Reid's agent at the game today?

Sir Francis Drake wrote:

Sometimes this place lives up to the reputation it has acquired and is utterly negative with no good cause and this is one of those times. Here we are mourning the departure of a loved one despite there not actually being any sign at all that he's about to go anywhere and the reality is that we've actually got him signed up on a 2 year (I think) contract that is only a few weeks old.
There's basically only three things that can happen when we sign a player:

1. he's useless so he plays a few times and we never see him again;
2. he meets our requirements in an adequate but unspectacular way and plods his way to hundreds of appearances;
3. he's a roaring success, wins the crowd over by consistently exceeding expectation and by so doing attracts attention from other clubs.

Reid, right now as far as we are concerned, sits firmly in the 3rd category: he's (mostly) won the crowd over by scoring loads of goals (relatively speaking) which is something many initially thought was never going to happen; the attention from elsewhere is all that is lacking.

So while the sensible, so far as I can see, state of mind to prevail should be that we are rejoicing in a player who is delivering consistently to the team, scoring the goals we hope for and setting the crowd agog with pleasure then here we are bemoaning the, admittedly very real, prospect that he'll be sold if things carry on as they are.

Now don't get me wrong here. I like Reid and when many were questioning him I was on his side. I don't want him to go. If we are promoted we'll need him, and players like him, in a higher division but let's get real: everybody has a price and that's just the way it is not just here but everywhere.

He may stay and he may go. If he stays that great and if he goes it's what happens next that matters - not that he has gone.

Right now we have, arguably, the best #9 in the division; let's celebrate that while we can.

Here's to another 20 goals this season!

Why is having a player under contract a cause for particularly positive comment from your good self? You certainly didn't seem to think it mattered much when Norris and Gosling [who were both contracted beyond the season in which they departed] were sold back along nor when Hourihane was sold with a year left on his contract in the summer.Can't really understand the point you're trying to make.

Of course it matters what happens next when a player is sold.And almost invariably over the years,Argyle selling their best players has resulted in cheaper,bargain bucket replacements being brought in with the inevitable consequences for results on the pitch and decline in interest from the public-vicious circle time again.Trebilcock and Book for Sillett and Sealey? Mariner and Rafferty for Austin and Bannister? Norris and Gosling for Folly and Duguid? Purleeeese,as our Tizzy Exeter friend would say. Countless examples of this stupidity are there for all to see over a period of many decades and in my time,the only positive example of a major sale being of benefit to the club even in the medium turn was when Sullivan was sold to partly finance the 1974/75 promotion team.You could make a case for Warnock getting rid of Dalton,Swan,Castle etc and reinvesting in some decent players but their race had been run anyway and it was the correct decision.By and large though,the policy has been an unmitigated,club ruining disaster and no wonder the public have become so pissed off with Argyle over the years.

I've no idea if there is any truth in this story about Reid but it's a rather sobering thought that if you take his and Hourihane's total goals out of last years team,then you aren't left with very much-can you honestly see the players currently on the books getting anywhere near enough to make up the deficit? I'm darned if i can and any replacement for Reid would have to be bleddy good to be even adequate.I just hope that we're not regretting any previous or future sales all the way to the Conference next year because if Reid were to go,that would be a very serious possibility.

There,i even spaced it out for you.

Reid is keeping Argyle in the fourth division along with Mccormick, if the non developer/investor sold either it will mean certain relegation from this league. but we all know the first 100 grand offer Brent gets for reid, he's sold! ( the selling will then be justified by the usual pricks ).

Very good. Only the space after a punctuation mark to go...

I'm too young to remember Trebilcock and Book for Sillett and Sealey but I recall the rest and I agree that in nearly every case the replacement has disappointed.

There's a very real and obvious explanation for this: not all transfers are successful.

In fact I'd go further: most transfers fail (I have no figures to back this up).

The trick is for the successes to be so brilliant that they out-weigh the failures.

Who was our most successful operator in the transfer market? In recent years it would have been either Sturrock or Holloway. I'll plump for Sturrock.

Sturrock signed many players who went on to become bona fide legends: Norris, Larrieu, Friio, Coughlan, Evans were the stars but there was also Hodges, Capaldi, Phillips, Keith... You'd have to say they were pretty good but that's not the whole story because, just like old TV programmes, it's the good ones that stick in the mind not the duffers: everybody loves Fawlty Towers and Dad's Army... "golden age of the sitcom" and all that. But what about Sadie, It's Cold Outside or Nearest and Dearest? Largely forgotten.

So who did Sturrock sign that didn't work out? Sean Evers, Stuart Elliott, Sacha Opinel, Lee Wilkie, Paul Mardon, Nicky Banger, Tony Barras, David Bereford, Paul Bernard, Osvaldo Lopes, Stuart Malcolm and kieran McAnespie? None of them exactly thrived or set the world alight; none of them stayed long.

The problem is that you are replacing a known success with a player who might, or might not, succeed.

And most don't.

Which is why the situation you describe happens.

The real story here is Argyle's long-term failure to nurture local talent and bring it through allied to a definite stinginess when it comes to coughing up the readies. Then again if we could afford to buy players in for big bucks we could afford to fork it out to keep the ones we have.

And some players are simply irreplaceable. Mariner springs to mind. He was arguably the best #9 in the country when we sold him; his replacement was always likely to disappoint.

paulysalz wrote:

Les Miserable wrote:

AstiSpumante wrote:

paulysalz wrote:

Sorry if this is not worthy of a new thread, but I was sat next to a large African chap in a sharp suit at Bury today who claimed to be Reuben Reid's agent. He seemed to know his stuff and had the following to say (he may have been talking b*llocks, but not sure why he'd travel to Bury to do so):

He claimed Reid was offered double the wages to join Pompey, but had already verbally agreed to join us so kept his word.
He claimed Reid will not be with us after this season as he is 'too good' for us.
He claimed he represented Durrell Berry during contract negotiations and last season Berry was paid £1200 a week and was offered £750 a week on a new contract. Berry then asked for £1000 (in effect, a pay cut), but the club said no.
He claims Sheridan doesn't listen to agents when they recommend players. He reckoned he's offered several wingers and full backs for trial but Sheridan say's no. One, he said, was offered to us when he was in the lower leagues in France and is now playing in the Bundesliga.
He also said that there is no-one at the club currently scouting players. Darren Sheridan's remit, apparently, is to only scout opposition tactics, not potential transfer targets.

As I said, this might be nonsense, but he did disappear into the players' entrance after the game.

I was sat next to a large African chap in a sharp suit at Bury today who claimed to be Reuben Reid's agent. Did he try to sell you some Nigerian lottery tickets ?

He claimed Reid was offered double the wages to join Pompey, but had already verbally agreed to join us so kept his word. Hard to believe but if true he's a fool, albeit a loyal one.

He claimed Reid will not be with us after this season as he is 'too good' for us. He definitely is too good for us at the moment and if were not promoted(again, sigh) this season he should look for a 'bigger club'

He claimed he represented Durrell Berry during contract negotiations and last season Berry was paid £1200 a week and was offered £750 a week on a new contract. Berry then asked for £1000 (in effect, a pay cut), but the club said no. Didn't particularly rate him, Mellor appears a better option at RB, can't argue with the clubs decision to show him the door.

He claims Sheridan doesn't listen to agents when they recommend players. Thank God for that.

He also said that there is no-one at the club currently scouting players. Darren Sheridan's remit, apparently, is to only scout opposition tactics, not potential transfer targets. How would the "large African chap in a sharp suit"(or Reuben Reid) know that ?

Lol Asti.....a quality dissection.....#itsallcomingapartnicelynow

I'm only going on what he told me. Any other explanations of why he was at the game and entered the players' entrance at the end? He seemed to know a lot of detail about our squad and I can't see what he would gain in travelling to Bury and making it all up.

As for the scouting, he was fairly clear that he phones to recommend players he is told by Sheridan that 'I do that'.

Thanks for the Pasoti-esque patronising reply though.

Oh dear, I'm sorry if my post appeared patronising to you Paul, that wasn't my intention, I was just attempting to comment on each of the points you raised. I will however admit that my blood pressure reaches volcanic eruption proportions whenever the subject of football agents rears it's ugly head, leeches and tapeworms   

Am i the only person who thinks the OP is a bullshitting prick?

Who is the OP?

Womble wrote:

Am i the only person who thinks the OP is a bullshitting prick?

A bullshitting prick..?

Feck me.... What on earth do you think about the Avivas who post on the farm's rumour page then?

I love Steve Evans posts - he doesnt even bother to pretend thier true, and winds loads of people up.

I would like to apologise for tge prick part of the comment tho - out of order, sorry.

unusual detail provided by the OP, who is reids agent does anyone know ?

Posty will know....

Probably give you his phone number as well. He's probably been on the phone already to see if there is truth in the rumour!

If you click the link I posted it says who the agents are, big firm.

Big firm.......... Unilever? Glaxosmithkiline? Poundland?

Womble wrote:

I love Steve Evans posts - he doesnt even bother to pretend thier true, and winds loads of people up.

I would like to apologise for tge prick part of the comment tho - out of order, sorry.

Quite, you naughty little furry thing.

Ok, let's move on.

SFD - it's great to have Reid, but worrying how much better in quality he is compared to other aspects of the team.

If we had centre mids and wingers as outstanding as Reid is, we'd be dangerous, but we are a one man team. It's worrying should anything happen to that one man, be it an injury or a transfer in January.

We lost Hourihane due to a lack of ambition at the club and I really do fear Reid is next. It's a shame Sheridan couldn't keep them all here to get out of this division - in Hourihane's case he felt Barnsley was a place worth being for the next 3 seasons, instead of Plymouth Argyle.

Did we REALLY lose Hourihane to a lack of ambition? I agree that PAFC is hardly ambition central but I think you're putting the cart before the horse a bit there.

He explicitly said upon signing for Barnsley that he wouldn't want to just sign for ANY League One club because he believed we had an excellent chance of going up this season. He said (his words, not mine before I'm called a pasoti stooge or whatever else) that he was so attracted to Barnsley because he felt that they were a club with a very high chance of promotion to the Championship this season (which they are currently showing). He said that an average League One club with no clear likelihood of promotion would not have been enough to tempt him away from Home Park.

League Two side targeting promotion or League One side targeting promotion. You're 23, only so many years left to fulfil your potential. Factor in family circumstances too and it's an absolute no brainer for the lad. Not that we should have let him have his own way so easily, mind. £200K for Hourihane is an outrageously small price and letting him go for it was an awful capitulation. However, there are many, many reasons why the lad himself would want to go that don't account for us being unambitious.

He joined us largely due to our "circumstances" and left us largely due to our "circumstances".

Funny ol' world, innit.

GreenSam wrote:

Did we REALLY lose Hourihane to a lack of ambition? I agree that PAFC is hardly ambition central but I think you're putting the cart before the horse a bit there.

He explicitly said upon signing for Barnsley that he wouldn't want to just sign for ANY League One club because he believed we had an excellent chance of going up this season. He said (his words, not mine before I'm called a pasoti stooge or whatever else) that he was so attracted to Barnsley because he felt that they were a club with a very high chance of promotion to the Championship this season (which they are currently showing). He said that an average League One club with no clear likelihood of promotion would not have been enough to tempt him away from Home Park.

League Two side targeting promotion or League One side targeting promotion. You're 23, only so many years left to fulfil your potential. Factor in family circumstances too and it's an absolute no brainer for the lad. Not that we should have let him have his own way so easily, mind. £200K for Hourihane is an outrageously small price and letting him go for it was an awful capitulation. However, there are many, many reasons why the lad himself would want to go that don't account for us being unambitious.

He left for two reasons, better money, better club. Up to now the highly ambitious owner of Plymouth Argyle, has replaced captain Hourihane, with james bitner and oliver norburn, i bet Luton Portsmouth etc are shitting themselves.

Barnsley are hardly Sheffield Wednesday, Leeds, Sheffield United etc. - some of the truly big clubs that have been in the third tier.

If Argyle got promoted he'd be where he is now, playing in front of similar attandances on similar money. So is Barnsley really 'an opportunity you could'nt turn down'? Hardly.

More like the first club that came in for him that could afford what Argyle wanted - and he took it.

The irony is Argyle would have been a good side with Hourihane, but replacing him with Norburn - essentially a kid who got relegated into non-league and wasn't highly rated by his supporters, was a cheap and inferior replacement.

ejh wrote:

Barnsley are hardly Sheffield Wednesday,  Leeds, Sheffield United etc. - some of the truly big clubs that have been in the third tier.

If Argyle got promoted he'd be where he is now, playing in front of similar attandances on similar money. So is Barnsley really 'an opportunity you could'nt turn down'? Hardly.

More like the first club that came in for him that could afford what Argyle wanted - and he took it.

The irony is Argyle would have been a good side with Hourihane, but replacing him with Norburn - essentially a kid who got relegated into non-league and wasn't highly rated by his supporters, was a cheap and inferior replacement.

That's the crux of the matter.Hourihane had a full year left on his contract and Argyle could absolutely have kept him if they wanted.I don't buy into this "unhappy player [if indeed Hourihane was unhappy],couldn't keep him" shit,which essentially surfaces when Argyle WANT to sell a player-Hourihane would have had no cause to not give of his best during this season if Argyle had turned down Barnsley's bid flat.His career prospects would not have been enhanced if his efforts had not been up to the mark,interest would soon have cooled from other clubs if he showed an attitude which was in any way unprofessional.Immoral to stop someone bettering themselves? Is it feck in this instance.Hourihane owed a lot to Plymouth Argyle and had signed a contract,which as far as i'm aware is a legally binding document.You hear this stuff about having to improve a player's lot when Argyle sell a player-it made my fecking blood boil when Mariner was sold to a club that Argyle should have been at least competing with if the board had been worth more than tuppence worth of tar-how about a determination to improve Argyle's lot just for once in history?

Rant over.

What part of Africa was he from?

Gareth Nicholson wrote:

What part of Africa was he from?

"Darkest", I expect

Dunno but all the players have now got ebolia