great signings but 1 more is essential!

[GJP 79]

[quote user="ZippersLeftFoot"]

That worthy failed to replace Malky was a failing,  letting an unhappy player go was not.

As the last two months of the prem season showed the attacking line up and midfield worthy signed that season was good enough to avoid relegation - it just took worthy too long to recognise that.

What he never addressed was that the centre backs at the club then were not good enough for the prem;   even when we started winning we still conceeded goals at a shocking rate as the games at palace and soton demonstrated before the fulham debacle.   He should have replaced malky with a leader at centre back;  the replacements he chose did not work.  As fas as flem was concerned he was always better equipped for the prem than Malky but it remains one of the most astonishing features of that season that he remained just about ever present despite being so out of his depth.

 

[/quote]

I agree.

Football wise it was hard to see Malky cutting it in the Premier League. He was a good blocker/presence/leader/hero at Div 1/Champs level but I don''t think he''d have done the business higher up. Flem was a better player, more mobile and just generally sharper. However, he was too small to be the main man in our defence, we needed someone with presence.

Looking back at it I can''t help but think we''d have been better with the Doc at the back than Simon Charlton. To be fair to Charlton he was a competitor, he never bottled anything but he didn''t have the aerial presence we needed.

But then I don''t hold it against Worthy. He did the best he could for us and didn''t have the kind of money available you need to make a really genuine attempt at staying in the Prem. It was a new experience for him and football is all about learning.

[nutty nigel 7,533]

Linvoy Primus was the man. And I believe he was all but in the bag. However, as seems to always be the case, there was no Plan B.

As always, when the past is revisited facts are cherry picked to support whatever point is trying to be made. Worthy didn''t release malky. Malky engineered a move to West Ham because Worthy wouldn''t promise him first team football, and we got a fee. I don''t blame Worthy or Malky for any of this. They are both heroes in my eyes.