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Worthington a success or failure in the transfer market?

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Ok this is my honest opinion on the signings Worthy has made.Now I have tried to take it from the point of view that a lot of people have done on here and go by their actual performance overall for the club rather than what they were on paper before they signed.What do you all think? My point of view is that Worthington has actually spent the money pretty well and has done marginally better in recent seasons and has done best with younger players which he has worked with and tried to develop.I am going to give four catogories - good , average, poor and unproven(followed by reason):

  • 2000/01Zema Abbey: £350,000 - Unproven: His first few games gave us an idea of what he could become, then injury ended his chances.Gary Holt: £100,000 - Good. Bargain, there is no doubt that his hard work was one of the reasons behind Norwich''s recent success.Adam Drury: £500,000 - Good. I don''t think I need to say more.Paul Peschisolido: Loan - Average.
  • 2001/02Clint Easton: £100,000 - Average: The ability was there just never the consistancy.Paul Crichton: £150,000 - Average. A good short term back up to Green.Mark Rivers: £500,000 - Good/average: First season was good then found it hard to remain consistant.Neil Emblen: £500,000 - Unproven: as with Abbey was robbed of playing time by injury.Marc Libbra: Free - Good. If he had been in the same line-up as Huckerby you can only dream of how the two of them would have linked up!David Nielsen: Loan then £200,000 - Good. Scored goals and was a committed player.Andy Roberts: Loan - AverageTrevor Benjamin: Loan - Poor.
  • 2002/03Paul Heckingbottom: Free - Average.Nicky Southall: Loan - Average.Keith Briggs: £65,000 - Unproven: For whatever reason he was never given a real chance to prove his ability for us.David Healy: Loan - Good/average: looked very short of confidence.Leigh Bromby: Loan - Good. Why the hell didn''t we sign him? He went to Sheff Utd for very little in the end, the only thing I can think is that we did try to get him but the offer of staying in Sheffield was more tempting!
  • 2003/04Jim Brennan: Free - Good. Brought in as cover down the left and I thought he proved he was capable.Damien Francis: £240,000 - Good. Marc Edworthy: Free - GoodElvis Hammond: Loan - PoorDarren Huckerby: Loan then £750,000 - Good - legend!Peter Crouch: Loan - Good. Again looked short of confidence to begin with. I still dont think that any team he has played with since has used him correctly!Kevin Harper: Loan - Good. Again, he didnt leave Pompey for that much cash and we were in need of a good right midfielder why the heck did we not take him on?Leon McKenzie: £325,000 - Good. Him and Ashton last season were our best striking partnership since Roberts & Bellamy.Mathias Svensson: £50,000 - Good. Great touch and presence up front.Kevin Cooper: Loan - Good, although played on predominantly on the right by Worthy so far as my knowledge takes me he is actually left footed.
  • 2004/05Paul Gallacher: Free - Average/Poor : Has not forced his way into contention for the place as sub keeper and was even loaned out for periods of last season.David Bentley: Season loan - Good/average: Showed class but not strength, I don''t know what they have done to that guy over the summer but he has filled out and is certanly a more physical player now.Youssef Safri: £500,000 - Good. So far he has proven to be an absoloute bargain. Long ball, short ball and long range shots not to mention his tackling - probably the best alrounder at  the club that I have seen in the last ten years.Simon Charlton: £250,000 - Average. Has had his moments but has shown that he has not got the pace to play agains the pacier wingers of this league.Thomas Helveg: Free - Average. For me, as a player of the experience he had he simply did not perform. I honestly thought Eddy looked better and he has not played to the same level of football!Darren Ward: Free - Good. Second keeper signed for cover in the prem. Has been good when called upon. Decent keeper and good back up to Green.Mattias Jonson: £800,000 - Average/Poor: Striker/winger - he had heart and passion but simply couldn''t cut it. Not a good signing.Gary Doherty: £750,000 - Good. Not just because of his recent performances but this is one of Worthingtons budding younger players that he has brought in and improved.Dean Ashton: £3 million - Good. Again young and again improved under Worthington.Graham Stuart: Free - Poor. But an important signing cover wise, it very nearly pulled off.
  • 2005/06Matthieu Louis-Jean: Swap deal - Unproven: injured.Jason Jarrett: Free - Average/poor - He looks as though he has what it takes but he is out of form and confidence.Peter Thorne: Free - Good. he has a good goalscoring record and again was brought in as a squad player.Jurgen Colin: £250,000 - Average. I think the player needs time and coaching to settle into the english game. For me he was good agains Plymouth at home.Andy Hughes: £500,000 - Good. If Holt was a bargain then this is the price we would have paid for him! Hughes has proved to be a better all-rounder than Holt although hard work and tackling are his speciality.Dean Marney: Season loan - Good. Shame about the injury.Kevin Lisbie: Loan - Average. Was needed due to injuries.Calum Davenport: Loan - Good. If there is anyway we can sign this guy either in the next few days or in the summer we should, he is too good to be sitting in Totenhams reserves.Dickson Etuhu: Loan then £450,000 - Average. Again I think this is another good longterm signing although it means we will not get the best from him straight away. He reminds me of Francis when he first came. Not the finnished article but with the right support and coaching could be another great player.David Wright: Loan - Good. Solid.Carl Robinson: Loan then £50,000 - Good. Another player that is prepared to try to keep the ball moving between players. Cheap so no complaints from me.
  • Danny Bloomfield was given a one-year contract in May 2001 but never figured in the first team squad. - Unproven: self explanitary.

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    Generally, I think that''s pretty accurate, with the exception of one.

    Andy Hughes. How that man is a pro footballer I will never know, Reading laughed when we paid 500k for him. Ok, he''s works hard, and has a good tackle, but the guy runs about like a headless chicken. Ok, maybe he hasn''t been here long, but he needs to do something a bit more than run about like a 10 year old kid on a sunday morning and dive about at people''s ankles. And as for wearing the captains armband....I could cry.

     

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    I think you have been extremely generous in many of your assessments. In fact - are you Nigel Worthington?

    Change your averages to poor and a few of your goods too and, I believe, you have a truer picture. Do you actually go to matches and watch these players perform? Or are you forgetting that we are supposed to be a Championship team with promotion ambitions? Many of these players would struggle in League 1.

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    I think until we get a regular starting 11 going again we wont see the best of him. Just like with Holty.The problem is there are times when no one else seems to care and him and Holt before him would be the only ones taking it to the opposition. When that happens they look like headless chickens (luckily I have a head!).I play for a saturday team and felt exactly the same yesterday when everyone else was obviously in shock of some of the best weather we have seen thus far this year and forgot we were playing rather than going for a stroll.Dechamps was never known for his great technical ability, he was the water carrier, the makeweight or the team guy. Every team needs one because they tend to be good in the dressing room and on the pitch along with incredibly handy to have around. I think we are yet to see what Hughes could really offer a "team" as we have only played as one a couple of times this season.I think Ashton going will actually help settle things. Players will realise that they are actualy going to have to dig in and work hard. And people within touching distance of reality knew it was more a matter of when and not if. And the players would know this too, which must be unsettling.If you look at the way things have gone in recent footballing history teams that have been relegated tend to take two seasons to be there or there-abouts promotion wise. Crystal Palace were in the same sort of position as us when we reached the play off finals - incredibly lucky to be there. They struggled in the prem and rightly so because Dowie hadn''t been there long and had not assembled a team of his own divising.This season is the one where he really gets to prove his worth and is doing so!You look at Worthingtons record and it is not that dissimilar. This season has been a bit of what could be said to be a disaster but then the writing was on the cards. Palace, us and WBA all took risks to try and stay up. WBA took less as they already had prem experience.Palace seemed to take the least - they didn''t seem to bring to many players in but then they also had a large and experienced squad which Dowie was willing to work with.Norwich I think were in a sort of transition which makes things hard. In the seasons before promotion we had had one of the tightest defences in the football league let alone our division. That was down to Fleming, Mackay (to some extent), Jackson, Nedergaad, Drury and the others. Holt was great for the time that we had him, as was Iwan. But to many players were hitting that point of their career. We were always up against it last season.I think the club and the manager were reluctant to go hell for leather and risk everything. They brought in players that were worth taking a gamble on.Whatever anyone says, this squad has been formed as much around nessessity as anything else. Robinson in the summer would have been nice and I am sure he would have been preferable to Hughes but I should think was simply not available because it would be wise for Big Mick to see how his squad faired before cutting any players loose. Strangely, I think letting Robinson go may have been a big mistake. The one thing they cant do at the moment is hold onto that ball in midfield!Anyway I could rant until the cows come home - or infact maybe they are coming home which is why I must stop!

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    Well according to the "accounting geniuses" on here we cannot count loan players because wages and agent fees are not REAL expences. LOL!

    In all fairness he started OK but his recent record is terrible.

    We have sold our better players and replaced them with far worse players.

    Even Neil Adams agreed with that on a recent canary call.

     Overall he has more misses than hits, not a good record.

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