On the players who look set to join our club
As you may well know, we are reported to be close to the acquisition of two new players: Gary Madine and Craig Morgan.
These names haven`t stirred up much excitement at all; Gary Madine has thus far failed to make his mark in the Championship, and has spent time in prison which probably readied him for the gruelling life of a Blackpool player he had to live for the second half of last season. He scored 18 in a League 1 season and is at a decent age but a record of 3 in 15 most recently in the Championship is almost as bad as “Jermaine Beckford” (the reason for my use of italics is that I`ve come up with a new conspiracy as to why “Beckford” never managed to click at Bolton. Stay tuned, it`ll be published soon).
As for centre Craig Morgan, I thought we were linked with that old Sheffield United centre back who`s now part of their coaching staff, but it turns out that the Morgan in question played a large part in Rotheram`s survival this season. He`s obviously got a decent reputation, having represented Wales over 20 times, however much of his career has been played in the lower leagues of English football. I also don`t tend to get too excited about signing players against whom Joe Mason scored hat tricks, and to add insult to injury, Liam Trotter scored against them too (as well as Sheffield Wednesday, from whom we are signing Madine).
It is my understanding that the Madine deal is pretty much done, and will be announced shortly. Meanwhile, I believe that Morgan looks likely to sign too with Matt Mills off to link up with former manager Dougie Freedman who apparently doesn`t like re-signing players he`s worked with before. *cough* Beckford, Moxey, Garvan, Butterfield, Taylor? the list goes on.
Knowing our financial situation, we aren`t really in a position to compete for players who have done well at this level before. Dougie Freedman always complained about finance, but the reality is that he brought the likes of Baptiste and Tierney in amidst interest from other clubs, which would have increased our offer. Not to mention the millions he spent on Beckford, Spearing and Hall. This is our first season in the Championship where we`re not able to do so.
Madine, while he may have attracted the interest of fellow cash-strapped Birmingham City, has not proven himself to be a Championship player. Morgan, as previously mentioned just played his first season without relegation in the Championship. These players do not compare with the bosmans signed by Freedman and Coyle. Yes, we have been linked with Gary Hooper- a player on high wages who would be able to buoy us up 5 to 10 places in the league. However, it is worth noting that the board would only be able to sanction such payments in extraordinary circumstances- namely the oppourtunity to sign a player of this quality. It’s also worth noting that he’d sign on loan and we would probably only have to pay around 50% of his wages.
You have to question whether these players will end up being hidden gems, diamonds in the rough- whatever you want to call them. Their signings will either prove to be strokes of genius from Neil Lennon, or a depressing reminder of how far we`ve fallen and a ramp to further decline.
We shall have to see.
I`ll be off then, as Max has started chewing everything possible (congratulations to Barney Grumble for guessing his name correctly).