Mattock to Sheff Weds?

[peterward]

Spoken to a friend of mine who is close to WBA. He thought Mattock was going to sign for us and is a bit surprised if he has opted for Wednesday............. well actually not. What he said was "if they are offering more, what would you do?". But when I mentioned £20K a week he snorted his coffee down his nose and suggested I think again..........."I don't know anything at all but I promise you, no way will he be getting that much."

So realistically they are probably offering a better deal but not silly money that some on here would like to think. Wednesday are historically a big club and Mandaric is throwing big money at getting them into the Premier League - as he has at previous clubs.I think they have a very good chance and good luck but I do hope their fans keep a handle on the risk (based on his track record a near certainty) of financial implosion before too long.

If his agent is doing his job properly......and it sounds like he is, it maybe just as feasible that Mattock does want to sign for us and is using the "signing for wednesday" line to improve his hand in negotiations with us

 

[Napper]

They are indeed, but you should check out the reaction to this thread by a few of their gobshites on owlstalk. We are apparently small shitty little Brighton who have no chance when the big boys like them come calling. They point to their huge gates as proof of this.

Odd then, that our gates were consistently better than theirs last season. They may have averaged a few more last season, but this was swelled by 3 massive gates which can be accommodated in their cavernous outdated rust bucket and it just goes to show how plastic a large portion of their support actually is. Their median league gate (middle) gate was actually 2,000 lower than ours at just 18,000.

In any case, this attendance guff ignores the more important corporate facilities available at other clubs. The Amex for example can generate more money than many bigger grounds just because we can host nearly 3,000 corporate guests in 1901. I bet even the 37,000 capacity Hillsborough struggles to compete with that.

So yeah, of course Wednesday are historically a bigger club than us and most of the division, but some of their fans really do have massive delusions of grandeur. One crap season and we'll see 17,000 rattling around oversized Hillsborough again. (That's 4,000 fewer than we've sold season tickets this season)

without doubt. Hoped they would stay down , as bad as Leeds were in L1. Really hope they struggle

 

[The Wednesday]

Spoken to a friend of mine who is close to WBA. He thought Mattock was going to sign for us and is a bit surprised if he has opted for Wednesday............. well actually not. What he said was "if they are offering more, what would you do?". But when I mentioned £20K a week he snorted his coffee down his nose and suggested I think again..........."I don't know anything at all but I promise you, no way will he be getting that much."

So realistically they are probably offering a better deal but not silly money that some on here would like to think. Wednesday are historically a big club and Mandaric is throwing big money at getting them into the Premier League - as he has at previous clubs.I think they have a very good chance and good luck but I do hope their fans keep a handle on the risk (based on his track record a near certainty) of financial implosion before too long.

If Mandaric is throwing money at it, then it is news to us!!

It seems we cant afford to pay more than £300k for a player who singlehandly kept our promotion on track last season!!

There is not a cat in hells chance we are going to pay Mattock or anyone else anything like £20k per week!!

As for Mattock, When this story unexpectedly broke last night I wasnt particularly impressed because he was poor during his loan spell with Sheff Utd. However, it seems he has done well with you, so we will wait and see.

Anyway, whatever happens, its good to see a another recent League 1 team doing well. It gives us something to aim for.

Good luck and we will see you next season.

PS Dont believe everything (in fact dont believe ANYTHING) you might read on Owlstalk. It is full of windup merchants and is a rather strange place to say the least!!

 

[severnside gull]

If Mandaric is throwing money at it, then it is news to us!!

It seems we cant afford to pay more than £300k for a player who singlehandly kept our promotion on track last season!!

There is not a cat in hells chance we are going to pay Mattock or anyone else anything like £20k per week!!

As for Mattock, When this story unexpectedly broke last night I wasnt particularly impressed because he was poor during his loan spell with Sheff Utd. However, it seems he has done well with you, so we will wait and see.

Anyway, whatever happens, its good to see a another recent League 1 team doing well. It gives us something to aim for.

Good luck and we will see you next season.

PS Dont believe everything (in fact dont believe ANYTHING) you might read on Owlstalk. It is full of windup merchants and is a rather strange place to say the least!!

I think if you look at what you are building you might just fancy your chances this season. You may have a problem with strength in depth but your first choice side, the way it is shaping, will be well equipped for the Championship - enough for me to risk a tenner at 16's anyway

You are so right about Owlstalk - very strange world those people live in! Thankfully most people realise that they are hardly representative. Good club. Great fans. Worried that your ground needs a bit of attention to restore former glories but hey ho! - you can't have it all. Just as long as it doesn't hold you back.

 

[El Presidente]

They are indeed, but you should check out the reaction to this thread by a few of their gobshites on owlstalk. We are apparently small shitty little Brighton who have no chance when the big boys like them come calling. They point to their huge gates as proof of this.

Odd then, that our gates were consistently better than theirs last season. They may have averaged a few more last season, but this was swelled by 3 massive gates which can be accommodated in their cavernous outdated rust bucket and it just goes to show how plastic a large portion of their support actually is. Their median league gate (middle) gate was actually 2,000 lower than ours at just 18,000.

In any case, this attendance guff ignores the more important corporate facilities available at other clubs. The Amex for example can generate more money than many bigger grounds just because we can host nearly 3,000 corporate guests in 1901. I bet even the 37,000 capacity Hillsborough struggles to compete with that.

So yeah, of course Wednesday are historically a bigger club than us and most of the division, but some of their fans really do have massive delusions of grandeur. One crap season and we'll see 17,000 rattling around oversized Hillsborough again. (That's 4,000 fewer than we've sold season tickets this season)

Bit harsh on the Owls. I like Hillsborough, and their fans have traditionally been decent when we played there.

Getting back to the main issue, Mattock will go where the money is Shirley? The only thing that might prevent that is if he thinks one of the teams after him might be promoted this season.

Personally I was very impressed with him last season, he seems comfortable at this level both defending and attacking.

 

[hans kraay fan club]

Good club. Great fans. .

Apart from that moronic band.

 

[Simster]

Bit harsh on the Owls.

Not really, I see as I find. I MUCH prefer Sheffield United personally.

 

[peterward]

Not really, I see as I find. I MUCH prefer Sheffield United personally.

sort of agree, nothing really against either, made for a great spectacle last season, but on the occasions our paths have met with the 2 Sheffield clubs, the United lads seem a bit more humble and decent........ "The Wednesday" above seems a decent bloke, but I have come across a few to many scathing Wednesday fans up their own arses, with delusions of grandeur who like to talk down on other clubs which is a shame, because nobody disputes they are historically a big club.

 

[The Wednesday]

I think if you look at what you are building you might just fancy your chances this season. You may have a problem with strength in depth but your first choice side, the way it is shaping, will be well equipped for the Championship - enough for me to risk a tenner at 16's anyway

You are so right about Owlstalk - very strange world those people live in! Thankfully most people realise that they are hardly representative. Good club. Great fans. Worried that your ground needs a bit of attention to restore former glories but hey ho! - you can't have it all. Just as long as it doesn't hold you back.

We need to see what players actually sign before that 16/1 looks attractive in my opinion. I would be happy to finish around where you did, with maybe a well timed run to sneak a Play Off spot. However, cementing us back in the division has to be the main goal. I dont want to drop into that division again!

So far we have Chris Kirkland and Kieran Lee from Oldham. We desperately need 1 maybe 2 centre forwards and 2 wingers (If we don't get Antonio and Treacy - both on loan last year) and a really effective Centre mid to play alongside Semedo.

Heavily linked with Gardner but that still hasn't been confirmed 1 week later.


Did you guys heavily strengthen last season or did you pretty much go with what you had?

(PS - When i quoted you in my original post, i wasnt having a go - just highlighting this 'throwing money at it' perception in quite a few posts)

 

[severnside gull]

Apart from that moronic band.

Sadly every club seems to have its little clique of homophobes who roll themselves out at any mention of Brighton

I do sometimes get a bit peeved at once upon a time "big" clubs who drop down the leagues but still think they are better than everyone else - Wednesday, like Portsmouth and Leeds - have more than their fair share giving it the billy big bollocks but in fairness we are not exempt from having an inflated view of our worth. I guess that, plus a lifetime committment, is what, as a general rule, separates fans from players

 

[hans kraay fan club]

I used to spend a huge anount of time for work in Sheffeild, and came across a many supporters of both clubs. I'm not suggesting that the people I knew were necessarily representative, but it seemed to follow that the United fans were way more passionate and actually went to the games, whereas the Wednesday ones were far more plastic.

 

[Storer 68]

Would I want us to pay Joe Mattock £20k per week? I've got to say no. He's a full back, not a star player or a matchwinner.

For what it's worth, I thought he was alright last season, to be honest he looked a lot better going forward than he did defending at times. He didn't make that many mistakes, granted, and he's better than Painter, but I do feel his attacking instincts sometimes camouflaged his defensive deficiencies. If we sign him, fine- he's young enough to improve- if we don't, I can live with it quite happily.

£20k per week is Pompey wages. I really would be uncomfortable with us paying that to a full back at this level.

Indeed they are. And look at the common denominator here - Milan Mandaric will now ruin another club just as he did at Pompey and leicester...................

 

[hans kraay fan club]

We need to see what players actually sign before that 16/1 looks attractive in my opinion.

Er - if you wait until you sign a load of good players, the 16/1 won't still be on offer....

 

[HenryC]

I say give Grant Hall the LB spot. Reminded me of Gary Williams.

 

[peterward]

We need to see what players actually sign before that 16/1 looks attractive in my opinion. I would be happy to finish around where you did, with maybe a well timed run to sneak a Play Off spot. However, cementing us back in the division has to be the main goal. I dont want to drop into that division again!

So far we have Chris Kirkland and Kieran Lee from Oldham. We desperately need 1 maybe 2 centre forwards and 2 wingers (If we don't get Antonio and Treacy - both on loan last year) and a really effective Centre mid to play alongside Semedo.

Heavily linked with Gardner but that still hasn't been confirmed 1 week later.


Did you guys heavily strengthen last season or did you pretty much go with what you had?

(PS - When i quoted you in my original post, i wasnt having a go - just highlighting this 'throwing money at it' perception in quite a few posts)

we bought Craig Mackail Smith who is willing but wasn't massively productive as isolated. We bought winger Will Buckley from Watford for 1 million who is superb and we had a few loanees from lower prem teams but most of the L1 regulars played and got their chance. a few have proven not up to this level, especially our goalkeepers

I don't think the difference in first team quality from being a L1 promoted team to mid table championship is vastly different mate. You should be fine if you strengthen slightly weaker areas.

that said its the most competitive league in the world, anyone can beat anyone on their day and no game is really easy

 

[severnside gull]

We need to see what players actually sign before that 16/1 looks attractive in my opinion. I would be happy to finish around where you did, with maybe a well timed run to sneak a Play Off spot. However, cementing us back in the division has to be the main goal. I dont want to drop into that division again!

So far we have Chris Kirkland and Kieran Lee from Oldham. We desperately need 1 maybe 2 centre forwards and 2 wingers (If we don't get Antonio and Treacy - both on loan last year) and a really effective Centre mid to play alongside Semedo.

Heavily linked with Gardner but that still hasn't been confirmed 1 week later.


Did you guys heavily strengthen last season or did you pretty much go with what you had?


(PS - When i quoted you in my original post, i wasnt having a go - just highlighting this 'throwing money at it' perception in quite a few posts)

we didn't reinforce to any great degree and got caught out by the physical strength of sides in the Championship rather than by footballing ability in the main - that is why I think you may be better equipped than you suspect. We will be looking to put a bit more height and muscle into the side this close season - keep our best players if we can and find a partner for Mackail-Smith. I don't expect a flying start like last season but if we do that successfully we can challenge the top 6 with a little more hope of sustaining it than last year.

 

[chucky1973]

Has Mattock signed for Sheff Wed or it is purley rumour, nothing on there web and cant be bothered to troll through all the posts.

 

[Springal]

Has Mattock signed for Sheff Wed or it is purley rumour, nothing on there web and cant be bothered to troll through all the posts.

Sky Sports 'sources' believed they were close to him signing

 

[Simster]

but it seemed to follow that the United fans were way more passionate and actually went to the games, whereas the Wednesday ones were far more plastic.

This is reflected in their gates. United's median gate was 17,700 compared to Wednesday's 18,500 - so pretty similar "regular" support I would say.

However, Wednesday have a much larger number of armchair supporting big game Charlies in their ranks, and unlike most teams, their cavernous ground can accommodate both these floating fans and a large away support. 29,000 for Huddersfield, 36,000 for the derby and 38,000 on the final day vs Wycombe. If you remove these outliers, their gates are not far apart.

 

[peterward]

sheff united and palace also tracking?

surely we wouldn't have so little ambition as to speak with Palace

http://www.eatsleepsport.com/west-bromwich-albion/owls-to-swoop-for-albion-outcast-1436270.html