I REALLY HOPE THIS RUMOUR IS NOT TRUE.........

[Mr.Carrow 376]

[quote user="paul moy"]

[quote user="Mr.Carrow"]Rubbish. Hoolihan is 29 and hasn`t even really proved himself in the Champs, let alone the Prem. Don`t get me wrong, i like him and he`s a handy weapon for us, but he is not a Prem player.[/quote]

 

Blackpool have a team that is full of non-premiership players and they are not doing too badly are they . A good team is one that is better than a sum of all of its parts and good managers achieve that. Thus I think that Hoolahan could do a good job in the Prem as well as many of our current players under a manager such as Lambert. If Hoolahan stays with us he could well be in the Prem next season anyway IMO. We really must hold onto all of our assets in January if we want a good run at promotion and I''m sure that the board are aware of this. If Barnett has to return to WBA then so be it as we have other centre-backs in reserve, and I''d rather we keep Hoolahan.

[/quote]

Take what you say about the team ethic and i agree that Hoolihan would be a handy player if we went up. That is a bit different though from the idea that an established Prem/top of the Champs club would pay alot of money for a 28-29 year old player who hasn`t even really established himself in the Champs.

A bid for Korey is far more likely simply due to the age/potential factor. It never ceases to amaze me how many people judge a player on how he`s playing "now" yet can`t seem to understand that there is a huge difference between being 18 and 28- and a huge difference in value between buying young talent on an upward curve and players in their late 20`s who tend to be fading away.

[John 0]

[quote user="Mr.Carrow"][quote user="paul moy"]

[quote user="Mr.Carrow"]Rubbish. Hoolihan is 29 and hasn`t even really proved himself in the Champs, let alone the Prem. Don`t get me wrong, i like him and he`s a handy weapon for us, but he is not a Prem player.[/quote]

 

Blackpool have a team that is full of non-premiership players and they are not doing too badly are they . A good team is one that is better than a sum of all of its parts and good managers achieve that. Thus I think that Hoolahan could do a good job in the Prem as well as many of our current players under a manager such as Lambert. If Hoolahan stays with us he could well be in the Prem next season anyway IMO. We really must hold onto all of our assets in January if we want a good run at promotion and I''m sure that the board are aware of this. If Barnett has to return to WBA then so be it as we have other centre-backs in reserve, and I''d rather we keep Hoolahan.

[/quote]

Take what you say about the team ethic and i agree that Hoolihan would be a handy player if we went up. That is a bit different though from the idea that an established Prem/top of the Champs club would pay alot of money for a 28-29 year old player who hasn`t even really established himself in the Champs.[/quote]In one sense, yes, but an apt manager has an eye for talent, ability, and potential, not this absurd notion that the average fan is fixated by; ''proven quality'' (you often find the ''proven'' has a great tendency to either dwindle in it''s form, or travel on the same trajectory it has for years; this is whilst the ''unproven'' is always in the ascendancy, unless it finds itself with the rather morbid tag of being ''proven'' e,g. Andrew Crofts and Grant Holt anyone?).Holloway has bought or often used the likes of Luke Varney (on loan), Matt Phillips, David Carney (on loan), Ian Evatt, Gary Taylor-Fletcher, Conference proven Alex Baptiste, Mattew Gilks... etc., and this is not forgetting the £2 million bid they made on ''League 2 proven'' Pitman. Only a year ago, a soon to be Premier League side fielded by Holloway was thought far more little of than the one Paul Lambert now has at his disposal (but that''s a whole new subject altogether).He''s a manager who knows full well what to do with a club of Plymouth/Blackpool''s stature. He''s never been blinded by such tags of what is ''proven'' or ''unproven'', and he''s rightfully reaped rewards because of it (unlike Glenn Roeder, who seemed to suffer a severe nose bleed whenever he ever had to delve into the market for any player outside of the Premier League).With that in mind, i highly doubt Hoolahan is going to be plying his trade in the yellow and green over the next year without some serious interest from teams looking persuade him that his career belongs elsewhere from Carrow Road.

[Bill 1,788]

"Well, to add my twopennorth, who is this Barrett mentioned by the OP?"

You would think this MIGHT just give it away, but no ......... up they pop

[Mr.Carrow 376]

John, i love what Blackpool are doing and i think we are doing something similar here- bringing in players who view coming here as a huge step up and are hungry to prove themselves, but Blackpool are the exception rather than the rule and i`d suggest that virtually all Prem managers are far more obsessed with the "proven" tag than fans are.

Maybe what Blackpool are doing will prompt a few to take more risks in going for lower league players, but i still don`t think that will stretch to a swap with a talented 24-year old centre-half who cost £2.5m plus cash for Hoolihan, as some are suggesting. Even at Blackpool most of the players are freebies and loans. Is Pitman a young player?

[shiplee15 0]

his contract is up at the end of the season isnt it?

if that is the case we can wait till 6 months before - so roughly end of december-end of january - and get him on a free?? why swap anyone, just do that?

[Bill 1,788]

errr, it was a wind up mate

[Yobocop 1,096]

Korey Smith will go if the right offer comes in, I can see him going for at least £5 mil

[Lambert is King 0]

[quote user="Give Peas a Chance "]Korey Smith will go if the right offer comes in, I can see him going for at least £5 mil[/quote]

He was well on theVilla radar but probably wont be now O''Neill is gone.   

[GJP 79]

Korey Smith....£5m....Aston Villa....

 

I hope neither of you are being serious about that.

 

Korey attracting serious interest from a club of that stature for that kind of money is probably as likely at the moment as Chelsea signing Grant Holt to replace Drogba.

[city-till-i-die 7]

[quote user="GJP"]

Korey Smith....£5m....Aston Villa....

 

I hope neither of you are being serious about that.

 

Korey attracting serious interest from a club of that stature for that kind of money is probably as likely at the moment as Chelsea signing Grant Holt to replace Drogba.

[/quote]Do you think Chelski would do a player + cash??? Drogba + £10,000000 for Holty???? [;)]

[CRAZY LEGS 0]

[quote user="shiplee15"]his contract is up at the end of the season isnt it?

if that is the case we can wait till 6 months before - so roughly end of december-end of january - and get him on a free?? why swap anyone, just do that?[/quote]

west brom havean option of an extra year which they are likley to take, so we will probaly extend his loan fortheseason and take it from their

[shiplee15 0]

[quote user="knockout nick"][quote user="shiplee15"]his contract is up at the end of the season isnt it?

if that is the case we can wait till 6 months before - so roughly end of december-end of january - and get him on a free?? why swap anyone, just do that?[/quote]

west brom havean option of an extra year which they are likley to take, so we will probaly extend his loan fortheseason and take it from their[/quote]

ok fair enough.. need to find the cash then imo.. can''t go swapping players atm, but he''s well worth buying for me, him and ward look good together at the back. Yes we may not be keeping as many clean sheets as we''d like but so long as u score more... who cares

[grantroederdisaster 0]

Korey Smiths too young and inexperienced to go elsewhere and also too important part of our squad to go during the season!

 

Hoolahans apart from age is also too important for the ambitious Lambert too want to sell him even if they don''t see eye to eye. If Hoolahan was more consistant he''d already be in the Premiership cause at his best I think he''d be good enough but its the games where his magic doesn''t work causing him to lose the ball too easily and he can''t compensate for a bad game by digging in and helping the defence out. Surman has done little for the club yet and is injuryprone so there has to question marks against him. I also don''t think hes as effective as Hoolahan anyway.

 

Lambert is ambitious and knows that if we are lucky with injuries, suspensions and try to improve the squad with a couple of players then we have a chance of finishing in the top 6 come the end of the season. To sell some of our better players during the season would undermine all the good work Lamberts done and also stop the forward thinking positivity the club has at present.