[Archived] Bentley

[LeChuck]

'Crewe Alex' of the prem is not a bad role model to aim for

It's not a bad thing to aim for at all, but it's terribly unrealistic.

Crewe had an excellent record of bringing players through their youth system, ours has shown no signs at all that it can produce players on a regular basis...certainly nowhere near enough to trust our financially security to, as Crewe have done.

[tony gale's mic]

It's not a bad thing to aim for at all, but it's terribly unrealistic.

Crewe had an excellent record of bringing players through their youth system, ours has shown no signs at all that it can produce players on a regular basis...certainly nowhere near enough to trust our financially security to, as Crewe have done.

but we have to look at why that's the case....what do they do right and we do wrong? we should have better facilities, a bigger pool of players since we get players from abroad too...and yet ours is still abysmal. even if ours is half as good as theirs in terms of effectiveness its something to aim for.

[thenodrog]

It's not a bad thing to aim for at all, but it's terribly unrealistic.

Crewe had an excellent record of bringing players through their youth system,

I prefer.... Crewe have an excellent record of unearthing talent, developing it, adding value and finally profiting from doing so.

Much the same as what I am suggesting we do but largely bypassing the youth bit.

[thenodrog]

However, we should not be looking to offload him at the moment as some on here sem to be advocating.

Me neither if you check my earlier post. All I am saying is that we need to choose the time and not (as has nearly always the case in the past) the player.

[T4E]

Preparing for the eventuality i.e. having other players in your sights who you could see being able to do a job at your club, and actively seeking to sell now or at any immediate future date are 2 different things though. We all accept that at some time we will have to sell David, either because we need cash, he really wants to go or we simply can't afford to keep him. However, we should not be looking to offload him at the moment as some on here sem to be advocating.

I'm only suggesting a different approach to a problem that you freely admit above will crop up at some point. In the current day with short transfer windows, you get a lot less time to reinvest any transfer proceeds you get - and clubs see you coming. My suggestion is that we get ahead of the game as it were, and ensure we make the most of every penny we spend.

As regards the correct time to sell - as we've discovered to our cost, long term injuries can occur at any time to any player, and can potentially destroy careers. Ask Matt Jansen. Who knows what he would have moved on for had he gone to the World Cup in 2002 and carried on playing at the same high standard as he was for us. £10m is a huge amount to a club like ours - can we afford to take the risk and miss out - again?

[Tango]

There's quite an interesting article with David Bentley in the Daily Mail today (don't judge me for reading what is essentially the fascist manifesto, I like their sports writers!), he comes across as being a fairly regular guy, passionate about his football. He also acknowledges that Blackburn have underachieved this season and that Hughes firmly believes Blackburn are a top four club. I can't find the article online sadly.

[thenodrog]

There's quite an interesting article with David Bentley in the Daily Mail today (don't judge me for reading what is essentially the fascist manifesto,

You didn't have to inform us that you are at University....... it's blindingly obvious.

But rest assured you will naturally cultivate a more balanced view on life as you mature Tango.

[Tango]

I've been meaning to edit that actually as I finished uni in the summer! And I blame my parents for having bought the Mail every Saturday since I can remember. Still, it's always good for a giggle, and I wait in earnest for the inevitable headline of "IMMIGRANTS KILLED DIANA", which I can only assume is the Holy Grail for any Mail editor.

Anyway, back to the Bentley article...

[Hasta]

Back page headline in the LET is "Bentley: Anything other than top 4 would be a failure"

And there was Dan Williams saying that the fans expectations are too high.

[tony gale's mic]

You didn't have to inform us that you are at University....... it's blindingly obvious.

But rest assured you will naturally cultivate a more balanced view on life as you mature Tango.

or you just become more embittered with the world as life goes on maybe...

[BiggusLaddus]

or you just become more embittered with the world as life goes on maybe...

That comes later.

Anyone else watching sky sports atm?

I've always thought that Merson was a knob and too stupid to work as a pundit - he just confirmed it. Any criticism of his beloved Arse is greeted with vociferous ad hominen attacks.

Today it was Bentley and Rovers' turn. Responding to Bentley's comments about his time at Arsenal being boring and not enjoyable, he says that enjoying football is about winning medals and going "20-30 games unbeaten, not getting stuffed at home to Coventry".

Now its Kenwyn Jones. He can't make any comment about players and clubs that are below Arsenal's level without sneering.

It really annoys me to see people who have been so lucky in life, first of all to have been blessed with the talent to play football at the top level, and then to have been dealt with so leniently when others have received lengthy bans for similar offences, behaving so arrogantly, and even worse than that being given a platform to sneer down at everyone else from.

[Roar of the Rover]

When Bretts not at right back, Bentley has one of his quite games.

[Wiggy]

When Bretts not at right back, Bentley has one of his quite games.

I'm confused Roar...what are you on about?

[broadsword]

Can you read Pip? Apologies if that comes across as rude, but I'm not quite sure how else to deal with that comment.

What I said was that we should look to line up replacements, then sell, thus reaping the benefits of doing it within our own timescales. Therefore, if the theory is followed, we would always have targets lined up, or we wouldn't look to sell.

Pretty straight forward I thought.....

Yeah, that does come across as rude ... and misplaced.

If we sell our best player, the players we'd lined wouldn't be so interested in signing. Pretty straightforward!

[T4E]

That's nonsense Bryan. Players signed for us the summer we sold Duff. If anything, having the whole World know we have money to spend is likely to result in more agents approaching us offering their players.

As Theno says, there's more chance we'd be seen as a club for players to prove themselves at before getting a shot at the big time.

[philipl]

Sorry, your argument completely fails me.

All clubs are contiunously looking for and lining up players all the time- why do you think the club employs 50+ people in and around the senior squad?

The only difference between what you are arguing and what is already happening is that you'd be out there actively trying to flog a player whom through his experiences at Arsenal doesn't want to be flogged at the moment.

And by the way I can read - even the nonsense which is your line of reasoning on this one.

[Roar of the Rover]

I'm confused Roar...what are you on about?

Emerton pushes more forward than Ooijer, he overlaps and gives Bentley an option.

[Exiled_Rover]

Emerton pushes more forward than Ooijer, he overlaps and gives Bentley an option.

Which he never uses. Speaking of which, did anyone notice him completely ignore Pedersen in the second half yesterday? It was a throw-in on the left wing, Pedersen comes all the way across to take it, but Bentley blanks him and takes it himself - wonder what that was all about.

[Roar of the Rover]

Which he never uses. Speaking of which, did anyone notice him completely ignore Pedersen in the second half yesterday? It was a throw-in on the left wing, Pedersen comes all the way across to take it, but Bentley blanks him and takes it himself - wonder what that was all about.

Most of the time he doesn't use Emerton but Emerton can still drag a defender away, which means Bentley can whip in one off his crosses in.

[AndyC]

That's nonsense Bryan. Players signed for us the summer we sold Duff. If anything, having the whole World know we have money to spend is likely to result in more agents approaching us offering their players.

As Theno says, there's more chance we'd be seen as a club for players to prove themselves at before getting a shot at the big time.

bryans point, was that if you sell your best players - very rarely do we replace them with players of the same quality..

when we sold duff -we bought 3 players, that all turned out to be nowhere near as effective as duff

[Jan]

Speaking of which, did anyone notice him completely ignore Pedersen in the second half yesterday? It was a throw-in on the left wing, Pedersen comes all the way across to take it, but Bentley blanks him and takes it himself - wonder what that was all about.

That has been the case with most of the team who plays on Gamst's side of the pitch for a good part of the season. Warnock uses Gamst only as a very last resort, Dunn ignored him yesterday too, and I've seen Nelsen do it. We've been hampered by playing with only 10 men for most of the season. I'm all for encouraging people to come into form, but really!!

[philipl]

T4e's wish coming true?

OK I am being naughty but batten down the hatches- here comes Keegan with Ashley's wadge.

[S15]

I hope he comes in with silly money and we sell.

We need new quality new blood more than we need to keep Bentley IMO.

[bob fleming]

"IMMIGRANTS KILLED DIANA....

....AS HOUSE PRICES CRASH"

[joey_big_nose]

I hope he comes in with silly money and we sell.

We need new quality new blood more than we need to keep Bentley IMO.

Why would we want to sell our best chance creator by a long chalk?