Hourihane

zyph wrote:

Czarcasm wrote:

She's a pretty girl, but her geography ain't the best. If she thinks a 3 hour train journey (if her connecting train's on time) or a good 3 1/2hr drive up the M1 is going to make visiting Conor so much easier she may be in for a bit of a shock.

Maybe she's confusing Barnsley with Bromley?   

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Bromley can take easily 5hrs by road........unless she rides a big bike and doesn't worry about speed restrictions.

Will take over 3hrs to get to Paddington plus underground and South Eastern Trains add another hour plus.

If her geography is that poor she could end up in east London at Bromley-by-Bow.

Maybe lover boy might buy her an air ticket..... even that's difficult from Plymouth without an Airport.

She's living in London now Zyph, hence my Bromley comment.

2 hours if he picks her up from Sheffield, alternative the 3.5 hrs to Plymouth.
Expect there's flights to Robin Hood airport from London too.

Umm, she lives in London, I'd say Barnsley is a far easier journey than Plymouth is.

Czarcasm wrote:

zyph wrote:

Czarcasm wrote:

She's a pretty girl, but her geography ain't the best. If she thinks a 3 hour train journey (if her connecting train's on time) or a good 3 1/2hr drive up the M1 is going to make visiting Conor so much easier she may be in for a bit of a shock.

Maybe she's confusing Barnsley with Bromley?   

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Bromley can take easily 5hrs by road........unless she rides a big bike and doesn't worry about speed restrictions.

Will take over 3hrs to get to Paddington plus underground and South Eastern Trains add another hour plus.

If her geography is that poor she could end up in east London at Bromley-by-Bow.

Maybe lover boy might buy her an air ticket..... even that's difficult from Plymouth without an Airport.

She's living in London now Zyph, hence my Bromley comment.

Okay.....that makes more sense.

Fastest train journey is not far off 3 hours Charles, and that's only if there isn't a problem with your connecting train. There are no direct trains from Barnsley to London so you have to change at least once. Granted, by road it's about 45 minutes quicker than London to Plymouth (according to the AA). But when you take into consideration her parents are in Plymouth aswell which makes a visit by her all the more appealing, then singing the praises of what a comparitive walk in the park London - Barnsley is compared to London - Plymouth, seems a bit odd.

Omfg! Wag to sit on train to see boyfriend in hellish three hour journey! Erole will run that one for weeks.

Czarcasm wrote:

Fastest train journey is not far off 3 hours Charles, and that's only if there isn't a problem with your connecting train. There are no direct trains from Barnsley to London so you have to change at least once. Granted, by road it's about 45 minutes quicker than London to Plymouth (according to the AA). But when you take into consideration her parents are in Plymouth aswell which makes a visit by her all the more appealing, then singing the praises of what a comparitive walk in the park London - Barnsley is compared to London - Plymouth, seems a bit odd.

She'll have a motor, Mini convertible or Citroen DS3 I reckons   

Even on the slowest news day, I can't believe this made it to print.

Not just Argiggle having their best players pinched.

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spowell92 wrote:

That's why I'd expect another player in Zyph. Clifford is still only 22 and is obviously a decent enough player. If there's a lower league manager to get a midfielder like Clifford performing again then it's Sheridan. So I'd be keen on him coming in. But Conor Hourihane was Mr Reliable, having played a great deal of games already, so like you say he's a gamble in respects of 50apps in the season.

How about that Sam Clucas, the young Mansfield midfielder. He bossed it in the two games I saw him play v Argyle and heard some great things of him over the season. Believe he came 2nd or 3rd for L2 PoTY?

My (former) Hereford supporting mate says Clucas is a class act alright.

'in the top 5 League Two players' were his exact words.

He also says Forest have tried painfully hard to sign him and unsettle him, much to the chagrin of all at MTFC.

If Clucas is in contract I really, really don't see us signing him with our £80k.

And i don't think us making three low bids will make Clucas weak at the knees the way Barnsley did with CH.

With my Football Manager hat on ejh    I'd say bank the 80k, and raid the transfer market for a free or two. They are out there, of course Hourihane himself was a free following release by Ipswich a few seasons ago.
Classic lower league FM tactics, cashing in on a key player, only to replace him with a player just as good. In reality, Sturrock was a master at it at this level.

We don't need to break to bank to replace Hourihane, beyond maybe decent terms, and a generous signing on fee.

Pafcintheplace wrote:

With my Football Manager hat on ejh    I'd say bank the 80k, and raid the transfer market for a free or two. They are out there, of course Hourihane himself was a free following release by Ipswich a few seasons ago.
Classic lower league FM tactics, cashing in on a key player, only to replace him with a player just as good. In reality, Sturrock was a master at it at this level.

We don't need to break to bank to replace Hourihane, beyond maybe decent terms, and a generous signing on fee.

Depends how serious our promotion push is I guess. Of course there's no guarantees in football, but generally getting in a player who's already proven to be able to play at the ability expected from the manager will limit the risk of him being a total flop. Although those players come at a cost. Or we could go cheap and try and find another Conor as I'm sure plenty of young higher level club rejects are floating the free market looking for contracts, but there's a risk that either potential won't be found or we don't have the time to wait around to find out. I personally feel we should go for one of each, if we're serious in our promotion push.

We can't really afford to nurture another player like we did CH.

He was so so raw when he first came, but luckily for both parties Argyle were bankrupt and desperate.

If another CH was being released by Ipswich we just couldn't accommodate him. As Luke Young found out this summer.

It doesn't have to be another Conor Hourihane though that was just an example, others from the past, more finished articles would be Ronnie Mauge, Chris Leadbitter, David Friio, Tony Capaldi.

There are good quality League 1/2 central midfielders out there available for free. If for example a League 1/2 level player such as Hartley signs for us, then it proves that you don't necessarily need to pay a transfer fee. Of course for out of contract players a generous signing on fee might be required but that's par for the course.

Ultimately though Argyle will have to do what they can afford, I personally have a risk averse attitude & all the above is just my opinion of course. Given the balloon payment around the corner, it makes sense to raise cash if good offers come in & replace with equal quality at minimal cost. Even if there were no free players of sufficient quality to improve us/willing to sign for us, even then I would say no let's not go down the route of paying 80k (for example) for a player because it's not the best use of resources & we simply cannot afford it.

If we cash on Purrington though, and we see the ideal midfielder for a nominal fee then of course then we pay it.
I do remember one year Northampton shelled out quite a few quid on players, Josh Low for 150k among others, and they didn't go up, so there are no guarantees.

I dont get the fuss over Hourihane. Easily pushed around and our midfield has been overrun for the three seasons he played in a terrible league. When the going got tough he was anonymous.

stephensdad wrote:

I dont get the fuss over Hourihane. Easily pushed around and our midfield has been overrun for the three seasons he played in a terrible league. When the going got tough he was anonymous.

I agree to a point, but he was undoubtedly getting better every year, was our Captain, and bagged a fair number of goals from midfield last year.

That said, if the figure was indeed 200k and he wanted to go anyway then it's a decent deal for Argyle.

Pafcintheplace wrote:

Ultimately though Argyle will have to do what they can afford, I personally have a risk averse attitude & all the above is just my opinion of course. Given the balloon payment around the corner, it makes sense to raise cash if good offers come in & replace with equal quality at minimal cost. Even if there were no free players of sufficient quality to improve us/willing to sign for us, even then I would say no let's not go down the route of paying 80k (for example) for a player because it's not the best use of resources & we simply cannot afford it.

It's a nice idea, sell your top players for top bucks and replace with cheaper alternatives of equal quality. Putting that theory into practice is severely flawed however. Remind me what happened the last time we tried that?   

Agreed that we shouldn't be spending beyond our means, but we just got a 40-80k cash boost (it's such an insignificant amount to make any difference to the balloon issues), as well as freeing up a salary on the wage budget. I doubt players like cox have joined us and taken a pay cut. Last season we couldn't afford him, this season we can. We're stretching the budget to accommodate (hopefully, but no guarantee) players and they come at a higher cost (whether that's fee or salary). I'm not saying we have to pay a fee, but we can't afford to be cheap about replacing Conor either.

I think we need to splash out on a good, experienced replacement and also bring in a younger player as back up. Summerfield in my opinion would be a decent signing for this division, and I doubt he'd blow the budget. He can play the 40odd games a season as necessary and fits our current trend of bringing in players who have played at a higher level and are proven in this division. I'd then look at bringing in a player like Clifford, a wild card who has shown his quality before, but his patchy career requires some fine tuning. He'd be a player who after a couple of years of work could become a club regular and either be a player that could lead us to success or be a player the club could flog for necessary profit.

That's the approach I'd take. I don't think a midfield of Cox, Blizzard and one other (no matter who - within reason) will be good enough over the season. Even if we still had Hourihane I'd be crying out for 1 more.

stephensdad wrote:

I dont get the fuss over Hourihane. Easily pushed around and our midfield has been overrun for the three seasons he played in a terrible league. When the going got tough he was anonymous.

I mean why would Danny Wilson bust a gut to sign him. The best footballer at the club by a mile but then again Barnsley must be certs for relegation.

Summerfield has signed for York City on a 2 year deal. Missed out.

Sheridan better impress with his next signings then, cos that deal was begging to be made.

What centre mid played with Chesterfield the season JS won the league with them, and hasn't done anything either before or since? Is he out of contract? If such a candidate exists I'd bet money he is our next signing.

ejh wrote:

Summerfield has signed for York City on a 2 year deal. Missed out.

Sheridan better impress with his next signings then, cos that deal was begging to be made.What centre mid played with Chesterfield the season JS won the league with them, and hasn't done anything either before or since? Is he out of contract? If such a candidate exists I'd bet money he is our next signing.

How the feck do you know the deal was begging to be made?

Greenskin wrote:

ejh wrote:

Summerfield has signed for York City on a 2 year deal. Missed out.

Sheridan better impress with his next signings then, cos that deal was begging to be made.What centre mid played with Chesterfield the season JS won the league with them, and hasn't done anything either before or since? Is he out of contract? If such a candidate exists I'd bet money he is our next signing.

How the feck do you know the deal was begging to be made?

The alignment of the club's need for a proven, quality, experienced centre midfielder, the player's contract circumstances, and the decent budget available.

Summerfield has uprooted and made the move to a decent club with aspirations of League One football - sadly it's at the opposite end of the country to Plymouth.

But Summers is shit. Too many frustrating afternoons watching that guy. Move on...next.

Ejh, that's two players now that you've put on pretty high pedestals, and they've ended up going to the dizzy heights of York in league 2 and Torquay in the Conference. (Summers and Young).

Third time lucky?   

Czarcasm wrote:

Ejh, that's two players now that you've put on pretty high pedestals, and they've ended up going to the dizzy heights of York in  league 2 and Torquay in the Conference. (Summers and Young).

Third time lucky?   

Didn't Young turn down offers from League One? It's pretty obvious the lad has outstanding potential for a 21 year old. I think he has made the right decision though - two seasons of week in week out competitive football, and he will be much improved.

Whereas Luke Summerfield joined a club that absolutely flattened us from a standing start in the 'playoff race', had a storming final 4 months of the season (title winning form), and is probably one of the highest paid centre midfielders in League Two now. He might even have some promotion bonuses lined up.

So I am not sure how York getting him disproves anything I thought or said? Summerfield is a promotion winning centre midfielder who is good enough for League One.  That is where York want to be and that is what they are paying Summerfield to do. Whereas he turned down offers from Cheltenham and Shrewsbury to move there.

Seems a good bet York will finish above Argyle this season - with their additions of Summers and Jake Hyde. Who would bet against them for top 3 after last season?

When did Youngy turn down Colchester? Or was that in Football Manager?   

Joking aside, I'd be interested to read about that if it is in fact anything more than a message board rumour.