Hooper watch - Monday 15th

[Old Shuck 183]

If I had the choice between challenge and opportunity or more money for a new job I''d take the latter. So won''t blame Hooper if he does.

 

This has dragged on and on and on however. And then some. Celtic are digging their heels. If it were Arsenal and Liverpool competing for his services I am sure that Celtic would be keen to thrash out a deal as soon as possible, wish him well and get a  replacement-the message to potential new recruits would be come here, impress, join a top six club in England for big money.

 

Right now they must be seeing it as come here, impress, and have Norwich, QPR and clubs like Southampton and Hull City chasing after you, all clubs who were in the English Championship not so long ago, with two of them a step lower than that as recently as 2010. Not good PR for Celtic and certainly events that are pissing off their fans big time-the ''Norwich-Celtic family'' has long ended in acrimonious divorce.

 

Celtic would probably rather sell him to Tottenham for £3 million than us or QPR for £4 million.

 

The thing that worries me about him eventually coming here is one that has been shared by other fans, that the whole scenario has played out for so long that it almost feels as if he has been ''our'' player since January-or even earlier. No fault of his but he will have to hit the ground running if he comes here and get amongst the goals early on else this whole saga will go against him and he''ll get the same sort of stick Morison did.

[Jp1967 0]

From what I can gather, it''s pretty much in the end game now. I believe the cash is the same from both Norwich and QPR, however the deal is worth more from QPR due to incentives, ie promotion. I expect Celtic to ask Norwich to add a sweetener of a goals incentive and both bids will be accepted. Thereafter it''ll be up to hooper to make up his mind.

The only reason I can see him choosing QPR is that he would be closer to his family.

As I''ve said previously I''d prefer him to sign for U guys. Him and rvw would be a cracking pairing. Plus Arry always seems a dodgy geezer!

[crabbycanary 2]

To be fair Shuck, I don''t know your circumstances, but for me I would choose the challenge if I was in Hooper''s position.

Hooper is in the prime of his footballing life. He has (more than very likely) banked more money already than I will earn in the next 10-20 years. He doesn''t ''need'' the money, but as always, we could all do with a  bit more!

He will get the chance to test himself in the best League for (possibly) giving him the chance to play for England. there are not may strikers who play for England who play regularly in the Championship.

In my current position, then I would go for the money, but our (Hooper and my own) circumstances are vastly different

 

[mrdi 373]

I wouldn''t be surprised if he goes to QPR, just so he can continue to wear his ridiculous 88 shirt and play for the Hoops and declare publicly how Rangers was the place for him all along, etc.

If we seriously wanted him, we would have sorted it by now; have him on board for the US tour and allow him to build a relationship with the team as we have done with RvW.

I''ve no doubt Hooper could score goals in the Premier League but quite frankly, this whole process is beyond tedious now. Boring Sidney, boring...

[crabbycanary 2]

Essex is only a shortish drive from Norwich (commutable every day if necessary), so I cannot see that as the major decision breaker

[crabbycanary 2]

I would also say that QPR to Essex is similar time wise, but would do someones head in if they had to do that drive every day!

[Rustyboy 2]

[quote user="mrdi"]I wouldn''t be surprised if he goes to QPR, just so he can continue to wear his ridiculous 88 shirt and play for the Hoops and declare publicly how Rangers was the place for him all along, etc.

If we seriously wanted him, we would have sorted it by now; have him on board for the US tour and allow him to build a relationship with the team as we have done with RvW.

I''ve no doubt Hooper could score goals in the Premier League but quite frankly, this whole process is beyond tedious now. Boring Sidney, boring...[/quote]

Here, here, lets just sign Peter Crouch and get on with things!

[ncfcstar 287]

[quote user="mrdi"]I wouldn''t be surprised if he goes to QPR, just so he can continue to wear his ridiculous 88 shirt and play for the Hoops and declare publicly how Rangers was the place for him all along, etc.

If we seriously wanted him, we would have sorted it by now; have him on board for the US tour and allow him to build a relationship with the team as we have done with RvW.

I''ve no doubt Hooper could score goals in the Premier League but quite frankly, this whole process is beyond tedious now. Boring Sidney, boring...[/quote]You know why he wears the 88 shirt don''t you?  He won''t be wearing that at any other club he goes to.If he goes to QPR then more fool him, I want to see him here but for all we know we''re not actually in for him again and this is all paper talk.

[mrdi 373]

Yeah, I know why he wears 88 there.

However if he DID come here we should give him the No. 4 shirt (give Brad something else) as that should be the maximum number of millions we should pay for his services.

[Tetteys Jig 830]

I thought it was his year of birth?

[ncfcstar 287]

[quote user="Jimmy Smith"]I thought it was his year of birth?[/quote]It is, but it''s also the year Celtic were founded (1888).  Hooper and Wanyama both chose numbers that represented something in Celtic''s history.

[Old Shuck 183]

Fair point Crabby. Its the cynic in me and little brings that out more than football these days!

 

We tend to look at players and, most certainly, our clubs, through rose tinted spectacles. Is Hooper one of the great majority of players who simply sees this move as being his next stage of employment-thus he, like most of us, will opt for whoever offers him the best terms for Gary Hooper the person rather than Gary Hooper the professional footballer.

 

I did take the money over the challenge option once-and regretted it deeply. So although it seems an easy choice it isn''t always the best one, no matter what you do for a living. And, money aside, QPR will have its attractions for him. He may (this is all conjecture by the way!) like the idea of playing for a London club and living near the City with all its lures and glamour, he may think the odds of QPR coming up next season are better than ours are of staying put-so, either way, out of the next two seasons he''d ''only'' play one of them in the Premier League. He may feel more at ease about heading back to England and the Championship, a league he knows and has done well in before-less pressure (or more, maybe?) and more likelihood he''ll get amongst the goals early on. And he may, and players do, like the idea of playing for a perceived maverick like Harry Redknapp over the more cerebral Hughton. Who can tell-all of those reasons, after all, may be the very ones that put him off joining QPR.

 

But when you are juggling about with all those options in your head maybe the one you keep going back to is the money.

 

I hope its resolved, one way or the other, today. However, we must have an awful lot of faith in him to provide what we need, so prolonged and committed has been our interest. And he might be flattered at that-or it might mean he will be feeling the pressure from day one should he sign.

[Tetteys Jig 830]

Professional footballers tend to be confident in themselves and that leads me to believe he''d rather play for us as has been widely speculated. QPR have seemingly had an offer accepted whereas we haven''t. Like i said before, something has to give.

Celtic relent and we get him

Hooper relents and QPR get him

We relent and we get him.

[Cantiaci Canary 556]

Obviously McNally knows what he''s doing and none of us know any of the finer details of these negotiations but I can''t help feeling that we should stop quibbling over such small amounts of money (relatively speaking) and bag our man with a £6M offer.

 

We have surely drained away too much time in January and the Summer already to let Hooper, who is clearly a firm favourite of Hughton, wander off to QPR and the Championship.

[Row D Seat 7 0]

Should''ve posted this on here as opposed to the ''When will the next lad arrive'' thread, but here''s what I put there:

I actually doubt whether we''ve made a bid for Hooper this window. There''s been reports of bids and deadlines but nothing concrete at all. Hull and QPR have bid for Hooper this window, we know that much.

I think we remain interested but are waiting for the player to say something to Celtic before we make a lowish bid, the two clubs can then negotiate a fairer price.

I think he will be our player by the end of NEXT week.

[ROBFLECK 132]

If the ££££ signs are too irresistable for him and he wants to play in a cr@ppy shed in west Londen, he(s welcome to it.

I just hope McNally has a plan B, which I think he does. There are better players than Hooper out there imo, which would not cost 6.5 million

[Canaries Utd 0]

I totally agree Rob Fleck.

[Yelloow Since 72 54]

I think there is a danger of being seen as a soft touch if we stump up £6m like that. Matching QPR''s £4.5m with £1.5m in add. ons would seem to be a better route, as it defers some of the payment. IMO, the ''deadline'' as the journos call it has more to do with knowing where we are before meeting with Quagliarella and his representatives on Thursday.

[Webbo118 0]

[quote user="crabbycanary"]

To be fair Shuck, I don''t know your circumstances, but for me I would choose the challenge if I was in Hooper''s position.

Hooper is in the prime of his footballing life. He has (more than very likely) banked more money already than I will earn in the next 10-20 years. He doesn''t ''need'' the money, but as always, we could all do with a  bit more!

He will get the chance to test himself in the best League for (possibly) giving him the chance to play for England. there are not may strikers who play for England who play regularly in the Championship.

In my current position, then I would go for the money, but our (Hooper and my own) circumstances are vastly different

 

[/quote]

 

Exactly right. I would imagine that when you''re receiving £30K/£40K per week, a few extra quid is not going to be of great significance. On the other hand, playing at the highest level you can reach and advancing your career possibly is.

[Webbo118 0]

[quote user="Old Shuck"]

If I had the choice between challenge and opportunity or more money for a new job I''d take the latter. So won''t blame Hooper if he does.

 

This has dragged on and on and on however. And then some. Celtic are digging their heels. If it were Arsenal and Liverpool competing for his services I am sure that Celtic would be keen to thrash out a deal as soon as possible, wish him well and get a  replacement-the message to potential new recruits would be come here, impress, join a top six club in England for big money.

 

Right now they must be seeing it as come here, impress, and have Norwich, QPR and clubs like Southampton and Hull City chasing after you, all clubs who were in the English Championship not so long ago, with two of them a step lower than that as recently as 2010. Not good PR for Celtic and certainly events that are pissing off their fans big time-the ''Norwich-Celtic family'' has long ended in acrimonious divorce.

 

Celtic would probably rather sell him to Tottenham for £3 million than us or QPR for £4 million.

 

The thing that worries me about him eventually coming here is one that has been shared by other fans, that the whole scenario has played out for so long that it almost feels as if he has been ''our'' player since January-or even earlier. No fault of his but he will have to hit the ground running if he comes here and get amongst the goals early on else this whole saga will go against him and he''ll get the same sort of stick Morison did.

[/quote]

Very strange statement! I am sure they would quite cheerfully set fire to £1M just for the sake of it.

[HerefordCanary 0]

BBC sportsday just reported this at 10.35 am

Queens Park Rangers are closing in on the signing of Celtic striker Gary Hooper.

The Championship club are close to finalising personal terms with the player after firming up their interest in the 25-year-old Englishman with an offer of around £5m, despite interest from Premier League club Norwich City.

Hooper, who has one year left on his contract in Glasgow, has scored 82 goals for Celtic and was the club''s top scorer last season. Celtic are increasingly resigned to his departure but will make a profit on the £2m they paid Scunthorpe for the player three years ago.

If he does go i suppose we kind of won because we know he would have been coming for the wrong reasons, I couldn''t help but feel pissed off though

[Tetteys Jig 830]

Should this happen, I don''t blame Hooper. QPR are paying over the odds as they need him more than we do and can''t attract any better players.

[Old Shuck 183]

If that is the case then our plan B must now be the new plan A and we can therefore expect developments there over the next few days.

 

Good that its seemingly reached the end game even if he may not now be coming here. However, the BBC had nailed Redmond onto a move to Everton previously so, until its all official...

[xxxx 0]

Harry Redknapp has supposedly  just been on SSN and Hooper came up and he said they are not close to signing him . Clearly Hooper wants to come to Norwich its up to the club to get a bid accepted , afterall he would be a cracking signing compared to the 30 year old Italian .

[Temp the Revelator 0]

[quote user="Prem1"]Harry Redknapp has supposedly  just been on SSN and Hooper came up and he said they are not close to signing him . Clearly Hooper wants to come to Norwich its up to the club to get a bid accepted , afterall he would be a cracking signing compared to the 30 year old Italian .
[/quote]

Are you for real?  Hooper is only fit to tie Quag''s boots!!!  I must admit, I''m not sure I get all this desire to sign Hooper - is it just becasue we failed in January and you want to see us get one over on Celtic?  I think he would be a big gamble at anything above £5m.

[Joanna Grey 0]

LOL, Hooper is a bustler. Quagliarella can do that and a lot more besides. Totally different class.

[Row D Seat 7 0]

Isn''t Quagliarella 30 years old and £8m? Hooper the better value for me at about £5.5-6m.

[mrdi 373]

Quagliarella would be as good, if not better than RvW.

Hooper is nothing like the player The Quag is.

And stop mentioning his age like he''s a senile geriatric or something. He''s 30. Spring chicken.

[Row D Seat 7 0]

At 30 I wouldn''t have confidence that he''d come here and give everything he''s got for NCFC. He has nothing to prove. Hooper does...

[Yelloow Since 72 54]

Just seen this report from Scottish newspapers at 10.58 this morning:

"QPR boss Harry Redknapp has submitted a £4.5 million bid for the wantaway striker, just hours after Norwich City threatened to pull out of a deal taking the Englishman to Carrow Road. The 25-year-old is said to be keen on joining the English Premier League side, but could be tempted by the Championship club’s offer that would see him return home to London. Norwich and QPR offered £4 million for the forward last week - with Redknapp matching the Canaries’ offer - and the Norfolk club set a 5pm deadline on Monday for Celtic chief executive Peter Lawwell to accept their offer. However, Redknapp’s 11th-hour bid could force Norwich to extend their deadline - and with the QPR bid offering a higher transfer fee plus add-ons if the London club secure a return to the English top flight, Lawwell could be tempted to hold off accepting any bid from Carrow Road, according to the Daily Record."