired with Hammond he was clearly expected to take the Schneiderlin style holding role with Hammond given more liberty to go forwards - unlike the Hammond / Chaplow pairing where Hammond took the holding role. I think he suffered in the role by a triple combination of not him being Schneiderlin, not knowing the playing style of the players about him, and of course it being an unfamiliar role.

 

Give him more time with the team - and perhaps pair him with Schneiderlin rather than Hammond - and he'll be a decent player IMHO.

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Stephens must have produced something at Oldham that made NA interested, but unless he has been convinced by the performances (unlikely) or on the training pitch, we're unlikely to see him again. There are a good few young players coming through from underneath the first team squad, and it is difficult to see why we should sign players from other teams who may or may not make it.

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