Raich Carter

Hughes is a Prem / very top of Champ player for me (and going by his record). His wages will be the equivalent of about 8 players in L1. I suspect he'll have a long career tho - late 30's you'd have thought given his style of play so prob got 10 years left in him. And obviously, he'd tear-up L1 and the Champ. He'd be a cheat code. Won't happen.

I said this ages ago and got slated. I just don't see the quality given his pedigree. Don't care what the system is, he's experienced enough where regardless of his role, he should have more impact.

Does Asanovic have a son or distant cousin...? 😉 I'm not sure PW is into flair central flair players. It's all about the wide players for him I think. Sibs and Thomo - if they were going to kick on, they would have by now...? I rate them both and to be fair to them, they prob need a run in the side but difficult to accommodate with the competition in the squad.

With Bird going and Hourihane's contract up at the end of the year, I wonder if Adams + Fornah is his plan for next year? Suspect Smith will go too.

My mum grew up in a house in the 1930's that was, in my time, the car-park outside the C Stand/main office entrance. Me Uncle would store all the bikes in the back garden (had long gardens then) for a penny (or whatever the minimum currency was!). My dad wasn't into football so I was about 15 when I first went (without my parents knowing) so circa 1987. It was so utterly frantic I don't even know who it was against but as soon as I stood in the Popside, I thought 'this is a bit of me'. It was scary, loud and the away fans were utterly nuts. I knew absolutely nothing about football at the time (some would argue I still don't) but the energy and atmosphere was just addictive. It felt like being in a movie albeit a rough one! Was home and away most of the time until kids came along. My lad (now 21) is fascinated of my stories of the BBG - whilst he never experienced it, he says he misses it! I think that whole, raw, passionate thing has it's draw.

You can't say "Sensationalism doesn't change the facts" and then in the next breath say "How many chances did he get against Cheltenham? 1... and he scored it". You are literally using sensationalism to change the facts! And the facts are (as illustrated above) his chance to goal ratio isn't great. The stats say it, we've seen it. Anyway, this is done to death. You'll hear no more from me.

Kinda what I said. In my mind, at least.

<sigh>Ok, Collins is the new Drogba. Not a pretty average L1 striker. And McG was misunderstood his entire career apart from 2 seasons where he had a good goal scoring record. In 15+. Kinda getting away from my point but I'm not discrediting - just trying to temper the over-the-top comments about Collins, that's all. Honestly, I'm just saying that he's getting plenty of chances so let's not make him out to be something his not. That was it. A Ford Focus is a bog standard car. He's a Ford Focus of a player. He's 33 and playing in League eff'ing One! It might be harsh but it's true. Yet he's a million times better player than I'd ever be - harsh but true!

Like McG who got 20+ for us the season before. And if we stay in League One and put another bog standard forward up front next season, he'll get 20+ in a season too. Which is kinda my point - Collins and McG have both had their best seasons ever* in this team. The common denominator is the team. Ergo, it's the team, not the player. They're ok players - made to look better by having decent supply albeit in a team that's not quite gelled. Based on what I've seen of Collins, he's ok at this level but let's not carried away over one good finish as he's missed loads - that's all I'm saying. But it's fine - you lot crack on making out Collins to be Didier Drogba. I'll stay over here in my reality corner. *Admittedly, Collins had a decent scoring record in League One in a good Luton side previously but my point is based on what I've seen of his general play.

And missed how many in the last 2 seasons... Makes me laugh how fickle folk can be! He was roundly slated on here until recently.

At this level, he's ok but no more than that. Obviously he's scored a few of late and to be fair, is doing a decent job but let's not get over-excited - he misses plenty and can't win headers for toffee due to awful positioning and anticipation. He prob will get 20 this season but he's playing plenty of games in a team challenging for the title (albeit with room for improvement) - I think I'd get 10 in this side with the chances we're creating. I'm not slating the lad - just being realistic. He's a bog standard forward who misses quite a few and only gets the odd unexpected goal (e.g. the finish about is excellent).

Suspect it's based on 2 things: 1) Reduced weekly rate vs 1 year deal 2) Sports science team will have a proper view on his biological age, etc so they know

Not enough. Nothing close to their value (at the time, at least).

I meant as in Riggs early days at Derby. Can't predict the future youth 🙂

I was thinking that as I typed but I feel Cashin is better all round and as Srg says, Riggs was injured a lot. Although it's true that obviously they played at very different levels so guess the jury is still out until Cash plays at a higher level.