Brighton looking at Stevenage striker Craig Reid (merged)...

[Langley]

Havent we had our share of non league to league strikers who have failed, Dixon ,Holdroyd, Elder, Fleetwood etc. The last one who made good from non league was Peter Ward or Gerry Fell I would guess.

Wasnt there a bloke called Hart ?

 

[DarrenFreemansPerm]

Wasnt there a bloke called Hart ?

Whoopsy

 

[Biscuit]

If Gus thinks he's good enough then I think it's worth the gamble. He clearly has something about him and Gus can work magic so you never know! The figure quoted sounds like a hell of a lot so it's probably crap.

 

[Lady Whistledown]

Codner, although enigmatic and a player who never achieved his potential, was still a major contributor to our midfield in the late 80's/early 90's/

Principally because Barry Lloyd never, ever seemed to drop him, no matter how, er, enigmatically he played.

 

[Brovion]

No, the last one you could consider a 'success' was Alex Revell. Signed for £8k, scored a few goals , then left 18 months later for £150k. Made a decent contribution, and left for a huge (%) profit. A successful buy by any criteria.


We also turned a 250% profit on Elder - signed for £10k, sold for £35k. These figures are small, granted, but look at it this way - the money we recouped from Revell and Elder, will have paid for not just those two, but Dixon, Holroyd and Fleetwood too (don't actually think we ever owned Fleetwood anyway). Worthwhile gamble. If one turns out to be great (eg CMS, McLean, DJ Campbell, Beckford) then you're quids in.

Saying all that, £400k represents a pretty sizeable gamble. the figure is presumably bullshit anyway.

Yes, true ..... but then we weren't a Championship team with aspirations of going higher. In that respect BensGrandad is broadly correct: the last successful non-league players we had (when we were at this level) were probably Fell and Ward.

I know there is a chance of unearthing gems, but at this level the odds are against it. My money's on newspaper talk to fill a column inch.

 

[Brovion]

Wasnt there a bloke called Hart ?

But we weren't a top-half Championship team when we signed OGH. He was able to develop with us admittedly (and was a good player for us at this level), but could he have gone straight from Stanstead to partnering CMS at the Amex?

 

[Sussex Nomad]

Well I heard on Saturday we were looking at Tommy Boyd... again.

 

[OSRGull]

Getting desperate now, we need someone who's proven at this level! Yes in League 1 it's okay to take the gamble but not in the Championship, we need a proven target man not some non league striker who hardly knows where the net is himself.

 

[Foolg]

On the plus side, Craig Mackail-Smith and Aaron McLean were both signed by a Football League club from non league sides, and neither have been too shabby since then...

But both for much smaller fee's, and both proved themselves at L1/and arguably Championship level before earning big money moves to Championship sides. Reid has had one impressive season in the conference, and a couple in Conference South, how that's worth 400k is beyond me.

At the moment he's no more proven than Fleetwood or Holroyd (who infact has a better league record). He's been at league 1 level before, and failed to score in 14 games.

Not saying he's shit, just 400k seems WAY over the top when you look at what we paid for Hoskins, Murray, and Reading recently for Le Fondre.

 

[hans kraay fan club]

Well I heard on Saturday we were looking at Tommy Boyd... again.

To replace Richard Reynolds?

 

[B.W.]

Well I heard on Saturday we were looking at Tommy Boyd... again.

Do you mean George?

 

[BensGrandad]

Yes, true ..... but then we weren't a Championship team with aspirations of going higher. In that respect BensGrandad is broadly correct: the last successful non-league players we had (when we were at this level) were probably Fell and Ward.

.

As you say it is an acceptable gamble to take a player and hope he can move from virtually non league up to Div 2 but you are talking here of a player who a few months ago was non league and people are expecting him to make the jump to The Championship. Would think if we signed him it would be with a view to spend time to learn our way of playing rather than step up straight into the first team.

 

[Sussex Nomad]

Do you mean George?

Yeah... who's Tommy? Was an alleged comedian wasn't he?

 

[BensGrandad]

Tommy Boyd was a presenter on Radio Sussex in the afternoons a couple of years or so ago and I think that he was replaced by Sarah Gorrell not sure where he is on the radio now.

 

[the right footed denilson]

And that Celtic fullback, but he must be in his fourties. Gotta be one of them.

 

[blue'n'white]

If we're going to spend £400k on a striker from lower down the leagues I think I'd prefer Matt Tubbs from Crawley tbh although didn't someone say he had an attitude problem so may not be the man for Gus
In any case Agdestein (who Gus said would be a good Championship player !) is now back from Bath City - is that likely to mean anything ?

 

[the right footed denilson]

Gawd, not Fat Tubbs again.