[Archived] Leon Best

[West Yorks Rover]

I agree but if he's so cock sure of himself you'd think he'd have a better attitude, apply himself properly and fight for the place. With his record and the current encumbent, he's hardly a shoe in. Fair play to Bowyer IMO, there can only be one gaffer and that's what has been needed for a long time.

Whoever bought him should be shot, we paid way over the odds at £3m, with his poor scoring record 750k -£1m would maybe have been more

appropriate and then perhaps he might not have been so cocky.

[cn174]

I'm sure if he plays on Saturday and scores the winner he'll be worth £3m

[chaddyrovers]

A test of Bowyers man management skills here. He is a 3 million investment that needs justifying and that falls at the feet of Bowyer unfortunately. Needs to be sorted out and given more time on the pitch to prove himself. At this moment, that is the only solution.

I'm astounded people can judge him already... I'm not sure how that's possible.

Would be useful come Saturday.

wasn't a Bowyer signing to start with.

Plus he isn't going to start many games at Rovers if any. Rhodes will be first choice for Rovers and with Bowyer playing 4-2-3-1 formation not sure where you can play Best. the bench is the best Leon Best can hope for.

His attitude stinks and needs to be better and understand he must wait for his chance and prove to Bowyer that he should starting more not mouthing off at Bowyer after defeat saying he picked the wrong team against Doncaster cos Bowyer didn't but the players didn't perform at all

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

He's played 8 times for us and was injured for most of last season. So it's incredibly harsh even by rovers' fans standards to write him off....

Did you watch England last night ? If so how many games do you need to see that Lambert isn't international class. That's how you can see Best is a waste of a shirt.

[Neal]

wasn't a Bowyer signing to start with.

Plus he isn't going to start many games at Rovers if any. Rhodes will be first choice for Rovers and with Bowyer playing 4-2-3-1 formation not sure where you can play Best. the bench is the best Leon Best can hope for.

His attitude stinks and needs to be better and understand he must wait for his chance and prove to Bowyer that he should starting more not mouthing off at Bowyer after defeat saying he picked the wrong team against Doncaster cos Bowyer didn't but the players didn't perform at all

I'm aware Best wasn't a Bowyer signing as I acknowledged that it's unfortunate that the burden of proving Best as an investment is left down to him. Bench warmer or not, it's down to Bowyer to get what he can out of him, even as a substitute. It's of course up to Best to make the best of those appearances to try and take Rhodes' place in the starting 11.

Bottom line, things need to be patched up as he could be a valuable asset to the squad and Bowyer. As I stated, this is a test of Bowyers man management skills and a big part of professional football management at this level.

[K-Hod]

Did you watch England last night ? If so how many games do you need to see that Lambert isn't international class. That's how you can see Best is a waste of a shirt.

You may end up being right. But, last season he was injured for the most part, and this term, he scored in his first appearance....

[RevidgeBlue]

If he was so quick to denounce Bowyer for getting the team wrong against Doncaster presumably he's been equally swift to take to the social media to congratulate him for his team selection in the two games we won 5-1 and 4-1?

[T.J.Newton]

seems to me like he's just copying Orrs strategy of burning bridges with the club and fans to the point where its unattainable to keep him at the club, so the clubs left with no real choice other than to loan him out(but still pay most of his wages) or pay him of(which I think should be out of the question in this case as it would cost millions, prob more than murphys payoff)

there needs to be new regulations brought in to stop players doing this @#/?, they're just holding clubs to ransom the minute they become unhappy.

[tomphil]

I'd agree with that. He's may be trying to engineer a move, get paid up and go and get a signing on fee somewhere else. He knows he's injury prone and off form so there'll be no more big money moves so the next best thing is to be a mercenary for a few years. Then again he could just genuinely be brassed off he ain't playin !

[bob fleming]

4 year contract, 33 grand a week apparently it says above. That's just short of £10,000,000. Lets hope he sorts his head out or someone out there is daft enough to buy him off us.

[T.J.Newton]

I don't think hell ever be happy sat on the bench, Jordan will always be 1st choice here for as long as he's fit and really there's little room for 2 out and out strikers playing together in modern football, he has the physical attributes to be a decent target man though, but he just doesn't seem willing to adapt to that role.

[RevidgeBlue]

A test of Bowyers man management skills here. He is a 3 million investment that needs justifying and that falls at the feet of Bowyer unfortunately. Needs to be sorted out and given more time on the pitch to prove himself. At this moment, that is the only solution.

I'm astounded people can judge him already... I'm not sure how that's possible.

Would be useful come Saturday.

I must be old fashioned but I don't think it falls at Bowyer's feet at all. Nor can you disrupt a winning side just to accommodate a player who's thrown a strop.

It's unfortunate for Best a better player than him was signed whilst he was injured, but heyho such is life. His job is to be professional, take his chance when it comes along and make it difficult for him to be dropped again. God knows he's earning enough allegedly.

[Neal]

I must be old fashioned but I don't think it falls at Bowyer's feet at all. Nor can you disrupt a winning side just to accommodate a player who's thrown a strop.

It's unfortunate for Best a better player than him was signed whilst he was injured, but heyho such is life. His job is to be professional, take his chance when it comes along and make it difficult for him to be dropped again. God knows he's earning enough allegedly.

Point taken and of course it's going to take both parties to make this work again but surely it's up to the manager to squeeze the most out of every player he has available. A 3 million pound striker forgotten & left to rot is just ridiculous. Players have attitudes, I get that but someone has to try and make this work.

if it wasn't for the fall out I think Best would be getting 25 mins at the end of each game.

[Stuart]

Irrelevant Stuart. He's been crap on the field and displayed a bad attitude on and off it.

I don't think it's irrelevant. He was dropped before he started making comments to the boss.

We can't afford these players on £33k per week. Surely it's no coincidence that all of our high earners have been frozen out and negotiated pay-offs.

[USABlue]

I'm aware Best wasn't a Bowyer signing as I acknowledged that it's unfortunate that the burden of proving Best as an investment is left down to him. Bench warmer or not, it's down to Bowyer to get what he can out of him, even as a substitute. It's of course up to Best to make the best of those appearances to try and take Rhodes' place in the starting 11.

Bottom line, things need to be patched up as he could be a valuable asset to the squad and Bowyer. As I stated, this is a test of Bowyers man management skills and a big part of professional football management at this level.

Sorry but that's codswallop

[arbitro]

I must be old fashioned but I don't think it falls at Bowyer's feet at all. Nor can you disrupt a winning side just to accommodate a player who's thrown a strop.

It's unfortunate for Best a better player than him was signed whilst he was injured, but heyho such is life. His job is to be professional, take his chance when it comes along and make it difficult for him to be dropped again. God knows he's earning enough allegedly.

Bang on the money for me. Best came on at Derby and his goal masked over what was an average performance from him. He was poor the against Forest the following week when he played a full game. The manager went with Dunn against Doncaster and Best was benched. When he came on he was poor and got caught off-side at least three times in the time he was on due to laziness (no doubt brought on by sulking).

We have seen too many of this type of attitude in the last few years.

[Salgado Is A Hero]

I wonder how much money Best is on.

Hmm...

Pretty similar to Rhodes I imagine.

[RevidgeBlue]

Pretty similar to Rhodes I imagine.

And Dann.

He's been given a number of chances alongside Rhodes and hasn't impressed.

That said it would be interesting to see if the partnership of him and Rhodes could do any better in front of a fully functioning midfield of Cairney/Evans/ Williamson/Taylor etc rather than one containing Lowe and Marrow in central midfield or Bentley and Pedersen in the wider areas.

[Stuart]

Pretty similar to Rhodes I imagine.

"Right, Gary, you can either have Rhodes or Best, but we can't afford both. Pick one..."

[Jimmy612]

And Dann.

He's been given a number of chances alongside Rhodes and hasn't impressed.

That said it would be interesting to see if the partnership of him and Rhodes could do any better in front of a fully functioning midfield of Cairney/Evans/ Williamson/Taylor etc rather than one containing Lowe and Marrow in central midfield or Bentley and Pedersen in the wider areas.

8 appearances? Hardly fair to judge him on that given that he was out with a very serious injury for 10 months.

He also impressed me against Derby, thought he was a handful and scored a lovely goal.

He might be trouble and he might not be what GB wants but I think to judge him as a footballer after 8 appearances (two this season) is very harsh. Unfortunately we offered him ridiculous wages that his ability is not worth, and ultimately could be invested well in other areas of the squad, or on a replacement.

Plus, the continued phasing out of of 4-4-2 means that he is a sub unless he proves a better option than Rhodes (unlikely).

[Salgado Is A Hero]

"Right, Gary, you can either have Rhodes or Best, but we can't afford both. Pick one..."

I still think you're just trying to fit him in into that particular theory though.

Ignoring the fact he played at the start of the season, and what he put on that instagram account thing after we had heard that they had a bit of a bust up anyway.

[RevidgeBlue]

"Right, Gary, you can either have Rhodes or Best, but we can't afford both. Pick one..."

I know people love coming up with financial conspiracy theories to blame Venky's for whenever a certain player doesn't make an appearance or come on as sub whatever but how does your theory fit in with the fact that after scoring against Derby, he was indeed given his chance against Forest but flopped?

He was also given a chance several times last season alongside Rhodes in the absence of Rochina rather than try any other combination using Rhodes on his own upfront and didn't impress.

[RevidgeBlue]

8 appearances? Hardly fair to judge him on that given that he was out with a very serious injury for 10 months.

).

Really? How many games does he need? 20? 30? A full season?

Isn't the point more "What has he shown in those 8 games?"

I'd say absolutely nothing whatsoever apart from a brilliantly taken goal against Derby. If people were to argue that goal shows he can be a reasonably prolific scorer at this level I'd think they may have a point.

If they were to highlight his overall performances and general attitude during those games I would say that left no room for optimism at all.

[Neal]

Sorry but that's codswallop

Thanks for that in depth an insightful view on this debate. Your opinion is valuable....

Care to elaborate?

[OJRovers]

Yes it is a test of Bowyer's man management... but I think he's done the right thing so far in putting Best in his place.

Its not the place of a player to question the manager like that after one defeat.

The test going forward will be to get Best fired up so that when he does get another chance in the team he wants to perform well and prove himself.

Unfortunately in the modern game, once a player has started to sulk they lose all interest in 'proving themselves' and are quite happy to pick up the money (orr, murphy etc)