Iwan Roberts

[OxfordCanary 0]

Long-time reader of the board, but few posts (as you can see) - please don''t use this an excuse to bash/belittle my following post, though.

Quite a few people here argue quite vociferously that Iwan should have been kept, since he would have added experience, leadership, a talismanic presence to the squad. As someone with ties to Wales myself, Iwan was my favourite player while he was at the club, and I for one think that he was one of the greatest servants of the club in the 15 years that I have been supporting the club, but sadly I must disagree with this.

My reasons? I can''t find the exact statistics, but I seem to remember that in the promotion season, Iwan started very few games and made the vast majority of his appearances as a "last 15 minutes" sub, and scored around 8 goals - if someone has the exact figures I''d be very grateful for this. If he was seen as a backup player in Div 1 (as was), then he could only have been less than that in the Premiership once the inevitable squad strengthening (whatever your opinion on that) took place.

Also, he makes a point himself, in his book, that in his time at a former club he didn''t play in the Playoff Final as, while he was fit enough to come off the bench for 10-15 minutes, he could never have lasted 85+ if a starting striker had been badly injured in the first five minutes, and the match went to extra time. Imagine if Iwan was our only striker on the bench in the first Prem game of the season (highly likely), and then a striker breaks a leg in the 3rd minute. Iwan would have been playing against the toughest defences that he had confronted in his career, at the very time that his talents were beginning to wane badly. What''s more, we might have needed him to start game in, game out when our annual injury crisis bit in, something again I don''t think he would be up to. A great impact player, a talisman to lift the team for the final 10 minutes, but no permanent striker upon whose shoulders our hopes were placed.

But if that circumstance didn''t occur, then he would have most likely rotted in the reserves - again, he mentions in his book that he hated his weeks in the reserves during Crouch''s loan spell, or after Svensson arrived, so imagine what 2-3 months at a time in the reserves would do to him. Of course, Gillingham didn''t work out, but at the time it seemed perhaps the greatest service to repay a loyal servant, i.e. giving him the chance to play every week and advance his coaching career also.

What do others think? Obviously this post is 2 years post the events it describes, but currently the mood of many on this board is that Malky or Iwan might have kept us up, or got us up again this season, hence my musings to the contrary.

Thoughts please.

[Getting off the fence 0]

Agreed - he has said as much about his year following Norwich. He couldn''t believe how rapid his decline was as a player.

[Rasputin was a C... 0]

I personally think that letting Iwan was less of a mistake as letting Malky go. Like you say Iwan hadn''t played a large part in the promotion season and at the end of the season wanted to move on which is fair enough. What was a mistake was not keeping at least one of these two as they were both big characters and were leaders off the pitch as well as on and that is something we''ve definately missed since their departure. Letting Iwan go wasn''t a mistake, Malky going was.

[Getting off the fence 0]

[quote user="Rasputin was a C..."]I personally think that letting Iwan was less of a mistake as letting Malky go. Like you say Iwan hadn''t played a large part in the promotion season and at the end of the season wanted to move on which is fair enough. What was a mistake was not keeping at least one of these two as they were both big characters and were leaders off the pitch as well as on and that is something we''ve definately missed since their departure. Letting Iwan go wasn''t a mistake, Malky going was.
[/quote]

Agreed - particulalry as we got relegated. I really hope he gets his chance in the premier and has a brilliant season!