Why exactly did we sign Colin Hawkins?

[Silent Bob]

Because he's tall and has a shaven head, which makes him the new Cullip apparently.

 

[Lord Large]

El Abd isn't good enough to spend any period of time at CB IMO. In no way could we depend on Hinch and we hadn't signed Virgo yet (I doubt we thought we had much of a chance). To suggest Whing can play CB is ridiculous. At the time of signing him there was a need for another out and out CB, at least as cover (El Abd was/is already covering CM/RB/LB as well).

Hawkins was probably one of our better defenders in pre season and deserved to start at Crewe. The problem was rushing him back for his injury.

Yeah he performed really well against Worthing and some dodgy Irish team. Clearly an indication he would take League 1 by storm...

El Abd is a better centre half than Hawkins and could be relied upon as back up to Lynch and Elphick.

The club must have had faith that Hinshelwood would return long-term otherwise they would not have kept him on, but I do agree Hinsh was a risk.

That said, we did have El Abd, Elphick, Lynch all of whom can hold their own at centre back. We then signed TWO more centre backs, at least one of whom was not needed. Surely a manager should take time to assess his transfer options and not end up, as you suggest, signing Hawkins and then Virgo because he 'didn't know Virgo was available'.

It is called managing a limited budget.

 

[Da Man Clay]

Yeah he performed really well against Worthing and some dodgy Irish team. Clearly an indication he would take League 1 by storm...

El Abd is a better centre half than Hawkins and could be relied upon as back up to Lynch and Elphick.

The club must have had faith that Hinshelwood would return long-term otherwise they would not have kept him on, but I do agree Hinsh was a risk.

That said, we did have El Abd, Elphick, Lynch all of whom can hold their own at centre back. We then signed TWO more centre backs, at least one of whom was not needed. Surely a manager should take time to assess his transfer options and not end up, as you suggest, signing Hawkins and then Virgo because he 'didn't know Virgo was available'.

It is called managing a limited budget.

Well he performed better than Lynch and Elphick in pre-season, im not sure what else you want him to do to earn a place? Can only play whats in front of you. He also played very well against Charlton. El-Abd isn't a better CB than Hawkins, some of the mistake he made in the last few years have been ridculous. Though I doubt we'll agree on that!

Maybe we expected Lynch/Elphick to go in the summer, and as such wanted to make sure we had sufficient cover. I wouldn't have wanted to go through a season with ElAbd as first choice if one of those left. I'd still have wanted to have signed at least one new CB at the start of the season in any case. Its difficult to second guess Adams without knowing how the Virgo signing came about.

 

[Lord Large]

El-Abd isn't a better CB than Hawkins, some of the mistake he made in the last few years have been ridculous.

Like giving away at least two important penatlies, costing us points in games we should have won, a shocking back pass which should have gifted Southend a goal away and notching a bullet diving header into his own net?

 

[Da Man Clay]

Like giving away at least two important penatlies, costing us points in games we should have won, a shocking back pass which should have gifted Southend a goal away and notching a bullet diving header into his own net?

The Bristol Rovers pen was harsh to say the least. Cant remember the other one? El-Abd was king of the shocking back pass for a very long time, you could almost guarentee one mistake a game from El-Abd prior to the Leeds game last year (Where he made a fantastic mistake almost as good as Hawkins OG).

 

[Mellotron]

Simple answer is we needed another one as the club were obviously aware of Lynchs stance of self importance, Virgo was signed as a utility player, Adams knew that Whing is not even a profficient right back so wouldnt be expected to claim a place as a central defender, Hinshlewood was a hit and miss not sure if he would come back ok so that left just El Abd alongside Elphick.

Nonsense. The issue with Lynch came up AFTER Hawkins was signed, and it understandably unsettled Lynch to be replaced by a worse defender after a solid season gelling perfectly well with Elphick. Did NOT need tweaking and is very frustrating.

Virgo is a centre back first and foremost.

We had Lynch, Virgo and Elphick. Three quality centre backs. Hawkins should've been bought as 4th choice only. He is not as good as any of those 3.

 

[Lord Large]

Duplicate.

 

[Lord Large]

To suggest Whing can play CB is ridiculous. .

Really? So Whing can't play centre back then?

 

[Basil Fawlty]

Seriously, what is everyones problem with Hawkins. Admittedly I've only seen us twice this season but I thought he was commanding and was a leader. Some of the stick he gots on here is ridiculous, no wonder his confidence is shot. There I was thinking all Albion fans asked for from their players was 100% effort.

:

At the start of the season, he was looking a fantastic signing by MA. But when time went on we saw Hawkins for what he really was, a clumsy centre back who time after time again gave away to many fouls inside the box for a penalty and did the best diving header for a og I think I've ever seen!

 

[The Grockle]

I was very impressed with him in the early season games, but he went seriously downhill from there. And it's his arrival and immediate starting role that resulted in Lynch's departure.

My comment is anyway not so much about the player himself as to why we would sign another centre back when we already have sufficient good players for that position.

I think he is a good, solid defender but Adams stupidly rushed him back after his hernia operation. The only reasoning I can see behind this was that he didn’t want the board to label him a sicknote of start questioning whether he was worth his wages.
Add to this the fact he has been used as scapegoat for the teams short comings this season his confidence has been shot to pieces.

 

[Box of Frogs]

Elphick - injured
Hinshelwood - injured
Lynch - out on loan
Virgo - banned

A perfect time to bring Hawkins back - if fit!

 

[glasfryn]

Seriously, what is everyones problem with Hawkins. Admittedly I've only seen us twice this season but I thought he was commanding and was a leader. Some of the stick he gots on here is ridiculous, no wonder his confidence is shot. There I was thinking all Albion fans asked for from their players was 100% effort.

:

he was getting good reviews until his hernia op and was bought back to early IMHO

 

[glasfryn]

At the start of the season, he was looking a fantastic signing by MA. But when time went on we saw Hawkins for what he really was, a clumsy centre back who time after time again gave away to many fouls inside the box for a penalty and did the best diving header for a og I think I've ever seen!

it would have had to have been really good to beat some of Graheme Winstanley's OG's in fact on the east terrace that was his nickname OG
nevertheless an outstanding player

 

[NF9]

Hawkins on his day is brilliant just a shame that he doesnt have them "Days" to often

 

[Peter Grummit]

IF he's fit I think the team tomorrow should be
Sully
Whing El Abd Hawkins Livermore
Carole Birchall Jarrett Fraser Cox
Davies
and we try and play like we did at Leicester.

It's actually not a bad team!

PG

 

[Silent Bob]

Really? So Whing can't play centre back then?

Obviously didn't go to Millwall a couple of tears ago when Whing had a stormer at centreback.

This injury thing with Hawkins is annoying though. He was shit before that, some people just hadn't noticed yet. He is a poor player. Mid table League Two, at best.

 

[Bald Gull]

I think Adams saw him as the 'Cullip' of his new team. He was trying to create a similar spine to the one we had before.

Kuipers - Cullip - Carpenter - Zamora

to

Kuipers - Hawkins - Livermore - Forster/Murray

 

[Behind Enemy Lines]

Hawkins obviously brought to add some strength and height to back four. I haven't seen enough of him to pass comment really. There seemed to be very little thinking in the vast majority of Adams's signings. The next man, whoever that is, must have, and action, a proper transfer strategy.

 

[Pavilionaire]

I can see why Adams brought in Hawkins. You can imagine Knight saying to Adams 'get me a Guy Butters of 10 years ago". The bloke ticked a lot of boxes, i.e.

1. Experience in higher division
2. Offers leadership
3. Good in the air.

The problem I have is that Virgo also ticks the same boxes, so the question is not so much why he signed Hawkins but why he signed Hawkins AND Virgo, then proceeded to play both of them when logic dictated that only one could play alongside Elphick.

 

[bellsize seagull]

he wrote a very honest piece in the Argus and said he knew he was not performing well. Southend away he was heroic and i like him, Virgo was bought back to play in other roles.