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Post by rhodesy on Mar 23, 2009 20:37:30 GMT
Spiderman, you are a tit! Agreed.
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Post by rhodesy on Mar 23, 2009 20:40:07 GMT
I was unsure about that when I typed it ;D He must have laid it back to Higgo or done something. Muppet ;D
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Post by mermaidsal on Mar 23, 2009 20:42:33 GMT
I don't think even the brownest-tongued Pulis arselicker could deny that he made some shit signings in the summer though? I would be a lot more confident of him spending well if we stay up, as like others have said, Pulis would be able to fish in a higher class pool, rather than gambling a couple of million here and there on championship players who are, in most cases, not good enough to make the step up. If we can recoup even half the money that we spent on the likes of Tonge, Soares, Oli etc then Pulis will just have to put it all down as a learning experience and not go so berserk again. I agree, he must be regretting going to the bargain bucket at the last minute when his targets didn't come off in September - but on balance he's had a bloody good season with the cheque book and he's getting steadily more ambitious. Ryan last season, Abdy and Soro at the start of this, Ethers and Beattie most recently - that's a pretty encouraging pattern to be fair.
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Post by robwahlmann on Mar 23, 2009 20:49:51 GMT
I don't think Sonko was such a bad acquisition, apart from the Blackburn game where he had a real stinker I don't think he has done too badly when called upon. I would like us to keep him.
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Post by Paul Spencer on Mar 23, 2009 20:56:54 GMT
Obviously where we finish at the end of the season will have a great effect on how we ultimately judge Pulis' transfer dealings during our first term in the Prem. At the moment I'd say he's done pretty well. It must have been unbelievably difficult to attract the players that were at the top of his first choice list during both transfer windows, and I think that generally he has signed both good and bad in equal measure. Over the years Alex Ferguson has signed some absolute garbage, yet he could virtually cherry pick anybody he wanted due to untold finances and due to United's established top of the table position. It's not an exact science. Many, many Stokies were up in arms when Pulis wasn't in for Bullard.
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Post by jezzascfc on Mar 23, 2009 21:09:01 GMT
Virtually all managers have hit and miss transfer records as it is such an unpredictable business. Who would have thought Kitson would have failed so miserably? Not me.
Some of the others were easier to predict - Wolves fans were not sorry to see Oli go, Reading fans thought Sonko was not the same player after coming back from injury, even Tonge was not showing the form that had earned him rave reviews 3/4 years back.
Having said that, we don't know the identities of all the A list targets who would not come, and Tone had to bolster the squad somehow.
He did unearth some gems in the summer - like Abdy and Sorro - and his January dealings were a big success.
Let's hope , if we stay up, more quality players are tempted to come to Stoke - we need new full backs, at least two central midfielders, at least one more wide man and another forward (if we assume Kitson goes and Camara does not stay), all with a touch more "class".
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Post by OldStokie on Mar 23, 2009 21:22:27 GMT
*Nice one, Spider. Some good points there, Jezza. He's made some good signings and some bad ones. If we stay up, any bad buys will be small change because they will still have a monetary value and can be shipped out for better players...at a loss. That loss will not be significant in Prem terms. As for Spidey's header to this thread... 'Will Pulis buy better next season?' Maybe. His record is probably 60/40 in his favour based on past history. As some have said earlier on this thread, we need a top class midfielder. Probably two to guarantee us staying up for another season if we can manage to stay up this one. * I still struggle to understand why Spider gets so much shyte. He's not abusive except retaliating when he's abused. I can only put it down to him saying things that some of you don't like to hear. Often, he speaks the naked truth. OS.
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Post by slangking on Mar 23, 2009 21:29:21 GMT
I still struggle to understand why Spider gets so much shyte
I guess him being a prick on a wind up doesn't help, he does know that there will be the usual suspects there to help him along.
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Post by mcf on Mar 24, 2009 14:02:30 GMT
Do you think it could have been his planned red card protest OS? ;D
Come on, you can't expect us Rimmers to take anything your motley crew of wankstains say seriously surely?
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Post by thepremierbanksy on Mar 24, 2009 15:00:43 GMT
In answer to the question - yes, definately his signings will improve next season. Lets not forget that this is TP's first prem season, he's had a hell of a lot to learn and I think we've all witnessed him doing so - signings of beattie and ethers have done a lot to prove that he's learnt.
As for summer signings, i think he managed about 60% good signings, which is probably about par for the course.
Kitson i personally didn't forsee being a failure, but it looks like that situation is going to turn out quite well. Olofinjana i think was overly expensive and has proven to be not quite prem quality - can't see us getting £3m back for him. Soares looks useful and actually fits the bill of "one for the future". I think tonge is a decent squad player and has certainly done well when used as a sub (starts haven't been so good), but i don't understand why we haven't used him more, especially around christmas when cresser was playing. Sonko is calamitous (blackburn penno, some abysmal distribution at villa park) and i'm not sure he was needed as back up with cort about - but then we've done quite well with injuries to defenders so far this season. Davies was the really baffling signing, don't quite understand why we spent £1.2m on an injured player - pulis must rate him very highly indeed.
Agreed we need to address full back, central midfield (ball winner and ball player combo along the lines of N'Daw and Ledley with whelan as back up - faye and diao are old) and another striker is always on the shopping list.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 24, 2009 15:18:40 GMT
it really is very very simple! he will buy better, not because he was awful at his buys in the past but simply because he has had to make do with a far shorter shortlist than most Prem managers in the past as there just isn't a great appeal to sign for a club who has only just come up and is likely to go straight back down (Pennant for instance, Benitez was happy for him to go but he obviously saw it as a very risky move as if we had gone straight back down that could have more or less finished his Prem career). If...sorry, when we stay up that opens up far more doors for us as we will not be seen as a great a risk so can therefore attract better players. Simple fact is that TP never had the choice of people like Bullard last summer, they just wouldn;t have come to us OR Hull at the time. You have to convince players that you will survive in the Prem before you can convince them to come. Until that happens you have to make do with the limited options you have
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