Ipswich sign Jon Walters on loan

[ec-p 117]

As above. Bound to play on Sunday.

[Duncan Edwards 2,424]

Great signing. Can’t see us keeping him at bay for 90 minutes.

[FenwayFrank 2,717]

He’ll be on the bench, if he’s all we’ve got to worry about then I’m starting to feel more confident

[kick it off 2,062]

Hes never been a great footballer, he was just really quick. Hes 35. Hes not really quick anymore. Worse loan signing than Sibierski.

[TIL 1010 5,246]

I see they are also after the own goal specialist Gareth McAuley another former Scummer who is a good prospect at 38 years old.

[Crabbycanary3 994]

Blimey, who''s next? Chris Kiwomya? Alex Mathie?

[hogesar 10,762]

You''d expect him to play on Sunday as their other strikers look very, very poor so far. I watched a match with (I think) Harrison? playing up front by himself. A lone striker who couldn''t take a first touch, couldn''t hold it up, didn''t know what runs to make and when gifted opportunities by the opposition to shoot, couldn''t do it on target.

Walters will at least be a physical presence for us to deal with.

[Mike 68]

[quote user="hogesar"]You''d expect him to play on Sunday as their other strikers look very, very poor so far. I watched a match with (I think) Harrison? playing up front by himself. A lone striker who couldn''t take a first touch, couldn''t hold it up, didn''t know what runs to make and when gifted opportunities by the opposition to shoot, couldn''t do it on target.

Walters will at least be a physical presence for us to deal with.[/quote]

Depends how fit he is but decent enough signing.

[nutty nigel 7,902]

Fabian Willniss rumoured along with Marcus Stewart and that centre forward who never knew where he was born🙃

[BroadstairsR 2,273]

I suppose the litmus test is would we be happy if he had signed for Norwich City?

Who would he replace?

I think I''d rather have Dennis the Menace than a 34 years old who has hardly kicked a ball in anger for over a year and has had consistent knee problems during that time.

It''s all a bit desperate, and will be even more so if they wheel him out on Sunday for a stint.

An admission of failure on the manager''s part surely?

[Darth Canary1 92]

Good signing for them. Last thing our defence needs is a physical presence to worry about!

[First Wazzock 1,011]

Are they thinking about Ray Crawford too?

[......and Smith must score. 1,596]

I seem to remember we were linked with him back in the day.

Probably a bit past his '' best before  '' date now but not bad at this level.

[Midlands Yellow 4,682]

Alan Brazil is trying to shed a few stones before Sunday too. Starting to come together for them now .

[Jack Flash 17]

Walters has only played 5 matches in the last two seasons, so not exactly going to be match fit is he?

[......and Smith must score. 1,596]

[quote user="Jack Flash"]Walters has only played 5 matches in the last two seasons, so not exactly going to be match fit is he?[/quote]

Along come Norwich......[:D]

[Guest]

If he starts then I would expect a fair bit of long ball at our defence.

We aren''t brilliant at coping around our area and I would prefer to see three at the back or if not, at least Walters man marked.

And lets not dismiss Walters because of his age. Didn''t we take Dion Dublin at 36 or 37? And he became a bit of a cult hero and got POTS.

[kick it off 2,062]

[quote user="keelansgrandad"]If he starts then I would expect a fair bit of long ball at our defence.

We aren''t brilliant at coping around our area and I would prefer to see three at the back or if not, at least Walters man marked.

And lets not dismiss Walters because of his age. Didn''t we take Dion Dublin at 36 or 37? And he became a bit of a cult hero and got POTS.[/quote]

Dion Dublin was a far better footballer at 36 than Walters has ever been. Dublin had an incredible footballing IQ which Walters doesn''t. They played totally different games, Dion was never about pace, he was a clever footballer and got in the right positions.... All Walters ever had was his pace and that''s long gone. 

[kick it off 2,062]

HAHA - Just read on TW(a)TD that apparently them signing Walters has "unnerved us". Jesus Christ. 

They''re also signing 38 (yes thirty EIGHT) year old Gareth McAuley who has been a free agent since WBA released him in June. Hopefully he can continue his fine goalscoring form for us - think I''m right in saying he''s scored 4 goals for us so far.

Stinks of absolute, unadulterated desperation. I''m growing increasingly confident we''ll spank them.

[Guest]

And lets not dismiss Walters because of his age.

I think you missed that part KIO.

I never compared ability.

But some previous posts surrounded Walters age.

And I think you are perhaps just a bit too sentimental over Dublin compared to Walters.

Yes, Dion was a top Prem striker for four or five years and probably better but Walters played seven seasons in the Prem and over 50 times for ROI. Not too bad.

[kick it off 2,062]

I didn''t miss that part KG - Pace declines with age. Ability doesn''t, nor does footballing intelligence. Walters only real attribute was his pace, which is long gone and he''s played 3 times in the last year with a net contribution of no goals and one shot that was off target (and only 23 appearances the season before so not sure all 7 of those "Prem seasons" should actually be counted).

RE: Dublin - I''m not overly sentimental towards him. He was just a far better player than Walters. He had the football IQ to drop seamlessly from Striker to CB and do a pretty decent job there. Walters couldn''t do that, he doesn''t have enough about him. Imo (and it is only my opinion, you''re welcome to yours!) you over-rate Walters - he''s got 50 ROI caps, it''s not like he''s in the German or Brazilian team. Walters has always been a bit of a one trick pony - hoof it up to him and he will run in behind or win the flick on - he may still win some flick ons and cause us a few problems in that way, but he isn''t getting in behind our defence. 

With all due respect to ROI - Daryl Murphy who has 14 goals in the last two years and is 35 years old started their world cup playoff game (in which they got spanked 5-1 by Denmark at home). Gary Doherty got 34 call ups for ROI. International football is international football and you can''t help the country you play for (well I suppose to a certain extent you can) - plenty of great players have played for lesser footballing nations but his competition for the national team place was Simon Cox and Andy Keogh. He was hardly beating out Messi to get in the side (although given the fact they couldn''t get Hoolahan into the side due to his playing style, you do wonder if they''d have found a spot for Messi anyway). I''m not trying to diminish the fact he played at international level, but putting some context around it doesn''t hurt. International caps has little relevance to ability. 

There''s no probably about it that Dion was a better player. Stats back it up. Goals aren''t be all and end all as Walters played a wider role, but goals + assists, not to mention Dion played for Man United and Walters highest echelon was Stoke tell you all you need to know.

311 Prem apps, 111 goals, 40 assists

233 Prem apps, 43 goals, 19 assists.

Simply put - you can''t really compare Dion and Walters - they have/had different skill sets, and Dion''s had far more longevity than Walters'' does in my opinion. Regardless of ability, in age terms it''s not a relevant comparison due to the differences in their style. Walters relied on a diminishing asset in his pace, whereas Dion was just a more complete player.

[Mike 68]

[quote user="Jack Flash"]Walters has only played 5 matches in the last two seasons, so not exactly going to be match fit is he?[/quote]

He will probably be on the bench... will give them a lift but we should be able to cope.

My worry is Farke goes with 2 holding midfielders rather tha going for them ala Brum. Attack attack attack...

[BroadstairsR 2,273]

Walters is 35 soon, not that it makes much difference but the majority of footballers deteriorate by the year once they hit 30. There are exceptions and if he has to be one of those then let''s hope that, if he turns out at all on Sunday, he''s too rusty to be effective.

Shaun Dyche no longer fancies him, although he did pay some £3m for the player a bit over one year ago.

I think that the increasing onset of injury problems are a major factor for most of those oldies, not fitness. Walters has apparently kept himself fit but has had recurrent knee problems for a while now.

It says something for the Ipswich team that Hurst has collected together that this forum has devoted more time and column inches in the build up to the game to a 35 years old than to the rest of his squad put together.

Wheel him out on Sunday binners. We will cope and the longer he is on the pitch the less game time will be available to one of these ''stars for the future'' that they reckon they have acquired.

[BroadstairsR 2,273]

Anybody remember Sir Stanley Matthews turning out at Carrow Road when he was fifty?

One of my first games and I believe we hammered Stoke 5-0.

The camera men had accumulated en-masse behind the City goal hoping for a picture of the maestro scoring which caused great amusement among the Norwich supporters as the ball hardly entered the our half.

It wouldn''t happen in this day of super fit athletes honed to thorough bred racehorse proportions.

John Bond had a lot of success with signing players in their senior years; Peters, Channon, Osgood and Chivers all donned the yellow during his time.

[ZLF 335]

Adds some know how to an otherwise inexperienced squad in the same way we did with Channon and Dublin before. whether he turns out to be like them or a sibierski be only time will tell.

Can a non match fit Walters be kept quiet by an off form Hanley if he plays sunday?

[ROBFLECK 134]

This is quite a good player adding experience to a young squad... With our central defence being out of sorts lately...does have me a bit worried...

[Bill 1,788]

How odd

It was barely a few weeks back that the farmhands were getting themselves worked up into a lather of stupidity over the money they were getting from player sales - and how the ''ever generous'' (to himself) Mr Evans was going to let their new manager go on a spending spree.

Yet here we are a few hours away from the transfer window closing and it looks again as if Mr Evans has trousered the bulk of that money and we are seeing yet money cast offs and aged has beens making up the numbers at poorman road.

Still never mind, they do have their glorious history and what better way to commemorate it than by having as their guest of honour on Sunday, Tom Daft, one of the last surviving town supporters who can recall seeing the binners winning a trophy.

He is to be welcomed on the pitch before the game .................

.................... and offered a pair of boots so he can join the squad

[BroadstairsR 2,273]

I think it''s quite easy to build up a mythology about a player.

A decent pro who was a success in the Premier league over a period of time but he was never a world beater. He is no Martin Peters, not even a Dion Dublin.

For sure, his strengths are likely to concern our defence but his age, injuries and time out will surely tell against his effectiveness once he is pitched into the fray.

I still see it as a desperate measure admitting defeat for the ''new age'' that Hurst was supposed to unveil.

The common or garden ''Waghorns'' and ''Garners'' were replaced by such exotic names as Donacien and Chalobah and the binners firmly believed that their club were at last entering the 21st. Century and that a new dawn beckoned.

Struggling for a win and it''s now back to a ''Walters.''

Walters will retain some of his strengths, are his team mates capable of playing to them?

[TIL 1010 5,246]

With regard to McAuley it looks like Hearts have appeared on the radar.

[Bill 1,788]

TWTD is now suggesting former ton star Alan Brazil could be added to the squad as a makeweight - and Hurst is also considering taking a gamble on another former town player, Michael Chopra.