Hourihane and Ben Mee are both free transfers

[Maltesecanary 19]

Both good for us 

[Wacky Waving Inflatable Arm Flailing Tube Man 3,805]

Hourihane is a decent player but possibly past his best and I'm not sure centre back is a huge priority with Hanley, Omobamidele and Gibson still here.

Besides, neither fit the age profile we're looking for anyway.

[lake district canary 4,531]

Don't want either of these players. Too old, too much baggage, too much hype. Stick to bring through younger players imo, it's worked so far, at least in getting to the top of the championship. If we get promoted again, we should be looking for better anyhow.

[Nuff Said 5,112]

Wages.

Nuff Said

[keelansgrandad 6,679]

Ben Mee and James Tarkowski were the reason Burnley stayed in the EPL for as long as they did. They didn't concede that many goals and it was down to those two players.

Ben Mee would be far better than Ben Gibson. Why do you think Burnley sold Gibson to us?

[Move Klose 303]

45 minutes ago, Maltesecanary said:

Both good for us 

Hourihane. Nooooooooooo!!!!!

[shefcanary 2,392]

I cannot emphasise this enough.  Hourihane is a spent force, taking the cash while he can.  I'm based in Sheffield so took a few Blades matches in.  Hourihane barely started a match, Norwood who is not exactly a top Chumps player, kept him out of the team.  When Hourihane came on he looked off the pace, never worked hard, and was rightly criticised by the home crowd

 If we sign Hourihane, we are heading for League 1 pronto. 

Edited June 11, 2022 by shefcanary

[Monty13 2,231]

Hourihane hasn’t looked anything special, so at his age I don’t see the appeal.

Mee has been a consistent performer for 10 years, I don’t think we should be averse to one or two PL experienced players in their twilight, but I imagine his wages and PL interest would count us out.

[A Load of Squit 5,157]

1 hour ago, Wacky Waving Inflatable Arm Flailing Tube Man said:

Hourihane is a decent player but possibly past his best and I'm not sure centre back is a huge priority with Hanley, Omobamidele and Gibson still here.

Besides, neither fit the age profile we're looking for anyway.

What is the age profile we are looking for?

 

[Terminally Yellow 2,448]

5 minutes ago, A Load of Squit said:

What is the age profile we are looking for?

Michael Bailey's recent article suggested peak age or below. 

Ben Mee at 32 is probably just beyond that. 

[Branston Pickle 3,651]

2 minutes ago, Terminally Yellow said:

Michael Bailey's recent article suggested peak age or below. 

Ben Mee at 32 is probably just beyond that. 

You’d definitely want players you can get a few years out of, or who’ll have resale value, in the main ~ but there can also be good value in the odd senior pro so they should never be completely excluded.  

[Newtopia 517]

I think we need a range of ages in the squad, to be fair Hanley, Krul, and Pukki fill the seasoned professional profile, although you could add McLean, PLM, and Gibson,  into that mix too.  If these players left you might see us going for some older heads, but I think Hayden fills one of those spots straight away.

I also think Ben Mee is ridiculous for us to aspire to, he will join an establish EPL side, my money is on Crystal Palace, but I am sure there will be plenty of takers.

[Wacky Waving Inflatable Arm Flailing Tube Man 3,805]

23 minutes ago, A Load of Squit said:

What is the age profile we are looking for?

As has been mentioned, Michael Bailey has suggested 'peak age and below'. 

This is basically a continuation of what it has always been under the Webber regime. There has been the odd exception, but most of the players brought in have been ones we can make a decent profit on.

[keelansgrandad 6,679]

How many decent CBs are there? Age makes no difference. He is carp but is young isn't the way forward.

[Michael Starr 519]

Ben Mee is quality, an upgrade on Gibson for sure but wages would be out of orbit for us and with a certain young Irish DC coming back from injury I don't think DC roles are our immediate priority right now

[TeemuVanBasten 3,327]

3 hours ago, keelansgrandad said:

Ben Mee and James Tarkowski were the reason Burnley stayed in the EPL for as long as they did. They didn't concede that many goals and it was down to those two players.

Ben Mee would be far better than Ben Gibson. Why do you think Burnley sold Gibson to us?

Ben Mee left Burnley because he has Premier League interest, so its not even worth discussing.

Also, it was 2 years ago, Mee is 32 now and only managed 21 games for Burnley last season. Amazing how much losing a yard of pace can impact a centre back, look at how rapidly Michael Turner and Timm Klose went downhill.  Went from quality to a liabilities within the space of a year.

Obviously I wouldn't moan if Smith signed Mee and said "I felt we needed a captain, I've signed a captain", but contract length could be a concern, he's 33 in January... not one to give 3 years to is he. Risky, one knee injury at that age and you are going down a level.

Edited June 11, 2022 by TeemuVanBasten

[repman 635]

3 hours ago, shefcanary said:

I cannot emphasise this enough.  Hourihane is a spent force, taking the cash while he can.  I'm based in Sheffield so took a few Blades matches in.  Hourihane barely started a match, Norwood who is not exactly a top Chumps player, kept him out of the team.  When Hourihane came on he looked off the pace, never worked hard, and was rightly criticised by the home crowd

 If we sign Hourihane, we are heading for League 1 pronto. 

Also, if we are signing players over the age of 30 they should at least be PL quality, I doubt Mee would even consider us and I'm not sure he's worth it given what we already have, but at least you can point to the fact he has played at the top level. Hourihane has been on loan to the championship for the last 2 seasons, he wasn't good enough for the PL then and he won't be getting any better.

[keelansgrandad 6,679]

39 minutes ago, TeemuVanBasten said:

Ben Mee left Burnley because he has Premier League interest, so its not even worth discussing.

Also, it was 2 years ago, Mee is 32 now and only managed 21 games for Burnley last season. Amazing how much losing a yard of pace can impact a centre back, look at how rapidly Michael Turner and Timm Klose went downhill.  Went from quality to a liabilities within the space of a year.

Obviously I wouldn't moan if Smith signed Mee and said "I felt we needed a captain, I've signed a captain", but contract length could be a concern, he's 33 in January... not one to give 3 years to is he. Risky, one knee injury at that age and you are going down a level.

Mee is another scrambler like Hanley. They throw themselves into it and I would be delighted with a back three of Mee, Hanley, AO.

[Daz Sparks 1,151]

Hourihane of 5-6 years ago maybe, but not now. Ben Mee would be decent enough if he could be accommodated in budget. 

[TeemuVanBasten 3,327]

3 minutes ago, keelansgrandad said:

Mee is another scrambler like Hanley. They throw themselves into it and I would be delighted with a back three of Mee, Hanley, AO.

It would be nice to upgrade a centre back, but its the centre mid that is still in need of some serious investment.

No further upgrades in midfield = no promotion in my opinion. 

[king canary 7,599]

Mee is the kind of signing I think we could have done with last season- seasoned Premier League campaigner, short term deal so the high wages weren't a huge issue. This season I'm not so sure.

[hogesar 9,654]

4 hours ago, shefcanary said:

I cannot emphasise this enough.  Hourihane is a spent force, taking the cash while he can.  I'm based in Sheffield so took a few Blades matches in.  Hourihane barely started a match, Norwood who is not exactly a top Chumps player, kept him out of the team.  When Hourihane came on he looked off the pace, never worked hard, and was rightly criticised by the home crowd

 If we sign Hourihane, we are heading for League 1 pronto. 

I agree in that I don't think hes the same player anymore,  but signing one player wouldn't mean we were heading for League One 😅

[Terminally Yellow 2,448]

4 hours ago, shefcanary said:

I cannot emphasise this enough.  Hourihane is a spent force, taking the cash while he can.  I'm based in Sheffield so took a few Blades matches in.  Hourihane barely started a match, Norwood who is not exactly a top Chumps player, kept him out of the team.  When Hourihane came on he looked off the pace, never worked hard, and was rightly criticised by the home crowd

 If we sign Hourihane, we are heading for League 1 pronto. 

This is an overexaggeration. He's mid-table Champ level.

[keelansgrandad 6,679]

9 minutes ago, TeemuVanBasten said:

It would be nice to upgrade a centre back, but its the centre mid that is still in need of some serious investment.

No further upgrades in midfield = no promotion in my opinion. 

Hayden is an upgrade. We just need someone with a bit of flair. I think Kenny and a rejuvenated Todd are good enough for the Championship and thought PLM looked better when we played a more stretched game.

Lets face it, we are still remembering Emi and Ollie. 

[Bert 236]

Ideally I would like to see a transgender centre back or a gender querying holding midfielder would be good, these don’t fit the bill

[keelansgrandad 6,679]

1 minute ago, Bert said:

Ideally I would like to see a transgender centre back or a gender querying holding midfielder would be good, these don’t fit the bill

How do you know?

[Move Klose 303]

I'm shocked people would even want to sign him. Was good about 5 years ago. Sheff u fans don't rate him, swansea fans didn't but because he's scored 5 goals against us in his career people think we should sign him.

Not good enough

[ged in the onion bag 855]

On 11/06/2022 at 09:24, Maltesecanary said:

Both good for us 

Were you happy with this last season.... please explain how either of these represent 'progression'!

Some fans!   

[Ekoku: The Ambassador Of The People 122]

Rather Josh Murphy back than Hourihane

[PurpleCanary 5,556]

On 11/06/2022 at 14:57, Daz Sparks said:

Hourihane of 5-6 years ago maybe, but not now. Ben Mee would be decent enough if he could be accommodated in budget. 

He had the second half of the 2020-21 season on loan at Swansea and the pretty universal view of fans there was that he was essentially gone as a player, certainly at that level. A few good free kicks but offered very little in open play.