murphy

They have already met. He’s got a big future ahead of him. Games like this where he’s got to learn you’ve just got to go and do the hard yards, put your head on it, and go and compete against people like Kieffer Moore, which is a good learning curve for him, and not make mistakes. Garry Rowett again on Ben Nelson after a 1-0 victory in which he did not get bullied by Kieffer Moore and played the last ten with cramp. I think with youngsters you have to expect mistakes and consider it part of their development. They should not be held to the same account as seasoned pros. That said, I don't think that Nelson would be any less effective than Faes and Co.

No, iIt is a rebuttal of the idea that team selection on this matter has been dictated by accountants. It makes no sense. I think the manager has gone down the tried and tested (and found wanting) route, rather than trying to develop Nelson which is a shame imo. That or there is something else at play that we don't know about as @MPH suggests, such as refusing to sign a new contract for instance.

The most valuable potential asset of the lot is Nelson himself. Not playing him leaves us wide open to him walking next year. Faes and Vestergaard might be internationals, but we've tried to get rid of them before, for years in Faes case and despite his and our best efforts, it has been met, seemingly by radio silence. No one wants either of them and no one is coming for them in January. Their wages alone will see to that and they will walk for free at the end of their contracts. It would be spectacularly Rudkin to try to protect the values of worthless assets at the expense of a potential major one.

‘I’d love to keep him here but he will probably be in Leicesters first team next season’ ‘If he isn’t then he’ll be in the premier league. He’s outstanding he has a bright future’ Gary Rowett. Oxford manager.

My issue is not with one half of football, but the underwhelming nature of signing a nobody 4th choice striker with no outstanding attributes and nothing on his CV. I'm not expecting us to sign Erling Haaland, but stupidly, I did expect us to use some imagination and creativity in the market, perhaps someone raw with potential. To unearth a gem and failing that someone with a good record at this level. We have known that we were losing Vardy and we knew that we had a gaping void up front that needed filling urgently, we have had months and months to prepare and yet this is what we have ended up with. A deadline day afterthought. This is why I couldn't understand why people thought we had a good window. It was more about what we didn't do than what we did. I know we have our financial problems but we have just raked in, what? 60 million? I think within that there would have been unexpected bonuses for players like MacAteer and Justin that we probably hadn't budgeted on selling. Surely we could have done better. Getting this right is the difference between going up or not, imo. We have two of the worst strikers we have known in years and yet we seem to have conspired to bring in a third that is not discernibly better.

We should have just bought a proper striker in the summer.

Out wide? So who do you drop for him? He needs to be on the bench.

Genuine question. What attributes does Ayew have that makes you think he can be a ten?

We knew we were losing Vardy, we had months to prepare, we knew our remaining strikers were not fit for purpose so how is it that we managed to bring in the one forward that can't unseat Jordan bloomin' Ayew?

That's harsh. I don't loath him, I merely detest him.

You suspect right Also, I disagree with the strategy. Even if it made us slightly weaker I would play the long game to develop a player who has the potential to soon be several furlongs ahead of Lurch and Garfunkel and minimise the risk of losing a valuable asset for nothing. I don't think it would weaken us though. If Oxford fans are to be believed he was sensational for them and one ropey half, coming back from injury, doesn't negate that. If Nelson were that good he'd be starting? Not necessarily. Cooper dropped Ricardo and Fatawu.

I'll give you a) but I was there so I didn't get highlights and those misses were glaring! I became conditioned, Pavlovian style, to remaining slumped in my seat any time Akinbyi was sent clear one on one. There was no danger of him scoring.

Yes, I blame Taylor more than Akinbyi for our demise. Taylor was backed financially in a way that O'Neill never had been. It was the perfect chance to kick on, but we blew it on absolute rubbish, Akinbyi being at the forefront of those and he became the Steve Finn of football. A walking case of the yips and becoming so bad that he was basically laughed out of town. Btw, I'm sure that Sturbridge, Deane came after Taylor.

I think it's what we lost due to that signing. We had fought hard to become an established Premier league force for the first time in my lifetime. Akinbyi was the marquee signing for the Taylor revolution, a club record and emblematic of the unravelling of O'Neill's team and the wilderness years that followed. I remember scratching my head as to why we were going for that big lump of a forward from Championship Wolves at the time. There is a reason he became a joke figure here. It was the signing that sealed our fate more than any other.

You're saying that Akinbyi scored 9 in his second season? Wikipedia says that he scored 11 in 58 league games with us.

I think you're right. Luton were the worst 18th place finish with 26 points, beating Fulham's 28 and then we came along with 25. The worst bottom three were Luton, Burnley, Sheff Utd with a combined 66 points (previous worst 76 points). Ourselves, Ipswich and Southampton comfortably beat that with 59.

Spot on. After Enzo left, I would have expected a new manager to take one look at our squad, buy pace and decide that our best chance was to play on the counter. Scarcely believable that we bought plodders like Ayew and BDCR instead.

Agreed. I think those that say Ayew is not a nine and should play behind the striker would soon find out that he is not a ten either.

Stalemate is a situation where you have no options available to you. We do. Play him. It's not a risk, he is proven at this level. It will be a scandal if we lose a talent like Nelson because we chose Faes or Vestergaard who are both average and leaving soon, ahead of him.

If you think that, then you really haven't been paying attention.

I can tell you where you can put it. It was dismissive to say that it is' all in the past' like it was nothing. Live in the past if you want etc etc. It will never be 'all in the past'. It will still be talked about when you and I are gone.

Not so much in the past, as in the bank. Try to dismiss it if you want, but the miracle is ours forever and if you want to know what it was like, I suggest you ask your brothers. Life is about choices, Boy did you get that one wrong!

This from the Cov forum. And he's not wrong. Never seen such contemptible timidity..

Have you lot never seem a redacted post before? It was just a terrible joke. Worse than usual and I thought better of it. It was beneath me. Carry on.

So... Why do they call you Spanner?