Dale Stephens Summer 2016 shenanigans (Merged Thread)

[Wardy's twin]

Agreed. Players were far less fit, and far less technically gifted.

Yeah George Best & Rodney Marsh would have been pub footballers only...

 

[HastingsSeagull]

We have 4 excellent CMs so whatever happens, Tony will not loose an asset for nothing I'm sure.

 

[Mellotron]

Yeah George Best & Rodney Marsh would have been pub footballers only...

....So you're suggesting footballers......aren't fitter? Or more technically gifted?

I watched 1966 World Cup final recently, the full game - it was f***ing woeful. The standard of first touches, movement, speed of play was about League One nowadays.

In certain attributes I don't think players have really changed, in others they have changed MASSIVELY.

 

[dejavuatbtn]

Like a lot of footballlers of his generation, Stephens overrates himself and his worth. He's only as good as his last game, as any of them are. If he is holding out for a big move then let him go and take the money. We have other "gifted" midfielders on the books on decent contracts and I am sure that there are or will be plenty more out there to replace him if needbe.

 

[Brightonfan1983]

As has been said before I'm sure (though I admit to not having read the 3,343 pages of posts on the subject of Stephens), there's a bit of this that smacks of Bridcutt and Buckley. Fine players but no one ever thought they'd set the Premier League alight. I feel the same about DS; whatever decision he makes should have been made in the summer just gone, or next year when everyone knows where things stand.

And as a side note, that the transfer window does not before the season starts, is an absolute joke.

 

[Jam The Man]

....So you're suggesting footballers......aren't fitter? Or more technically gifted?

I watched 1966 World Cup final recently, the full game - it was f***ing woeful. The standard of first touches, movement, speed of play was about League One nowadays.

In certain attributes I don't think players have really changed, in others they have changed MASSIVELY.

I've been saying this for years. Yes the result of the match was incredible for England, but the quality of the game itself was astonishingly bad, even with 6 goals!

 

[Stat Brother]

As has been said before I'm sure (though I admit to not having read the 3,343 pages of posts on the subject of Stephens), there's a bit of this that smacks of Bridcutt and Buckley. Fine players but no one ever thought they'd set the Premier League alight.

I wouldn't be at all surprised if the 3 of them were also linked by the fact that their time at the Albion happened to be their very best in football.

 

[Mellotron]

I've been saying this for years. Yes the result of the match was incredible for England, but the quality of the game itself was astonishingly bad, even with 6 goals!

If the same exact game now was played now as a Prem game (forget World Cup final), you'd be absolutely laughing your bollocks off at the standard of football.

 

[Stat Brother]

If the same exact game now was played now as a Prem game (forget World Cup final), you'd be absolutely laughing your bollocks off at the standard of football.

But how would our current 'stars' get on with kicking a lump of concrete around while wearing a woolly jumper and diving boots?

 

[marlowe]

Yeah, and a few pints and a fag in the pub beforehand. Never hurt the likes of Peter Osgood and Charlie Cooke back in the 1970s.

Is that the same Peter Osgood who died of a heart attack at age 59?

 

[Cheeky Monkey]

From today's I/Independent on the Accrington result:

'It may give Dyche further evidence he needs more incomings in this window. "We're fractionally closer," he said of possible signings'

 

[LamieRobertson]

It showed when Dunk took his shirt off to putr goalkeepers shirt on recently.

Oh I remembered that but was told on here that it was KT..i remember seeing Bruno in one of those short tops ..geez I feel a bit naive on this subject

 

[Brovion]

Is that the same Peter Osgood who died of a heart attack at age 59?

The very same. Teammate Ian Hutchinson was even younger, died at 54.

 

[Stat Brother]

Oh I remembered that but was told on here that it was KT..i remember seeing Bruno in one of those short tops ..geez I feel a bit naive on this subject

From memory Dunk only had tape on.

I think most of us would have remembered if he was wearing a 'sports bra'.

 

[Loftslaces]

Dale is a good player but I really don't think we will struggle without him. He has done pretty well here but I would cash in and wish him well.

I don't think he will be one of the first choice midfielders come Christmas and for that reason........ I'm done caring about him.

 

[Mellotron]

But how would our current 'stars' get on with kicking a lump of concrete around while wearing a woolly jumper and diving boots?

Fair point. It was a different sport back then, not comparable.

 

[ATFC Seagull]

I hate to say it but my view is that Chris Hughton is lying when he says Stephens isn't refusing to play, or being very economical with the truth, e.g. Stephens hasn't refused, but has asked not to.

I don't buy the fitness argument - whilst he might not have played blinders we've seen already this season he is perfectly fit, at the very least to be on the bench. The whole "head not in the right place" thing baffles me. I struggle to believe that a professional footballer who would like an upwards move is therefore incapable of playing well in the meantime, particularly as a decent performance at this stage of the season might be what gets him the move. Is Championship football such a game of marginal gains now that Hughton feels that a player who is slightly unsettled will cost the team?

 

[Stat Brother]

Fair point. It was a different sport back then, not comparable.

Stop comparing it then

 

[London Irish]

Sell him in January, not now

 

[Triggaaar]

And as a side note, that the transfer window does not before the season starts, is an absolute joke.

Agreed.